Oz Clarke's Let Me Tell You About Wine: A Beginner's Guide to Understanding and Enjoying Wine

by Oz Clarke

Oz Clarke, Britain's most popular wine writer, is totally in tune with what novice wine enthusiasts want to know, learn, and, most importantly, enjoy about the fruit of the vine.
His accessible and comprehensive beginner's guide is a wonderful treat for wine lovers eager to enhance their knowledge: Clarke lays out the rules of wine tasting, explains what creates a wine's signature taste, describes all the top grape varieties and their individual characteristics, and dispenses wisdom on how to make the perfect match of food and wine.
A section on spotting “corked” and faulty wines also helps newcomers gain confidence in their choices.
After discussing the basics, Oz takes readers on a world tour of wine through the main winemaking regions of Europe, the United States, South America, and other key wine-producing countries.

Genres: Wine, Nonfiction, Food, Reference

200 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2009

Reviews

[Brian Williams]

A brilliant guide to wine for a beginner as well as a more informed wine enthusiast I especially enjoyed the country-by-country articles in Part 3. There's some specific suggestions made in those articles too, which is helpful. This book is well worth the price. It's one to keep on hand for general reference purposes.

[Ilva]

Ļoti laba grāmata iesācējiem.

[David]

Easy, fun survey/intro to wine

[Rob Slaven]

As usual I received this book for the purposes of review; this time from NetGalley. Also as usual I will give my candid opinions below.

Usually what I would do next is give the positives and negatives of the book. In this case it's difficult to be sure since everything I say can either be interpreted as positive or negative. Therefore, I resort to bulletpoints.

* This one is most assuredly positive. The book is just filled with all manner of photos, maps, diagrams and every other imaginable visual aid.

* The book is meticulously detailed. This is no beginner's guide; I've seen textbooks in Organic Chemistry that contained less information. For each wine you get enough information that you could practically grow the grapes yourself.

* In addition to the depth of knowledge, the book's scope is amazingly broad. It tells you not only how to choose a wine but where it was grown, what weather conditions it prefers and all the way to how to get the cork out.

In summary, you really only need one book on wine and this is that book. If there's something about wine that's not in this book then you don't need to know it.

[Julie]

Good on ya', Oz! I'm working on scripts for a series of short wine education videos for work and this has been a fantastic reference for getting back to the basics.

I love that he introduces wine as a series of flavor profiles. The focus on a common set of flavors takes the mystery out of what's in the glass. Clark provides the foundation of what we should look for in a wine's aroma, bouquet, texture.

The regional descriptions are as clear and succinct as they could be, given the tangled web of country, state and district appellation laws and classification systems.

The section on matching food and wine offers a brief but excellent template for considering flavors and wine styles.

All in all, a big thumb's up for a comprehensive and engaging guide to exploring wine. Purty pictures, too. The opening shot of Lake Wanaka in Central Otago about broke my heart. Mr. Clark definitely has an affinity for Aotearoa and its gorgeous wines!

[Ivy Weston]

My husband, who spent many years in the restaurant business, tries to educate me about wine. The problem is that because we're usually drinking wine when he is trying to educate me, most of it goes in one ear and out the other. So this book for me was very helpful. It breaks down, in a very non-pompous, non-pretentious, non-wine-snobby kind of way, the different types of wine, regions, etc. for those who enjoy wine but don't know dick about it. It's a lovely book too, and would be great for displaying on the coffee table if you're into that sort of thing. If you read it while you're sober, you'll get the most out of it.

[Lindsey Duncan]

This is a clear, straightforward and informative overview of the basic principles of wine drinking. There is little here of how the wines are made or the long-term history of viticulture: instead, this book focuses on understanding flavors and how to find and appreciate them. The discussion of the various grapes was particularly valuable to me; another useful aspect was the way Clarke outlined the naming and labeling of wines. A bit of the snob shows - he obviously feels red wines are of superior consideration. But I found this a good guide for all levels; it's laid out in a way that provides a framework for further information.

[V]

A customer brought this in for trade and the timing was excellent since Matt and I have been enjoying James Mays' forced tutelage at Oz's hands on BBC America. Read it and am now more on James' side.

[Angel]

I have posted my full review of this on my blog, The Itinerant Librarian. Feel free to click the link to read it.

Link to reviewhere.

[Rebecca Emin]

A great beginners guide to wine, written in Oz Clarke's typically clear and honest style. The text is easy to understand and concise. This is a useful reference book which also contains great pictures.

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Artsalnov]

Оз очень толковый! Особенно для такого чайника в вине как я)
Эта книга просто обязана стать настольной для тех, кто постоянно собирает посиделки с друзьями и винишком, да!

Теперь осталось найти что-то такое же достойное, но уже про мир виски!

[Mike_msc]

Интересно написанный обзор сортов винограда и винодельческих регионов. Из минусов - недостаточно авторских оценок и комментариев, тем более, что там, где они встречаются, они являются украшением книги: ёмко и кратко, с юмором и субьективностью, так, как и нужно.

[Phil]

Only so-so. Too basic even for the beginner - there are better books out there.

[Burcu]

It's a good start for learning wine or it can be a useful source for people who just wants a practical guide about wine.

[Darren Lipomi]

The section about grapes and the section about locations will not amuse you unless you have some foundation. I found the center section about the winemaking process the most interesting.