A construction guide for home wine cellars based on the science of deep soil temperatures. Invokes modern readily available materials and standard construction techniques. Ideal for the do-it-yourselfer or hired carpenter. Also reviews wine purchasing and consuming strategies, bin design and construction, how to organize a wine tasting group, and more. An underground classic, first published in 1983. Revised third edition. Over 24,000 copies in circulation. The only serious treatment of the subject.

Customer Review: Outdated Book

This book appears to be full of good information. I used it to construct two small cellars, both using refrigeration. They measured up to 7' x 12'. For my third cellar (the collection just keeps growing) I hired a consultant, and discussed the cellar with several others. All disagreed with some of the very basic principles in Gold's book. He may have been first out with this information, but the book is not up to date. If you are undertaking a serious project, especially if it is underground, you are better off hiring a consultant with experience. As another reviewer pointed out, some of the information in the book is contradictatory. Some is just wrong. Some is useful only for cold weather climates.

Customer Review: A great gift idea

I've been thinking about building a wine cellar and was given this book as a gift. I couldn't be happier. The book is not only informative, it is clear and well-written. What's more, I took Dr. Gold up on his offer to follow up with him with any questions. He got right back to me with some helpful advice, and even an unsolicited wine tip!

If you know someone who's interested in wine or thinking of building a cellar, this will make a most welcome gift. And if you're thinking of building a cellar of your own, then treat yourself. You'll be glad you did.

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A fresh look at a timeless subject, Williams-Sonoma Wine & Food approaches wine and food pairing from the perspective of the cook.

Organized around flavor groups instead of grape varietals, and lavishly illustrated with full-color photographs, this book shows just how easy it can be to incorporate wine into everyday meals. Joshua Wesson, a leading wine and food pairing expert and the co-founder of Best Cellars, tackles the basics of wine -- from regions, to grape varietals, to evaluating a wine using all your senses. He also offers a primer on wine and food pairing, which deconstructs both into their respective building blocks -- aromas, tastes, and textures. Through clear text and colorful, evocative images, you'll learn the simple art of complementing and contrasting these sensual elements to form an array of pleasing matches.

Wine & Food includes fifty easy, delicious recipes for all types of plates -- from appetizers, to sea food, to poultry, to pork, to desserts. Organized around unique wine styles with common flavor profiles, each recipe offers suggestions for specific wines from both old and new regions, as well as alternative wines from other chapters. The book also includes sample menus for entertaining, or you can create your own -- the possibilities are endless!

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A Captivating, Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Making of a Premium California Wine Situated amidst the lush soils of Sonoma County in the heart of California's wine country, the Ferrari-Carano Vineyards produce some of the best-loved wines in America. Founded by casino mogul Don Carano and his wife Rhonda just over twenty years ago, the winemaker has won praise from consumers and connoisseurs alike for its affordably priced premium bottles, particularly its Fumé Blanc. In A Very Good Year, award-winning journalist Mike Weiss goes behind the scenes at this renowned winemaker to tell the story of how a bottle of this wine is created, from the first grapes picked by the hands of Mexican migrant workers to the vintage's initial public tasting at the Four Seasons in New York. Weiss's intimate look at the 2002 Fumé Blanc reveals the delicate interaction between water, sunlight, soil, and climate that produces grapes with the precise flavors sought by its growers-as well as explaining how a winemaker's decisions during the fermenting processes can bring out subtle changes in the distinctive flavors, such as the grassy melon bouquet that is the hallmark of this vintage. Weiss also looks at how ""The Story"" of a winery drives its marketing identity, is reflected in such decisions as the shape of its bottle and the style of its label, and can often decide the crucial difference of whether it is included on the lists of the country's best white-tablecloth restaurants. Along the way, A Very Good Year brings to life the colorful characters behind Ferrari-Carano: an obsessive fourth-generation vineyard manager who can predict an early spring based on the behavior of local bass; a star winemaker who must decide the precise blending methods based on elaborate chemistry and a supposition of what reviewers want to taste; the effusive sales and marketing guru behind the powerful brand; and at the center of it all is Don Carano, a successful entrepreneur who has entered the wine business not as a millionaire dilettante but as an ambitious winemaker with an eye toward creating a vintage that will garner international acclaim. Insightful and intoxicating, A Very Good Year is a delight to be savored by the oenophile and novice alike.

