Product Description

The definitive down-to-earth guide to choosing a high-caliber bottle of wine for a low price.

"Who else (besides yours truly) knows more about cheap wines than budget-conscious grape enthusiasts Kenji Hodgson and James Nevison?"
- Fred Lee, CBC's Man About Town

Nowhere has wine been explained and explored with less pretension than in Kenji Hodgson and James Nevison's Had a Glass series. The newest installment, Had a Glass: Top 100 Wines for 2008 Under $20, delivers more of the invaluable information and irreverent reviews that wine novices and experts alike have come to depend on.

Alongside the reviews, Had a Glass: Top 100 Wines for 2008 Under $20 delivers pretty much every other morsel of information the casual, yet dedicated wine drinker needs to know. Along with easy charts that decode varietals and offer suggestions, a glassware glossary and a section of food and wine pairings, Hodgson and Nevison even outline wines to match your frame of mind. Where can you find a good Wednesday wine for your middle of the week blues? Had a Glass: Top 100 Wines for 2008 Under $20.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #275022 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-18
• Binding: Paperback
• 168 pages

Review
Off-beat, but accurate ... a powerful combination when it comes to helping you select a wine. (Steve MacNaull The Okanagan Saturday )

About the Author

Kenji Hodgson and James Nevison each hold certification from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust of London. They formed their alliance out of a desire to make wine more fun and accessible, and write a weekly "Wine Guys" column in Vancouver's The Province newspaper.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Preface -- the juice

Had a Glass 2008 focuses on real wine, that is, real good wine. Wine your mother-in-law will like. Wine to buy by the case. Wine that begins tasty and ends even tastier. More than ever before, wine styles are diversifying in the under-$20 category. This means plenty of opportunity to be picky about what you drink.

While choosing the top 100 for Had a Glass, we do our best to keep our noses out of our wine glasses. Sure, wading through the jungle of wines means locking ourselves in a room with hundreds of bottles, a couple of corkscrews, and a very large spittoon. But we eventually emerge -- baring purple-stained teeth -- to get on with finding out what matters more than fruit concentration and tannin structure.

That is, what kind of wines people want to drink.

Balance Is Big

2008 is all about balance. The more people we talk to -- and share a glass with -- the more we hear the call for wines that aren't going to do a coup d'état at the dinner table. It's less about the fruit bomb and more about the finesse. It's about wine that goes with food. Even more so, it's about wines that deliver the complete package. Whether they're white or red, light- or full-bodied, oaked or un-oaked, we're after wines with harmony.

Organic Wine

We're drinking organic like there's no tomorrow. A host of wineries are jumping on the green wagon, either turning a new leaf or starting to broadcast their organic philosophy. For decades, the haphazard approach to organic wine set off oenophiles' alarm bells. In 2008, sustainable sipping doesn't mean compromising quality.

But when it comes to terminology, green is still grey. "Made from organically grown grapes" has become the accepted way to differentiate between organic farming and organic winemaking. The latter is rare, as great winemaking is nearly impossible without a few non-organic allowances.

However, indulging in a global selection of wine also means wading through a swath of differing legislation and certifying bodies, all with a unique definition of "organic." We're happy with the "made from organically grown grapes" slogan, but if you want to get technical, you could research endlessly to figure out each country's interpretation. If you're up for the task, we suggest that you at least have a glass of wine -- from organic grapes, of course -- on your desk.

Then there are those wineries that practise an organic philosophy but don't seek certification -- and don't advertise on their wine labels. They might not meet all points for full certification, they might practise a toned-down version of organic, they might be in transition to organic, or they might just be concentrating on making great wine -- and less on red tape. We might not be able to pick these off the shelf right away, but with a bit of investigation, it isn't hard to figure out who's into going green.

White Is the New Red?

We're happy to report a thirst-quenching number of amazing white wines in this 2008 edition of Had a Glass. Those sans skins stepped up to the palate in a big way. There's still nothing like a gargantuan glass of red to guzzle on a chilly evening, but when it comes to refreshment, easy sipping, the influx of Asian-influenced cuisine, and Saturday afternoons, nothing beats a chilled (or chill) glass of white wine.

White wine's popularity is rising. Red kept its sophistication factor for some years, but as wine quickly reaches peak popularity, the clichés are forgotten, and it's just as cool to drink white.

Labouring through the hundreds of wines for this book, we found many a complex, endearing white wine. From Gris to Grüner, there are some seriously superb white wines in this book.

Getting On with It

We're excited to present the Had a Glass picks for '08. We had a rollicking good time assembling one hundred drop-dead bottles. We hope you enjoy giving them a swirl.

Sip on,

Kenji and James