Wine 101: My Favorite Resources
Okay. We have decided we that we want to learn more about, but where should we start?
When I first became interested in learning more about wine I found it difficult to find reliable information online alone. In fact, it seemed that even the internet wanted to keep the world of wine shrouded in cloud of websites that really only sell wine and wikipedia. So I searched for some reliable resources on wine, check out the results below:
- Great Wine Made Simple: Straight Talk from a Master Sommelier, by Andrea Immer Robinson. The first book on wine I ever bought. I was drawn to this book because it discussed wine in a more conversational manner.
- Winefornormalpeople.blogspot.com. Wine for Normal People blog written by Elizabeth Schneider. Great resource for wine 101 topics and reviews on wine. She also has a related podcast available on itunes, just search winefornormalpeople. GREAT RESOURCE, I couldn't recommend it more.
- The Wine Bible, by Karen MacNeil. Comprehensive and straight forward book. Simple encyclopedia style format. Great overview of wine.
- The Sotherby's Wine Encyclopedia, by Tom Stevenson. This book really is a wine encyclopedia - its a huge book. But the layout is great and really detailed.
- Hello Vino App for iPhone and Android. Great app for when you are stuck in the wine store or at the restaurant and are looking for a specific wine to pair with dinner. You can get wine suggestions based on you taste preference for food pairing. (plus its free... for now!)
- Any book by Jancis Robinson, famous master sommelier.
My recommendation, get the older editions of the book online, such as half.com. You will still learn all you need to know about grapes, tastes, regions and pairings. Some of the regulations and appellations may be out of date (ex. France just did a major appellation update), but if you are looking for a basic foundation the old versions work fine. Happy Reading!
Cheers!