Customer Review: The nose is complex, but the finish is disappointing

I was looking for a change of pace in my reading selections, and thought that I was going to get it with Mike Weiss', "A Very Good Year, " a chronicle about the intricacies of the wine industry.

What I got instead was a curious kind of viticultural deja vu.

After only a few pages I found myself back in "Moneyball" mode - only this time instead of following a baseball team around for a year, Weiss treats us to a year at the Ferrari-Carano vineyards. With open access (generally speaking) to all participants in the operations, from Don and Rhonda Carano to the scores of Mexican vineyard workers and their migratory family lives, the author provides vivid descriptions of the numerous details that are required to produce a quality wine.

And, the details are many, and the decisions are numerous and critical, such as "the Story," label composition, marketing and pricing strategy, cork selection (an amazing process), type of vine selection, soil composition, sugar content, crop size, Spanish speaking requirements, vineyard hierarchical culture, weather patterns and even the politics behind scoring positive reviews by The Wine Spectator.

We are provided with (muted) insight of the relationship/infighting between the meticulous grower and the fastidious winemaker.

All of this is very interesting stuff. In fact, good and bad, Weiss makes you appreciate what it takes just to get a glass of wine to a consumer. Unfortunately, the book is confounded too often by a writing style that is a bit disjointed, often repetitive, and a little disorganized. There is too much intrigue [albeit restrained] about the operational personalities, and the field workers at Ferrari-Carano, and too little clarity regarding why some wines taste better and cost more than others.

In the end, the book becomes a metaphor for the wine it primarily covers, Ferrari-Carano's "Fume Blanc." After describing the complexities of all the tedious decisions surrounding vineyard operations, and their ultimate proclamations that the 2002 vintage is among their best, critics scored their flagship wine as a disappointment. But, I am not sure that we ever understand why, despite the perfect growing conditions, excellent fruit composition and the record crop yield.

In the same respect, I believe that wine making is such an interesting subject among wine drinkers that more clarity by the author would have yielded a better product. For instance, there is more detail regarding the lives and times of the Mexican immigrants than clarity regarding the fermenting process (too oblique). This is really what wine lovers want to know - why do the wines of one vineyard taste differently from other vineyards even when they use the same grapes, or share the same geography?

Still, even though the true-life ending of the 2002 Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc was a disappointment, "A Very Good Year" does provide a significiant amount of information regarding the significant challenges inherent in the wine industry, and is well worth reading.

Customer Review: The Business Behind the Wine

Mike Weiss doesn't know much about wine. He says so himself, and if he hadn't, there are enough misstatements in the first few pages of A Very Good Year to give him away. Nevertheless, he has written an enormously successful book that will offer new insights and perspectives to even the most sophisticated student of wine. Because Weiss sets himself a task that makes extensive knowledge of wine unnecessary, he isn't tripped up by his lack of expertise: "I had proposed looking deeply into a bottle of California wine in order to find the whole epic of contemporary California in a single bottle of its symbolic product, its face to the world." [p.5]
Weiss's book supports the premise of mine: that wine books aren't necessarily about wine, and it suggests that these books may sometimes have a broader purpose. In his case, the book explores George Bursick's very successful Ferrari-Carano 2002 as thoroughly as any good biographer would explore his subject. Weiss's biography is successful on two counts. First, it details the various skills that go into getting a bottle of wine to the table. Weiss is a good reporter, so he makes those skills come to life. We meet the winemaker and the winegrower. We see the cooperation and tensions between them. We see the reality of agriculture and the demands of viticulture, all wrapped up in an accountant's balance sheet.
Weiss also has a disarmingly frank view of the nature of wine marketing. His book opens with the words: "In the beginning was The Story." [p.11] Weiss acknowledges that in order to succeed in the wine business, you need a good myth as much as you need good wine. He reveals the laborious process of building the myth, of creating the right package, of fashioning--if not fabricating--the homey image that goes along with it. He tells us about the strategy of getting the wine into restaurants and about the endless series of incentives that make that placement possible.
But Weiss does even more than that: He gives us a taste of Emile Zola, Charles Dickens, and Tom Wolfe. We also meet the Mexican workers whose hands actually tend the grapes. We ride along with the noisy machinery of harvest and tiptoe through the toxic chemicals that sanitize the winery. His is an intensely real view of the wine world, a perspective that is distinct from the romantic treatment usually found in the wine press. And for that, it's all the more refreshing and worthwhile.

