Hello, Wine: The Most Essential Things You Need to Know About Wine

by Melanie Wagner, Lucy Engelman (Illustrator)

This breezy-to-read but super-informative guidebook is a stylish primer for any newcomer to the endlessly fascinating world of wine. Certified Sommelier Melanie Wagner's down-to-earth tone and comprehensive knowledge make learning about wine fun and approachable. Twelve chapters explore every aspect of wine—from how it is made to how to drink it—and provide helpful descriptions of grape varietals and recommendations that can be taken to the wine store. Featured alongside these many encouraging lessons and suggestions are 60 whimsical and informative color illustrations. With insights ranging from what makes a wine exceptional, palate-building, and enjoying wine with others, this is the perfect self-purchase or gift for anyone who wants a great wine resource.

Genres: Wine, Nonfiction, Cookbooks

228 pages, Paperback

First published September 3, 2013

Reviews

[Tasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exactly as advertised: a fun, fast, entertaining, and very useful intro to wine.

[Jenni B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative, funny, and very visual. I'm a visual learner. I feel more comfortable talking about wine and tasting it, knowing what I'm looking for. I'm a wine lover and I don't feel like I need to know all of the lingo, but I like to know the basics and have a fair understanding of what I'm tasting!

[lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book except it makes me nostalgic for the days of being able to wander around a wine store discovering new wines. Helpful info on pairing wines with food.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a snappily-written introduction to the main concepts you need to get into wine. It's not just for beginners, but neither is it aimed at experts. It's a quick read that offers some simple, generally common sense advice on how to store wine, tastings, pairing etc. The section on how the weather affects grapes is nicely done and, while wine selections are highly subjective, there's a nice lack of chauvinism in her list (although overall she's pretty US/France-centric with a touch of Italy and the usual suspects from Australia, Hungary or NZ thrown in), as well as some welcome open-mindedness when it comes to comparisons (not necessarily true of many eminences grises of the wine world)

The differentiating between Old and New World characteristics (not just terroir vs technology, although that's the easy answer) is also neatly done and, in all, even as a (slightly) more advanced oenophile, you could do worse than use this book to put your ideas in order or to pick up a snappier way of describing a particular process or feature. A couple of sketchy comments about Spanish wine (like suggesting Garnacha and La Rioja are regular bedfellows) and a bit overly classical in her tastes, perhaps, but these are quibbles. Everyone has to stake out their own turf and a truly international palette is almost physically impossible now, given the number of wineries and varietal permutations on offer.

[Shar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent, fun, stylish, and easy-to-read guide to wine for beginners. Includes a few famous quotes about wine. I particular enjoyed reading the profiles for "grapes to know", the "wine talk" vocabulary list that explained words that I had heard paired with wine but never quite fully understood (and was too shy to ask about), and the food+wine pairing guide. I borrowed this from the library, but I'm thinking it might be nice to have a copy on our shelves at home for reference.

[Sabs · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to learn more about wine, or just get a quick refresher, definitely read this book. It's snappy, straightforward, and totally unpretentious (just like I enjoy my wine!). I know at least three people who shall be receiving it as a gift.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

awesome overview! great for every single area of wine, grapes, regions, gifting, serving, drinking, etc etc. i wish it went into a little more detail on grapes and regions, but that's probably a different book... like "oh hey, wine"

[Jeff Rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good information for a rookie wine drinker. I will keep this book around for future (regular) reference.

[Missie Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wagner tells her audience just enough to get started on a lifetime of wine enjoying.

[Lita Hegemier · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid primer on wine. If you want to learn about wine in a relaxed, non-pretentious way, this is a great book to use.

[Margot Note · Rating 5 out of 5]

A terrific introduction to wine; I learned so much from it.