Wine & Winemaking Books - Page 13

The Accidental Connoisseur: An Irreverent Journey Through the Wine World

Lawrence Osborne

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

What is taste? Is it individual or imposed on us from the outside? Why are so many of us so intimidated when presented with the wine list at a restaurant? In The Accidental Connoisseur, journalist Lawrence Osborne takes off on a personal voyage through a little-known world in pursuit of some answers. Weaving together a fantastic cast of eccentrics and obsessives, industry magnates and small farmers, the author explores the way technological change, opinionated critics, consumer trends, wheelers and dealers, trade wars, and mass market tastes have made the elixir we drink today entirely different from the wine drunk by our grandparents.

In his search for wine that is a true expression of the place that produced it, Osborne takes the reader from the high-tech present to the primitive past. From a lavish lunch with wine tsar Robert Mondavi to the cellars of Marquis Piero Antinori in Florence, from the tasting rooms of Chateau Lafite to the humble vineyards of northern Lazio, Osborne winds his way through Renaissance palaces, $27 million wineries, tin shacks and garages, opulent restaurants, world-famous chais and vineyards, renowned villages and obscure landscapes, as well as the great cities which are the temples of wine consumption: New York, San Francisco, Paris, Florence, and Rome. On the way, we will be shown the vast tapestry of this much-desired, little-understood drink: who produces it and why, who consumes it, who critiques it? Enchanting, delightful, entertaining, and, above all, down to earth, this is a wine book like no other.

The Art of Decanting: Bringing Wine to Life

Sandra Jordan, Lindsey Lee Johnson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The perfect hostess present 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

A sumptuous present for less than the cost of a bottle of wine, Sandra Jordan's "Art of Decanting" is a pleasure to look at, informative to read, and creates just the right mood for building friendships over a shared decanter of wine. And she is right about decanting. I thought it was a lot of hooey (if that is the technical term), but I pulled an old wedding-present decanter out of the back of the closet and followed her directions. In a blind testing of the same wine decanted and straight from the bottle, you could tell the difference even before tasting by the perfume in the glass of decanted wine. I bought several copies of the books for friends right away.

Editorial Review:

Wine is much more than a beverage to be enjoyed it's an experience that has a culture all its own. The Art of Decanting explores these rituals, tracing the evolution of wine presentation and its rich lore. Author Sandra Jordan, of Sonoma's acclaimed Jordan wines, unearths unusual practices in wine history and sifts through centuries of rituals and accoutrements such as wine furniture, vessels, corks, corkscrews, glassware, and specifically decanters, to demystify their modern interpretations and explain how they are properly used today. With a handy entertaining guide that brings all the information into a practical light, The Art of Decanting and a bottle of wine will transform the most casual of gatherings into an evening to remember.

The All American Cheese and Wine Book

Laura Werlin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Cheese and wine were clearly meant for each other. Most of us have tasted the classic combinations--cheddar and port, blue cheese and Sauternes, goat cheese and Sauvignon Blanc - and know what an ethereal marriage of flavors and textures they are. But as Laura Werlin shows in her new book, The All American Cheese and Wine Book, there is a whole world of wine and cheese pairings beyond these tried and true favorites. In her follow-up to the IACP Award-winning The New American Cheese, Werlin guides us to matching the extraordinary artisan cheeses being made across America with perfectly paired wines. Her story begins with an overview of the seven basic styles of cheese, from fresh, tangy chevre to buttery soft-ripened cheese to nutty, aged gouda. She explains how each is made, what flavor qualities each has, and what types of wines will generally bring out he best in each category of cheese. She offers the same kind of overview for American wines, paying particular attention to those produced by the smaller boutique wineries. Guidelines for combining American cheese and wine, clues for making the perfect pairs, and extensive charts showing the ideal combinations at a glance make this book an indispensable resource. The book also includes profiles of 50 American cheesemakers and winemakers and 55 delectable recipes for dishes that use cheese or feature cheese by itself. Werlin has organized the recipes with entertaining in mind and offers creative ideas for hors d'ouvres, pizzas, cheese plates, picnics, and desserts. The book also includes an extensive listing of cheesemakers and winemakers around the country with mail order information.

