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Wineocology: Uncork the Power of Your Palate with Sensory Secrets from Hollywood's Sommelier

Caitlin Stansbury,

Heidi Shink

Viktor Budnik (Photographs)

4.15 · Rating details · 13 ratings · 5 reviews

Take the mystery out of Merlot and put the pleasure back into pairing and sharing wine with sensory secrets from Hollywood’s Sommelier! Caitlin Stansbury’s revolutionary book will teach you to understand what wines you like and why you like them so that you can evaluate and enjoy their sensual delights on your own terms, regardless of price tags or product reviews. The cro ...more

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Paperback, 288 pages

Published November 6th 2012 by skirt!

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4.15 ·

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· 13 ratings · 5 reviews

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Jan 30, 2013 Charles rated it really liked it

Shelves: cookbook, first-reads, non-fiction, reviewed, stat_2

First Reads Review - Wineocology by Caitlin Stansbury

All right, here we go. I won this through the Goodreads First Reads program, and there are few things as good as getting a good book for free. And this is a good wine book. I have read other books on wine, and they have largely been a bit dry (pun intended!). Luckily, the author here utilizes a conversational tone when writing, and as such the prose meanders a bit, moving from subject to subject, pausing at points to make a joke or to linger o First Reads Review - Wineocology by Caitlin Stansbury

All right, here we go. I won this through the Goodreads First Reads program, and there are few things as good as getting a good book for free. And this is a good wine book. I have read other books on wine, and they have largely been a bit dry (pun intended!). Luckily, the author here utilizes a conversational tone when writing, and as such the prose meanders a bit, moving from subject to subject, pausing at points to make a joke or to linger on some more poetic prose and images. It is effectively done, not putting the reader to sleep while at the same time imparting good information about wine. While this book does feature information on the history and making of wine, though, the more pervasive thrust seems to be trying to teach the enjoyment of wine, the appreciation of wine as accessible to everyone.

And that is refreshing, and the book is laid out to help this idea along, breaking up the more informative sections between more conversational ones, never really staying on the hard stuff too long to turn off readers from going farther. For a book on wine this is a fast read, moving right along and keeping attention as it moves from history to advice on how to see, smell, feel, and taste wine. And the book does emphasize this complete approach to wine, making sure to take it in with a full range of senses instead of just taste. It is a refreshing approach, emphasizing the complexity of wine which is one of its greatest virtues. As the author points out, the more complex something is, the more rewarding and enjoyable it often is as well. And so it goes with wine, where really learning to tell the complexities does bring a deeper understanding and enjoyment of drinking wine.

And this book is designed to be a guide and companion to actually drinking wine, with sections that can be used to help steer the experience, instructing on what to look for and how to tell a Malbec from a Pinot Noir. And the design mirrors this by having faux wine spills on the page, leading one to think of the book as something that shouldn't just sit on the shelf, that should be accompany drinking and trying to figure out what wines are and where they were produced. The second section of the book details a system by which anyone should be able to learn how to experience and identify wine, and it does seem a solid system, simple and more based on paying attention to things that we normally just gloss over.

The book does have a few little things that I wasn't a huge fan of, though. Most pervasively is that the author is writing more to a female audience, which isn't that bad but does sort of play into those stereotypes and while it wasn't really annoying I did find myself rolling my eyes a few times at some of the jokes and anecdotes. It's not that bad, just that as a man I felt that she was thinking of more traditional gender roles when she was writing. The third section, too, which contains pairing wines and food, was a bit vague and seemed much more inconsistent than the rest of the book. On the one hand, it does end the book with recipes and pictures, which is nice after the heavier prose, but at the same time it tries to codify wine pairing with food that really is full of exceptions. The recipes doesn't all follow the guidelines she sets up, so it's hard to get much out of that section. The recipes look delicious, it's just that the third section doesn't quite live up to the first and second, which are much more straight forward and easy to understand.

In the end, this is a very good book about wine. I liked the tone and the flow of the prose, and I liked the information. Taking wine drinking as a full sensory experience is something that I can get behind, and I think that it is an admirable thing to encourage everyone to challenge themselves to become better drinkers. That sounds kind of hilarious, but it's an entertaining read, and I recommend it with four stars out of five. ...more

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Jan 17, 2013 Penelope Bartotto rated it it was amazing

Shines like a fine wine! This book is spectacular and what sets it apart from all other books in this genre, the writing. For example this little taste of the writing for you to enjoy:
"The more enticing a plant can make its fruit, the more likely it is to be gobbled up, seeds and all, by free-wheeling creatures, who will later distribute said seeds, along with a perfect load of growth-starting organic fertilizer, in some far-flung location."
Yes, you read that correctly she just made a bowel mo ...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Jamie rated it really liked it

Recommended to Jamie by: I won this book on Goodreads

Shelves: books-won-on-goodreads, gastronomique

This book will surely capture the attention of people, young and old alike. Especially those just beginning to learn about the world of wine. It's a new, fresh and hip way to understand it all. What I liked about this book is that you learn without feeling like you've just sat down and read a text book. The author knows how to keep your interest. The Heart of the book is Caitlin Stansbury's Simple Sommelier System of sight, smell touch and taste. Brilliant. I'll be pulling this off the shelf on ...more

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Dec 22, 2012 Kristin (Kritters Ramblings) rated it liked it

Check out the full review at Kritters Ramblings

A different kind of wine book that takes an educational approach to make any wine drinker a better educated and more aware wine drinker. By using all of the senses that every individual uses on a daily basis, Stansbury brings wine to the people to allow for everyone to learn a new way to approach wine and enjoy it at a fuller level.

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