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Do you know how to:
* Get a broken cork out of the bottle?
* Remove that red wine stain from your white sofa
* Open a champagne bottle without putting someone s eye out
* Read a wine list as long as the New York city phonebook?

You may not, but Laurie Forster does. In The Sipping Point she reveals the real essentials of wine . . .

In The Sipping Point, find out how to:
* Order wine when you re out to dinner
*Simplify food pairings
* Handle awkward wine moments
* Bounce back the morning after and more!

With over 125 pages of wine essentials, beautiful color photos and inspirational wine quotes this book is perfect for your wet bar, kitchen or library where you ll refer to it over and over again. The Sipping Point not only contains the basics but also secrets that wine professionals use to taste, buy and enjoy wine with ease. This is a great gift for any wine lover on your list . . .

Customer Review: Great Little purse book

I just used this book at dinner the other night. We ordered a great bottle of wine and I often hold the glass in my fingers. Not any longer. The appropriate holding is at the stem. And we used the sommelier to guide us in our wine choice. There are many helpful hints and reminders in this small guide. Easily readable suggestions put you at ease whether wine tasting, storing or dinner drinking. Thanks for keeping it simple.

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Customer Review: Maps and small black and white photos accompany specific details on each winery's special offerings

Philip Goldsmith's Northern California Wine Country blends the author's firsthand experiences with the region with plenty of practical travel trips for getting the most from the wineries and vineyards of California. Maps and small black and white photos accompany specific details on each winery's special offerings, from Napa and Sonoma counties down to Santa Clara. Discussions include nearby accommodations, divided by price range for quick and easy planning.

Customer Review: A Wine Country Must-Have

As someone who is in the wine industry, I've never had a more borrowed book than this one. It is a great resource and I refer to it frequently for dining and activity options. Oh yeah and wineries of course. I especially enjoy the way it's written. It's very entertaining yet informative. For those of you with a no-nonsense way of life, this is the book for you.

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A lighthearted companion to the best-reviewed film of the year—a pocket-sized illustrated guide to the locations and wines featured in Sideways including maps, winery listings, tips for drinking wine, and Oscar®-winning dialogue.

Yesterday, you didn't know Pinot Noir from film noir.

Now, after seeing the marvelous movie Sideways, you are living the life uncorked, and this is the perfect little book to celebrate your own sideways journey. Inside you will find:
• Wine recommendations, tips for tasting wine, and a list of bottles featured in the film
• Places and wineries to visit in the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara County that were featured in the movie
• Excerpts from the Oscar®-winning screenplay
• Web sites and information for planning your own trip.

This hilarious and useful guide is fully illustrated in color with movie stills, location stills, and delightful drawings by artist Robert Neubecker, who created the film's poster.

Originally created as a specialty item for wineries and tourist sites, The Sideways Guide to Wine and Life has been featured widely in articles (USA Today, The New York Times, and Wine Spectator) about the Sideways phenomenon and the surge in Pinot Noir's popularity across the country. Now available in an expanded trade edition for the first time, this is a terrific gift and countertop book year round.

Customer Review: Not Worth Even $6.99

There is nothing really wrong with this guide, except that it's a waste of money, even the $6.99 it cost to buy. If you've read the book or seen the movie, or both, then there is really nothing in this guide that will be useful. There is only one reason that this guide exists, and that is take another few bucks out of the pockets of Sideways fans. I should have paid attention to the other reviews that are saying the same thing I am. From this reader/reviewer's standpoint, there is no good reason for this guide to have been published.

Customer Review: A mild vintage...

According to the introduction, "The Sideways Guide to Wine and Life" is meant to be a "celebration" of the movie, the novel, and wine country. If so, since the booklet is about an eighth of an inch thick and around the size of a CD case, it's a short and sweet one.

Those expecting a compilation of interesting trivia about "Sideways," along with details about wine and how it relates to life, will be disappointed. Much of the booklet consists of dialogue from the movie, various stills, and illustrations by the guy who did the poster. There are also some wine-related character quotes from the novel and the screenplay. The most interesting parts were a crude map of Miles and Jack's odyssey through the Santa Ynez Valley (including the addresses, websites, and phone numbers of their stops), a list of wines from the film, and some basic tongue-in-cheek wine tips.

This would be a nice little stocking stuffer for the wine lover and "Sideways" fan in your life. But don't expect transcendence. If you liked the movie and had to choose between this and the novel, then get the novel. It will be much more quaffable.

