Guide to Cheeses of the World: 1200 Cheeses of the World (Hachette Food & Wine)

Customer Review: An okay book
First of all I know nothing about cheese.
This is my first cheese book I have looked at. With that being said here’s my review:

This book has some good points: 1) a dictionary of specialized cheese lingo in the back which gives pretty good descriptions of the vocabulary used in cheese making. 2) it has many cheeses, and lots of pictures for a small book.And brief sections on: 3)which cheeses are best in which times of year and 4) how to read cheese labels 4) how to serve cheese/ pair with wine. It actualy covers a lot in such a small book. (even how to introduce cheese to children). It’s written by an expert french cheese maker.

However, the book is translated from french and therefore suffers a bit in english. Sometimes it’s a bit hard to understand what they are saying since it still carries the french way of speaking though using english words. That’s just to warn you. Plus I was disappointed that it was so small in size… but it’s cheap, and I guess easy to carry around if you need to refer to it at some cheese market. It’s not a bad deal for the price and it’s a fairly good introduction to a broad range of cheese topics.

Customer Review: A Great Resource
A phenomenal resource for any lover of great cheese. The author’s knowledge and practical experience come through clearly. A little weak on coverage of American Artesan cheeses, but otherwise a good read and a great reference.

The Wine Club: A Month-by-Month Guide to Learning About Wine with Friends Everything you need to know about starting a wine club. This sassy handbook teaches you and your girlfriends the art of selecting, sampling, and sipping the fruit of the vine (while you indulge in the latest gossip, of course).

A foolproof month-by-month plan by sommelier, Maureen Petrosky, highlights all the pesky details, so you and your girlfriends can sit back and sip.

From still to sparkling and delicate whites to rich reds, each month’s chapter singles out a grape for study and enjoyment-school was never like this! This course with class includes easy-does-it entertaining tips, taste-testing know-how, and tantalizing wine facts.

Expert recommendations for brilliant wines at killer prices! What woman doesn’t love a bargain?

Wine-laden tidbits such as how to collect bottles for a personal wine stash.

Outrageously scrumptious recipes that teach you simply to pair wine and food-it’s a no-brainer.

The latest on the snazziest wine gizmos and gadgets. Shoppers, start your engines.

Demystified terminology: a short course in “wine speak” makes any wine novice comfortable when shopping for and serving wine.
Customer Review: Thank you Maureen
I love this book. It makes wine easy to understand and the recipes look awesome. I haven’t tried any yet but am looking forward to trying the pairings. Thanks for a fun, easy to understand book!
Customer Review: Wine Tasting
I bought this to share with a wine tasting group we started. We started one 7 years ago in another city and it was really successful. Trying to introduce wine to people in Texas in the dry counties is a challenge, however. I also bought a copy of this book as gift for someone. Very helpful.

Italian Wine for Dummies “A must-have book for anyone who is serious about Italian wines.”
—Lidia Bastianich, host of PBS’s Lidia’s Italian Table

“I have yet to encounter more knowledgeable guides to…Italian wine.”
—Piero Antinori, President, Antinori Wines

“Bravo to Ed and Mary! This book shows their love for Italy, the Italian producers, and the great marriage of local foods with local wines. Here is a great book that presents the information without intimidation.”
—Piero Selvaggio, VALENTINO Restaurant

Right now, Italy is the most exciting wine country on earth. The quality of Italian wines has never been higher and the range of wines has never been broader. Even better, the types of Italian wines available outside of Italy have never been greater. But with all these new Italian wines and wine zones—not to mention all the obscure grape varieties, complicate blends, strange names and restrictive wine laws—Italian wines are also about he most challenging of all to master. The time has come for comprehensive, up-to-date guides to Italian wines.

Authored by certified wine educators and authors Ed McCarthy and Mary Ewing-Mulligan, Italian Wine For Dummies introduces you to the delectable world of fine Italian wine. It shows you how to:

• Translate wine labels
• Identify great wine bargains
• Develop your own wine tastes
• Match Italian wines with foods

Here’s everything you need to know to enjoy the best Tuscans, Sicilians, Abruzzese and other delicious Italian wines. This lighthearted and informative guide explores:

• The styles of wine made in Italy and the major grape varieties used to make them
• How the Italian name their wines, the complicated laws governing how names are given and the meanings of common label terminology
• Italy’s important wine regions—including a region-by-region survey of the best vineyards and their products
• A guide to pronouncing Italian wine terms and names and how to order Italian wines in restaurants

For Italians, wine (vino) is food (alimentari) and food is love (amore). And you can never have enough love in your life. So, order a copy of Italian Wine For Dummies, today and get ready to share the love!
Customer Review: Surprisingly In Depth Despite Being a Dummies Title
A wonderful text covering Italian wine in an easy to read format. You may browse through the noted sections and glance over the meat if you want a cursory education on Italian wine. There are very few in depth texts on Italian wine, mainly due to the convoluted DOC system and the overabundance of native grape varieties and grape psuedonyms. The authors give a valiant effort that is worthy of a read.