--Lynn Hoffman, author of THE NEW SHORT COURSE IN WINE and the forthcoming
novel bang-BANG from Kunati Books.ISBN 9781601640005

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Sonoma Valley: the name alone evokes a wonderful sense of warmth, beauty, and magic. On hearing it, one envisions landscapes of sparkling rivers, verdant, vineyard-banked hillsides, and sunshine―in short, paradise. Having had this dream, those lured by the spell of Sonoma arrive to discover a place far more spectacular than imagined. In Sonoma Valley Style, author Kathryn Masson and award-winning photographer Steven Brooke offer us an intimate tour of this extraordinary place. By way of brilliant, full-color photography and lucid prose, we gain privileged entry into the stunning houses and easy lifestyle of this lush Eden.
Sonoma Valley Style illustrates, in full color, extraordinary, restored and lived-in Mexican-period adobes, 19th-century Victorian farmhouses, early 20th-century craftsman bungalows, modern “California” ranch houses, and contemporary residences on the cutting edge of design.

Customer Review: Contrasts and highlights a variety of elegant homes, from restored Mexican adobes to Victorian farmhouses

Author Kathryn Masson is a native Californian with access to some of the finest private homes and gardens in the area: Sonoma Valley Style: At Home In California's Wine Country pairs lovely color photos by Steven Brooke of both exteriors and interiors with Masson's feature of wine country homes and weekend retreats. Each home receives descriptions of the homeowner's goals, collaborations between architects and builders, and review of unique design attributes and challenges. From a historic Craftsman farmhouse to a 21st century interpretation of Arts and Crafts style, Sonoma Valley Style contrasts and highlights a variety of elegant homes, from restored Mexican adobes to Victorian farmhouses.

Customer Review: High Quality Writing/Photography/Printing

Sonoma Valley is not far from it's better known neighbor Napa Valley. What that really means is that it's not nearly as crowded with tourists. Still prime wine growing country the first vinyards date from the middle 1800's. It also seems that wine people tend to not be poor. The houses from the old vinyards are classical and elegant. The houses from the new vinyards are not bad either.

In this book you'll see a lot of kitchens with Viking type stovetops. There aren't many stoves from Sears purchased second hand. The book is a description of some of the more elegant houses in Sonoma Valley. It is profusely photographed by Steven Brooke an architectural photographer of reknown. His works include books on Rome, Jerusalem, Savannah, Napa and others. His pictures have a warm, creamy look that I find very inviting. The description that goes with the houses combines descriptive information with history and tales of the people who buile/remodeled them.

The book is about what you would expect of a coffee table book on a region: high quality pictures, high quality writing, high quality printing.

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With this guide you can learn everything you need to know to choose and enjoy wines of all kinds. You can be confident about buying, trying, and talking about wine. The book provides solid information about the most important types of wines, friendly advice in an easy-to-understand format, and tips, definitions, and warnings to help you along the way.

Customer Review: Perfect Gift

I bought this book for a wonderful friend who is starting to learn about wines. Even though the book was used, I was surprised at the truly wonderful condition it arrived in. I would order from this retailer again. Prompt delivery.

Customer Review: A brief comment

Because of all the snobbery surrounding wine I found the idea of an "Idiot's Guide" sort of funny, what with all the pretention and slender or even false erudition masquerading as the final word in the area. But Seldon's book peels back the highly polished surface but ultimately thin facade of the wine world to give you the basic, unbiased, and unvarnished truth and information that you need.