At Home in the Vineyard: Cultivating a Winery, an Industry, and a Life

Susan Sokol Blosser

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

This moving, evocative memoir, woven with lyrical descriptions of the sights and smells of vineyard life, tells the inspirational story of one woman's journey to success in an industry run mostly by men. At Home in the Vineyard, filled with colorful characters and unexpected experiences, brings a local rural community vividly alive as Oregon wine pioneer and industry icon Susan Sokol Blosser recounts how she fell in love with a vineyard, learned how to run it, and ultimately achieved her vision of producing Pinot Noirs to rival those of Burgundy. An intimate family story, At Home in the Vineyard also gives a candid insider's view of Oregon's flourishing wine industry.
Sokol Blosser begins her narrative in the 1970s, when, as a young, idealistic wife, she helped her husband make his wild idea of planting a vineyard in the Dundee Hills become a reality. By the book's final pages, she has become president of Sokol Blosser Winery, widely respected for gaining national visibility and for producing world-class wines, especially the elusive Pinot Noir. Along the way, Sokol Blosser tells how she learned to do everything from driving a tractor and managing a picking crew to selling Oregon wine in Manhattan. She also shares some special accomplishments: how she instituted values of environmental sustainability and social responsibility at the vineyard, integrated family and business life, and successfully brought the second generation on board.

Tasting Chile: A Celebration of Authentic Chilean Foods and Wines (Hippocrene Cookbook Library)

Daniel Joelson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The book contains 140 traditional recipes from home chefs and restaurants from across this South American country, spanning a variety of dishes that ranges from spicy salsas and hearty soups to the ubiquitous empanada and desserts such as sweet cream crepes. It includes fairly standard and simple recipes such as Chilean roast chicken and rice, as well as more complex and exotic ones like rhubarb mousse, blood sausage, stuffed meat (you literally have to sew the meat shut), and fried frogs' legs. Tasting Chile puts the native cuisine in perspective by describing its essential ingredients and the influences other countries and cultures have had upon it. It also describes the unique experience of dining in Chile, which has some foods seldom seen elsewhere, whilst at the same time it provides readers with substitutes for Chilean foods so they can easily male all the recipes in their home. In addition to recommendations for pairing wines with main courses, a special section on wine offers an overview of the wines of Chile, including the names and addresses of Chilean wine companies and the availability of their products.

The Wine Lover's Dessert Cookbook: Recipes and Pairings for the Perfect Glass of Wine

Jennie Schacht, Mary Cech

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Appetizing 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Two culinary pleasures come together in this book, "The Wine Lover's Dessert Cookbook" by Mary Cech and Jennie Schacht: dessert and wine! Not only are the recipes delicious but the wine education and suggested pairing make wine selection a breeze!

Mary Cech is an award-winning chef and instructor. She has been a pastry chef at a couple of the more prestigious restaurants, and has taught pastry making at the renowned Culinary Institute of America. Her recipes have been featured in numerous publications including Bon Appetit, Chocolatier, Veggie Life and several cookbooks.

Jennie Schacht is a culinary writer who has worked on several cookbooks. She has her own consultation firm, Scahcht and Associates, which aid clients in the food and health care industry.

This beautifully photographed book is loaded with information on selecting wines dependent on the dessert being served. The recipes are delicious and very inspiring. With Mary Cech's expertize at teaching, the recipes are very clear and easy-to-follow.

Some of the delectable recipes found within this book are Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Fresh Peaches, Tropical Fruit Crèpes, Pumpkin Pots de Crème with Candied Pecans and Lemon Cream Mousse.

For the wine-wary, there is an index of complicated wine terms to help you understand wine and how to select wines based on your food.

With the holidays approaching, this would be a wonderful gift to help celebrate!

Editorial Review:

This gorgeous book is actually two in one: page after page of recipes for fabulous desserts combined with all the information anyone will need on choosing a dessert wine. Peach Tarte Tatin with an intensely flavored ice wine brings out the fruit's summery spirit in this French favorite. A full-bodied vintage port with berry flavors provides the perfect foil to an amazingly decadent Chocolate Souffl Roulade for a little piece of heaven. A user-friendly chart cross-references wine types against typical dessert flavors for quick and easy matching advice. Add to that mouthwatering photographs of the recipes and anyone can discover a whole new world of sweet wines and the desserts that love them.

Winemaking: Recipes, Equipment, and Techniques for Making Wine at Home

Stanley F. Anderson, Dorothy Anderson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

4/99 A good beginner book and reference for the amateur. 3 out of 5 stars.
37 of 38 people found this review helpful.

