Product Description

Authoritative, international and up-to-date, The New Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia is arranged geographically and combines maps and photographs with information on all wine-growing areas, profiles of distinguished producers and assessments of individual wines. The book's easy-reference style, and wealth of practical advice, make it an unrivaled source of information for all lovers of wine -- from the occasional drinker to the connoisseur.

Wines of the World. Distinguished wine authority Tom Stevenson examines the viticultural history of each wine-making country, discussing its wine-producing regions and the current reputation of its wines. He analyzes the factors affecting the taste and quality of each region's wines -- location, aspect, soil, microclimates, grape varieties, and methods of viticulture and vinification -- before assessing its appellations, the individual wine producers (chateaux or wineries), and, of course, the wines themselves.

Enjoying Wine. Tom Stevenson provides practical guidelines on wine tasting, while an "author's choice" chart at the end of each section lists the very best wines. A star-rating system identifies the finest producers and highlights those offering the best value. A "taste chart" explains how to identify the flavors in a wine, and a "troubleshooter's guide" spots common wine flaws.

Whether you are a newcomer wanting to explore the pleasures of wine or a wine enthusiast looking for inspiration, The New Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia is the book to consult again and again.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #179239 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 664 pages

From Amazon.com
If you want to learn about wines of the world and advance your comprehension of wine production, grape varieties, appellations, and individual wineries, understand the factors (such as location, soil, climate, and methods of viticulture) that affect the taste and nose, and visit your wine shop with a list of quality wines to explore, Tom Stevenson is the man to read. Author of 12 books (including Champagne and The Millennium Champagne & Sparkling Wine Guide), three-time winner of the Wine Writer of the Year award, and columnist for Wine magazine, Stevenson has the gift of taking vast quantities of knowledge and experience and translating them into lucid, sparkling prose, easily graspable by the novice, yet still interesting and instructive to the connoisseur.

Arranged geographically, with nearly 100 maps, profiles on top producers, and valuable Author's Choice charts for each region, the Wine Encyclopedia covers the wines of Europe (from Great Britain and Switzerland to Southeast Europe, Greece, and the Levant), as well as wines from North and South Africa, North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. In addition, there's a guide to wine and food (pairing fois gras with a Champagne or Sauterne, for example, and claret or Cabernet Sauvignon with beef), a guide to wine flavors (making sense of descriptors such as fig, gooseberry, violet, and hay), a list of good vintages, and a glossary of tasting and technical terms, distinguishing "cheesy" and "chewy" from "creamy" and "corked." Enhanced by beautiful pictures of vineyards, wine labels, and Stevenson himself demonstrating the art of wine tasting, from examining and nosing the wine to spitting it out, this a visually beautiful as well as an informative volume. As sumptuous as an elegant Tuscan Barolo, as rewarding as a Sarget de Gruaud-Larose from Bordeaux, as pleasing as a Ferreira port, the Sotheby Wine Encyclopedia is a remarkable tome of oenological erudition. --Stephanie Gold

From Library Journal
DK's offerings are nearly unrivaled for clarity, design, authority, and superb organization, and this newest title maintains the same high standard, making it easy to find information. This updated edition of Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia (1988) has been expanded from 480 to 600 pages. The introduction covers "factors affecting taste and quality," with excellent discussions on assessing and tasting wine, vine training, and soil ("rock-speak"); the glossary on grape varieties is a condensed dead ringer for Jancis Robinson's Vine, Grapes, and Wines (1986. o.p.). The body of the work is divided by country, region, or continent, then further by appellations or areas. Lavish maps, illustrations, and photographs impart sensuality to these minilessons, and each important geographical chunk ends with a list of recommended wines, called "author's choice." Stevenson is an internationally respected expert (thrice "Wine Writer of the Year") who brooks little departure from tradition. For example, when rating wines (his system ranges from 1 to 3 stars), he rarely assigns a three to outstanding wines outside of France. Among his recommendations are many available and affordable choices, yet in uncompromising fashion, he suggests that the budget alternative to champagne with caviar should be mineral water. An essential purchase for wine collections.?Wendy Miller, Lexington P.L., Ky.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Clive Coates
A tour de force, a triumphant success for which I have the highest praise. (First Edition)

Customer Reviews

Best single-volume general wine reference I know of
In the "wine-drinking" countries (which excludes the US, by about a
factor of 10 per capita), a knowledge of wine at the casual level is
pretty widespread. When people want to know more, they turn to
an expert. This is typically someone who has spent his or her life
in some part of the wine trade and therefore whose livelihood has
depended on ability to satisfy, and accurately advise, customers.
There are even highly respected standards such as the British
Master of Wine examination that will establish whether a person
genuinely knows the subject and can also smell and taste all of the
nuances that he claims to. (The MW exam is notoriously revealing
and would undoubtedly depopulate overnight the ranks of the
self-appointed US wine pundits, which may be why many of them
pointedly avoid reference to it.) In the US, which lacks most of
these traditions, any musician or sportswriter or lawyer can claim
to be a wine expert and there's a fair chance they'd get a Following,
self-perpetuating on the basis of popularity.

Fortunately in the US, relying on such writers is not (yet) compulsory.
It is possible to get books by English-language writers of very high
caliber and experience, who mostly are in other countries (such as
Clive Coates, Serena Sutcliffe, Remington Norman, and Michael
Broadbent). Stevenson comes from this tradition, and although his
book is not as specialized as those of the other authors I've just
named, it is compensatingly broad. There is a desperate need for
accessible one-volume introductory wine books. Blake Ozias's "All
About Wine" served this need in the US, 25 or 35 years ago, but it
is badly out of date (not to mention out of print); it was a thin book
you could absorb in a few evenings. Stevenson's is different, it is
a genuine encyclopedia, combining succinct overviews of all kinds
of wine-making regions (including Texas and Mexico) with further
depth on producers and labels in the larger regions. The compact
snapshot on Beaujolais, for example, is superb, first laying out the
history and styles, then illustrating many producers that you will in
fact encounter in the shops. It distinguishes the deep, complex
wines that the region can make from the bubble-gum style that has
become more common recently. More generally, if you found a
random bottle of wine that you were interested in, there is a decent
chance you could look it up in Stevenson and learn much more.

This is the best single-volume general wine reference I'm currently
aware of. I have recommended it to several people who wanted to
learn more about wine and all of them have been very satisfied.

A great reference and coffee table book
This book is of general interest to the wine enthusiast. It is well presented and interesting to read. At the same time it functions as a reference guide. An excellent buy.

Best reference in wine
This book is the ultimate, in wine appellation references. It covers law and grape varietals very well. The only place it lacks is any reference to the grapes grown for spirits. If you have only two books with which to study for the sommelier exam, this should be one. (the other is: Sales and Service for the Wine Profesional. by Brian Julyan)