Pros: great knowledge, easy to follow
Cons: difficult Italian systems, poor maps
Customer Review: Great for Traveling and Tasting Italy
This book helps you select wisely amoung the countless wineries and labels of the delicious wine you will taste in Italy. The book makes it easy to understand which wine taste great in the separate regions, without having to know any of the stuck-up jargon wine experts blab to sound impressive. More importantly the book does not recommend the expensive wine to be best for your palate. You will find the bottles that taste like $50, but are less than $20.

French Wine (Eyewitness Companions) Customer Review: A most helpful and slim reference book
I have bought the latest edition (2005) of this title as well as the previous one published in 1999. This is one of the most helpful reference books on the world of French wines that you can find on the bookshelves today. The book is attractive in its size (handy), layout (very easy to locate chapter titles, topic headings, etc.), illustrations (touring maps, appellation maps in nice colours and quick to understand key), succinct text (giving you enough and relevant information). The alphabetical division of the book into the major wine-making regions of France and within each chapter, the alphabetical listing of the different sub-appellations and wines makes it really practical and a most handy and quick reference when you are searching for a particular fact or need useful information on a particular French wine or region. I highly recommend this title if you are looking for a very informative, easy to use (ie. user friendly), helpful, slim, well written book on French wines with incisive and authoritative information and comments. The author’s knowledge of his subject is both deep and wide and he conveys this in an accesible manner.

Burgundy and Its Wines

Customer Review: Pretty but not very useful
This book is sort of all fluff; the pictures are pretty, but it’s not really very informative. I’d skip it and buy a Michelin guide unless you want a picture book for your coffee table.
Customer Review: Burgundy & its Wines
The book has wonderful photography, with a nice history of the region. A few major vineyards are listed, but don’t expect it to be a list of key Burgundian hot spots! More the asthetic and artistic history of the area and how wine got started and grew.

Essential Etiquette Fundamentals, Vol. 2: Wine Selection & Etiquette

Wine 101: The Best Wine Book for Beginners

What is the secret to learning about wine? Buy a straightforward reference, use it, and go to a restaurant to apply your newly acquired knowledge. Organized in six easy, enjoyable lessons, the Food Scholar Wine Selection & Etiquette CD includes all the practical information you need, including information on wine terms, pairing wine with food, tasting, and ordering wine in a restaurant. Filled with information on wine making, grape varieties, and regions, the Food Scholar Wine Selection & Etiquette CD is the ultimate reference tool for anyone eager to learn more about wine. It is simply the best wine reference available for beginners.

What makes this reference special? It quickly and effectively teaches you how to select and order wines. It does not waste your time with flowery descriptions or irrelevant musings.

Why an audio book? Convenience and practical learning. In audio format you benefit from an exceptional narrator teaching you how to correctly pronounce grape varieties and important wine terms. The lessons are easily listened to on a CD or MP3 player at the gym, on the plane, or in the car.

The Food Scholar Wine Selection & Etiquette lesson includes the following units:

Unit One: The Basics (including basic wine descriptions and characteristics, a brief introduction to winemaking, and the basics of red, white, ros?, sparkling, and fortified wines)

Unit Two: Grapes and Regions (including basic guides to the most commonly encountered white wine and red wine grapes)

Unit Three: Wine Tasting (including proper glassware, the tasting process, and detecting wine flaws)

Unit Four: Food and Wine Pairings (covering perfect pairings for various types of foods, as well as foods to avoid when drinking wine)

Unit Five: Enjoying Wine in Restaurants (including wine lists and prices, selecting wine, interacting with the sommelier, and general wine etiquette)

Unit Six: Sparkling and Fortified Wines (covering sparkling wines, port, and sherry)
Customer Review: Excellent Resource For Novice Wine Drinkers
Although drinking good wine isn’t difficult, learning about wine can be. Once on a winery tour a vintner explained that there are 15,000 different choices that can be made from grape to bottle. Sometimes picking out a wine can seem daunting. Food Scholar’s Wine Selection & Etiquette does a superior job of teaching those of us who would like to learn more without the information being overkill.