I'd like to clarify by suggesting 4 stars for a beginner interested in beginning home winemaking and 3 stars for an amateur home winemaker. Regarding beginners interested in winemaking, this is a good starter book with explanations for the ingredients you're using without too much science getting in the way. I feel that this book should be used in conjunction with other books (perhaps Joy of Home Winemaking) to give potential hobbyists a better feel for winemaking. There are numerous recipes for fruits, berries, vinifera & hybrid grapes, and straight concentrates. The reservations I hold against the book is that I suspect it was written more for the west coast hobbyist with better access to some ingredients (ie. certain grape concentrates, brands of yeasts and acids), but that shouldn't prevent anyone from producing wine with this book. (3 stars) Amateurs already familiar with a couple of batches should find this a useful reference because of the variety of recipes and equipement techniques & usage.

Editorial Review:

The definitive guide for both the beginner and the accomplished home winemaker, with more than eighty recipes for everything from fresh grape wines to liqueurs. Spiral bound. Photographs and line drawings.

The Food and Wine of Greece: More Than 300 Classic and Modern Dishes from the Mainland and Islands of Greece

Diane Kochilas, Vassilis Stenos

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Excellent Book for Greek Cooking (and drinking) 5 out of 5 stars.
22 of 22 people found this review helpful.

I would recommend this book highly. As a Greek American I can vouch for the authenticity of most of the recipies. In some instances the author has to make substitutions (mostly with cheeses) with ingredients that would be difficult to find for the average American.
Her wine selections are helpful and in my experience have paired well with the food.
Her measurements are very accurate. For anyone who has cooked from many Greek cookbooks (in english) you will know that very often measurements are totally off. This is due to the fact for thousands or at least hundreds of years these recipies were verbal and were not written down until relatively recently. I have suffered through many a dish trying to guess what amount is accurate. That has always been my biggest complaint with Greek cookbooks- AND that is not a problem with this one.
Everything I have tried has come out wonderful. I would recommend this as a great book containing all the classics.
Kali Orexi!

Editorial Review:

Greece and its many islands are rich with traditional and regional culinary dishes that go far beyond the standard fare of moussaka and spinach pie. Diane Kochilas collected 250 recipes, adapting them where necessary, to make them accessible to modern cooks with modern ingredients, in this comprehensive guide to an exciting but relatively unexplored cuisine.

Wine & Cheese Pairing Guide: Your Exciting Search for Wow! Combinations

Norm Ray, Barbara Ray

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Readers are encouraged to understand why they like different flavors, for optimum pairing of the two. 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.

There's over a thousand wines and a thousand cheeses in the world with many possible taste combinations: if you want to take the guesswork out of the process, be sure WINE & CHEESE PAIRING GUIDE: YOUR EXCITING SEARCH FOR WOW! COMBINATIONS is close at hand. It doesn't just recommend specific pairings - though this is included amply in a series of charts - but provides a formula for wine and cheese separately which encourages personal assessment and taste development. Readers are encouraged to understand why they like different flavors, for optimum pairing of the two.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

wine and cheese pairing 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 6 people found this review helpful.

gave this book to cheeseexpert within chain of gourmet stores. he will recomend all cheese dep have copys.

The Sommelier's Guide to Wine: Everything You Need to Know for Selecting, Serving, and Savoring Wine like the Experts

Brian Smith

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Editorial Review:

This updated and revised edition is the essential guide for aspiring wine connoisseurs who are seeking the knowledge and confidence of a C.I.A. wine professional.

Written by a leading wine educator from the esteemed Culinary Institute of America, The Sommelier's Guide to Wine is an engaging, in-depth introduction to the often-intimidating world of wine.

This fully updated guide provides a basic text for wine aficionados. Created in a handy size and format, it gives wine lovers the confidence and savvy to navigate the wine list in a restaurant or the aisles of the local wine store. Foodies, wine expert wannabes, wait staff, and wine lovers alike can learn how to present, serve, drink, and store wine just like a sommelier. The guidebook explains different wine styles, grape types, wine regions, and includes tips on how to properly pair wines with specific foods. Learn about all the new wine trends, too.

Full of photos, maps, and illustrations, The Sommelier's Guide to Wine takes readers from winemaking methods through reading labels, buying, ordering, and presenting all varieties of wine. It's the perfect introduction to the complex world of wines.