Every aspect of wine and wine appreciation is discussed, from how to open a bottle to understanding the many different varietals, wine growing, wine making, the effect of climate and terrain, and of course wine tasting and appreciation as well. The well written, clear and concise text make the book easy and enjoyable to read. I've read a number of other books on wine and I still learned a lot from this book. It would be a great choice for a beginner to start with, and even if you're more of an intermediate and advanced wine afficianado, you'll probably still learn something from this book.

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Oz Clarke's perennial bestseller The Essential Wine Book is one of the most original and diverting wine volumes ever published. Now this conversational encyclopedia of wine, which provides complete coverage of all wine regions of the world, has been revised, updated, and expanded to reflect the latest changes in the fast-developing world of wine.

Clarke's extraordinary wine-tasting talents and eloquence combine in this beautifully illustrated book to produce a resource for every wine lover, whether a newcomer or a longtime aficionado. With his trademark combination of hard facts and breezy practical advice, Clarke outlines what makes each wine work -- what it tastes like, why it's different from its neighbors, and most important, whether it is worth seeking out.

Each chapter covers a different wine-producing region of the world and includes:

• A lively introduction to the region, with useful maps

  and a full description of grape varieties cultivated and

  wine styles produced

• Evocative descriptions of the taste of the region's wines,

  explanations of how to read the local wine labels,

  evaluations of recent vintages, and recommendations

  for enjoying these wines with food

• Vintage ratings and tasting notes, along with useful summaries of the value-for-money and availability of specific wine styles

Customer Review: best beginner wine book period

This was my class text 12 years ago and is still the best beginners book on wine. It covers all the basics with no fluff. Read it twice, once before a vineyard tour and/or wine class and once after. Cheers!

Customer Review: Good, but superceeded (obsolete)

It's hard to think of a book re-printed as recently as 1997 (3rd edition in this case, which is the one I have at home) as being BADLY out of date, but when it comes to wine, that's par for the course.

Oz Clarke is one of the better, and less corrupt, wine writers out there, and I've enjoyed what few of his books I've read thus far.

Anyway, this book is one of his earlier offerings. Other books he's published since have rendered this obsolete (not that I was very surprised), and I have no doubt that it will soon drop out of print entirely.

It's a good book, but Clarke focused a tad too much on specific vineyards and vintages. His more recent books (those appearing on Amazon anyway) appear to have shifted emphasis to grapes and regions (a wise decision, IMNSHO). He still covers vineyards and vintages, though, and as time goes by those newer books will become dated in turn as a result ... as all books on wine invariably do.

BOTTOM LINE: Although it's a good book, it's been superceeded by more recent offerings by the same author, and is about to go out of print. Save your money.

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Tucked between the foothills of the Alps, the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and the beginning of the Panonian plains to the East, Slovenia is a beautiful land in Central Europe. Slovenia emerged fairly recently with a resilient culture and rich arts scene that has caused tourism to flourish. In Flavors of Slovenia, Hippocrene presents perhaps the only comprehensive guide to the country's cuisine.

Ranging from such perennial favorites as Friko (hearty Potato Pancake), zlinkrofi (Meat Dumplings), Bakala (Dried Salt Cod Pate) and Kostanjeva Juha (Chestnut Soup) to more unusual preparations like Crni Rizoto (Black Risotto with Squid, ink included) and Mezerli (Baked Encrusted Pig or Veal Lung-a version of Haggis), Slovenian fare is both hearty and wholesome. Tales such legendary locals as the `sunshine salesman' and a Slovenian Robin Hood along with ghosts and fairytale castles also bring the culture alive in this unique volume.

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Patterned after the successful Books to Check Out series, this clever journal is perfect for novice and veteran oenophiles alike who want to keep track of their favorite red, white, ros , sparkling, and dessert wines and includes a pocket for storing labels and reviews.

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Back by popular demand, this guide to grape cultivation covers everything from establishing the vineyard to vine ailments. Suitable for both amateur and commercial growers, it considers viticulture conditions throughout North America.

Customer Review: Wine Growers Guide - Good intro

This is an entry level book with lots of practical information. If you are considering starting a vineyard (even a few vines)this book is worth the money. Be sure and read it BEFORE you buy & plant...it may keep you from making rookie mistakes.

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