While there are more comprehensive books out there on Wine, I really like this book because it excels at being written for the average person. The book is divided into logical sections. I also like that the effect of climates in a region on the grape are covered. This is an easy way to tell what kind of wine you are getting just by looking at where the grape was grown.

This book will enhance your knowledge as well as your ability to pick out wines that you and your guests may enjoy. I would highly recommend this book to those who want to learn about wine, as this book does an excellent job of giving a basic education about many of the wines of the world.
Customer Review: Fantastic, Straightforward Wine Book
This was my first wine book, and it is still the best beginner’s reference. It covers everything you need to get started. The real benefit, however, is the audio format. You actually get to hear the narrator (who is fantastic!) pronounce the names of the various grape varieties, wines and terms. This is a huge benefit and something that cannot be replicated in the written word.

Andrea Robinson’s 2008 Wine Buying Guide for Everyone: An American Master Sommelier’s Simple Guide to Great Wine and Food Matches (Andrea Immer Robinson’s Wine Buying Guide for Everyone)

The Red Wine Diet Wine is good for you, and we finally know why.

Wine drinkers are less prone to heart disease, diabetes, and dementia than non-wine drinkers. But what exactly is it about wine that keeps us healthy? Which is better for you, a California Cabernet or Syrah from the south of France? How can you choose wines that both suit your tastes and benefit your health?

In a landmark study, Roger Corder revealed that compounds called procyanidins are the key components of wine for preventing illness. Now, in The Red Wine Diet, he argues that drinking the right kinds of red wine and eating procyanidin-rich foods such as dark chocolate, apples, and berries can help us live to a ripe old age-while enjoying all the pleasures of life.

Corder’s own tests show that, as a result of grape variety, wine-making style, and other factors, some red wines contain much higher levels of procyanidins than others. With a unique personal rating system, he describes the most beneficial wines he’s found to date. And to round out his lifestyle plan, he includes fifty delicious recipes featuring foods that are high in procyanidins.

Corder’s prescription is an easy pill to swallow: Drink red wine every day and live a long and healthy life.
Customer Review: The Red Wine Diet
Roger Corder’s new book provides solid laboratory evidence for the health benefits of red wine. The book is written in a readable style suited for the non-scientist interested in maintaining good health. The key product found in red wine which mediates this healthy effect particularly on the blood vessels of the heart is procyanidin. Dr. Corder has surveyed over 300 red wines from most of the world’s wine regions and has awarded each a heart rating score from 1 to 5 hearts based on procyanidin levels. The book provides the reader with a list of foods and diets which are high in procyanidin as well.The book serves as a ready resource for anyone interested in locating wines and foods rich in procyanidin.
Customer Review: Wine and beyond wine
By starting with red wine, then identifying the compounds in red wine that are responsible, and then showing that other foods containing the same compounds can have the same health benefits, Dr. Corder helps his readers step away from fad science onto solid science. In passing he trashes resveratrol (p36-7) - a further service. As with all one-topic books, this one is fluffed out to book length by including general nutrition & health information and about 50 pages of recipes. For the hard-core scientists there are about 20 pages of references.

Reflections of a Wine Merchant

Wine Bar Food: Mediterranean Flavors to Crave with Wines to Match After the workday, in places like Seville, Milan, Barcelona, and other cities that dot the Mediterranean, people gravitate to wine bars to relax, meet friends, savor small dishes of flavorful food, and, of course, enjoy the local wines that perfectly complement the moment.

In Wine Bar Food, acclaimed restaurateurs Cathy and Tony Mantuano show you how to re-create this irresistibly appealing part of the Mediterranean lifestyle at home. Organized by city, from Lisbon to Rome, and paired with accessible wines from each region, the delightfully unpretentious, simply prepared dishes can be shared as small plates by many or make a sit-down dinner for two or more. The 100 recipes emphasize flavor and ease of preparation over strict authenticity, so you’ll be able to round up the ingredients effortlessly to create delicious meals any night of the week, including:

Flaming Ouzo Shrimp (from Athens)
Pork Ribs with Garlic, Chilies, and Tomato (from Naples)
Pea, Bacon, and Pecorino Salad (from Nice)
Amaretto Polenta Pound Cake (from Venice)

Rich with great advice on affordable wine gems and recipes for some killer wine cocktails, Wine Bar Food has everything you need to make weeknight dinners and gatherings with friends simple, fun, and flavorful affairs.