The Wine Pocket Bible

by Andrew W.M. Smith

This handy book reveals tips, insights and need-to-know facts about the world's favourite tipple and how to enjoy it at its best. It explores: the history of wine, from how it is made to its history across the globe; how to enjoy wine properly, from what glasses to use and tasting wine, to how to cook with wine, and enjoy it work food; how to buy the best quality wine for your money; and how to store it properly.The handy-sized Pocket Bible covers the main wine producing areas of the world, with an insight into each region's specialties and best winemakers. It also includes vintage charts for easy reference and some intriguing and amusing facts and trivia to get your tastebuds going. The Pocket Bible series provides you with all the essential information you'll need at your fingertips. It contains a unique mix of practical information, alongside trivia and little-known facts to enlighten and entertain you.

Genres: Nonfiction, Cookbooks, Wine, Reference

208 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2009

Reviews

[Will Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

as if it was possible for me to get more insufferable

[Mae · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I've read about wine. In terms of structure, the grape varieties are classified as either white or red and organized by alphabetical order. Afterwards, the wine regions of the world are described in alphabetical order, and it seems as if a lot of research went into French wine. I appreciate maps being provided for countries that were further explored, as I was not familiar with the geographical locations of certain regions (for example, in France: Bordeaux, Loire, Rhône, Alsace, Burgundy, and Champigne... just to name a few). So, I learnt a bit of geography, but I initially picked this up to expand my wine vocabulary. Turns out, I did pick up lovely words in different languages*, but I won't immediately become a sommelier overnight yet, I think I better understand why my siblings have a preference for Chilean wine. Afterall, "Chilean wine in particular can be excellent value - Merlot or Carmenère can be excellent food wines" (page 177 of 230). However, it's a nice resource that informs you what aromas (flavors) to look for and there is a brief section which offers advice on which wines would pair nicely with food (ex: white meat, red meat Sidebar: I think it's awesome that burgers are "usually served with salad and tomato, which pits meaty flavours against a fresher taste" and the recommendation would be "a buxom Californian Cabernet Sauvignon to balance rich dense fruit against mid-bodied freshness" which makes sense, you see we have this thing called Le Burger Week..., spicy and exotic if I recall, when in doubt, Riesling is good to experiment with Thai food, Indian curries, spiced Szechuan or Cantonese food. And "Italian dishes need Italian red" (page168 of 230)...). Not only were there meaningful budget-friendly advice and tips on swirling and pouring techniques provided, I found myself really enjoying the chemistry** involved. Other than that, I kind of feel inspired to invest in wine myself (for long-term returns, of course however, I found myself craving wine especially when it's deliciously described like so:

Tempranillo is the main grape of the region, and makes plummy wines with additional flavours of cherry and occasional hints of mineral. Again, Vega Sicilia makes a fine Tempranillo called Unico, in which they blend the spicy Spanish grape with the traditional Bordeaux varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec to create a tantalising wine. (Page 131 of 320)

).

*Words:
-Second-bottle syndrome... is this, like, second-lead syndrome?
-French Paradox

The following I highlighted from the glossary section:
-Eiswein = German, meaning "Ice Wine"
-Garrafeira = Portuguese, denoting a high-quality wine
-Millésime = French, "vintage"
-Oeil de Perdrix = French, describes the colour of a pale rosé
-Oenology
-Pétillant = denotes a French wine that is slightly sparkling
-Sekt = German, denoting a quality of sparkling wine
-Trochkenbeerenauslese = very sweet German and Austrian wines that have been made using grapes affected by Botrytis cinerea
-Vendemmia/Vendimia = Italian/Spanish, "vintage"
-Verde = Portuguese, "young"


**My comments on the chemistry:
1. I find it funny that "acetic" is used as an adjective to describe wines that tastes like vinegar... vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid! And the nerd in me couldn't help but suspect that acetic acid is produced by the fermentation of alcohol and sugar by bacteria...

2. I'm kind of confused with the description for the word, Grassy which is "only relevant to white wine and is quite literally the taste and aroma of that wonderful smell of freshly cut grass" (page 150 of 230). In this case, I do not understand why it could also be referred to as capsicum (which is the genus for peppers, I think?) or even gooseberry or lime zest

3. I wonder if there is a typo in the edition I read (eBook, Crimson Publishing, 2012) because I am wondering where the author's source for "the chemical 1,2,4-trichloroanisole" (page152 of 230) came from (since my Google search generates 2,4,6-trichloroanisole instead).

4. Flavanoids = antioxydants, examples include oligomeric procyanidin, resveratrol and quercetin. Found in red wine, logically in grape skins and seeds.

5. I heard about the doctor who prescribed two glasses of red wine a day to his heart patients! This makes me even more curious - does this have to do with the recommended daily intake for both men and women?

6. Sirtuins (SIRT/Sir) are also a class of proteins and I had no idea about their connection with resveratrol!

7. I think I briefly review malolactic fermentation years ago, but I never knew it "results in a softer tasting, smoother drinking wine" (page 223 of 230).

8. I have a friend allergic to alcohol, but now I'm wondering if it's actually the sulphites

9. Effervescence : on utilise ce mot dans les laboratoires de chimie.

[Sanford Chee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could have been better organised for e.g. no structure in organising grape varietals by alphabetical order. Ordering it by tannic levels would have been more instructive.
Prefer Karen MacNeil's Wine Bible or the Wine Folly is a a better book.

[Paolo Aguas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generally I’m not an expert at all when it comes to wine and that is why I bought this book, I’d give it 3 stars I think that’s a fair grade, I mean it touches all bases and all but I felt the way they spoke about each topic and the sequencing of each topic could have been better. But generally if you want general knowledge on wine this is the book for you.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Left me wanting more, but in a good way. Learned so much about wines from across the globe that I had no idea about. Also learned cool tidbits on wine production, growing grapes, tasting notes, labeling, and much more. Cheers!

[Bailey Ashbaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got this because my library did not have the full Wine Bible. Pretty good introduction to the concept of wines, all the information felt a bit overwhelming though, but I suppose that's the nature of the subject.

[Martina Mereu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libro sicuramente utile ti fornisce le nozioni principali per chi è appassionato di vini e vuole farsi una cultura a riguardo. Necessita di un approfondimento.L' ho trovato superficial, mi aspettavo un libro molto più specifico e ricercato sopratutto se si parte dal titolo " the wine pocket Bible".