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Joanne Weir's enthusiasm for the land she calls "heaven on Earth" — the California wine country — suffuses this unusual cookbook. Weir's discovery that Northern California lies on the same latitude as Spain, Greece, Turkey, and southern Italy inspired her to make a culinary connection between them. Weir Cooking takes olives, goat cheese, crostini, mushrooms, and other local and seasonal ingredients and transforms them into rustic European-style dishes such as Crispy Polenta Cakes with Wild Mushroom Ragout, Warm Squid Salad with Tangerine Oil and Olives, and Grilled Leg of Lamb with Lavender and Rosemary Rub. In addition to the recipes, Weir explores the Northern California small-family farms and farmers' markets that provide the raw material for these delectable dishes. 80 full-color photographs and more than 120 original recipes are featured.

Customer Review: Fresh and Healthy

I, like many other readers, bought this cookbook after watching Joanne Weir prepare most of these recipes on PBS. Her ingredients are fresh, healthy and simple and they seemed to result in delicious meals. I also loved the fact that as a chef she seemed very at ease and therefore her recipes must reflect her basic approach. (That woman can use a butcher's knife in practically any situation!) I'm not very fond of long, involved recipes and have not yet encountered a problem with anything I have made, my only regret being that I wish that I had ingredients that look as ripe and fresh as Joanne's! I plan on ordering her next book as soon as possible.

Customer Review: A Beautiful Book!

The photographs are gorgeous, and Joanne's stories at the start of each chapter are wonderful. Her recipes are for the most part, easy to prepare, and everything is fresh and delicious...very little here in the way of processed or canned ingredients. Joanne is a gifted teacher...her PBS show is what made me buy this book. I think you will enjoy it, too.

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Each book in this bestselling series, edited by Hugh Johnson, the world's foremost wine writer, offers a comprehensive and inspirational guide to traveling in one of the world's top wine regions. Evocative descriptions of wine routes are accompanied by detailed maps showing the route and surrounding vineyards. Each title also includes the author's recommendations for hotels, restaurants, and producers.

Customer Review: A wonderful book for touring the Piedmont.

I was so surprised at how much I came to rely on this guidebook on our recent trip to the Italian Piedmont. There is really nothing like it -- little obscure roads that you would never consider taking are highlighted here because they lead to a wonderful winery or vineyard or restaurant. The suggestions and contact information for getting tours of vineyards and wineries that are not generally open were very helpful. The descriptions of the restaurants were nothing less than wonderful -- no matter where you were in the Piedmont, they had a recommendation which was almost always perfect. If you are driving in the Piedmont of Italy, if you enjoy and are interested in wine, and if you like great finds in restaurants which will not be covered over in tourists -- buy this book. A gem.

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VINUM: The Story of Roman Wine, through a blend of classical literature, archaeology and vineyard science, describes how the Romans perceived wine's significance in their everyday life at all levels of society, senator to slave.

Customer Review: In Vino Veritas

Vinum is is an attractive and very informative little book that tells us virtually everything we might want to know about the role wine played in the Roman world. How were the vines that produced it grown? Who made it and where? How was it harvested and prepared? How was it stored and shipped? How was it kept? Who drank it and what different qualities were available? What were Roman taverns like? Were Roman parties sometimes as wild as we think they were? What did the Romans think about wine? All of these questions, and more, are answered in a very readable text embellished with numerous colorful drawings, charts, photographs and maps. In fact, many of the areas of Europe where great wines are produced today also produced wines under the Romans, and even now not only are some of the grape varieties the same, but some of the growing methods are as well. Anyone who really likes wine ought to very much enjoy having this book.

Customer Review: A Great Taste of Ancient Rome

A sumptuous introduction to wine production, distribution, and consumption in the world of ancient Rome. VINUM is beautifully illustrated and produced, and it's an easy read. Would make a really nice present for anyone who enjoys drinking wine. But it's not only pretty and polished. Also a really good introduction for the academic reader -- student or teacher. Fleming carefully and fully documents ancient and modern sources, and he provides the reader with an excellent survey of the state of knowledge. The references point the way to further research. Especially recommended for wine connoisseurs, teachers of high school and undergraduate survey courses, and students in those courses.

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Even the French admit that Jancis Robinson is the "undisputed mistress of the kingdom of wine" (Le Figaro). Internationally renowned for her work in both television and print, she is the editor of the bestselling Oxford Companion to Wine and has won more than two dozen major awards around the world. Tasting Pleasure is her compelling account of a passion that began while studying at Oxford University.

Writing with Julia Child's authority, Elizabeth David's intelligence, and M.F.K. Fisher's verve, Robinson takes us on a journey through the world's finest cellars, most beautiful vineyards, and best restaurants. As she explores the universe of the grape--from Bordeaux to Australia and South Africa to California--we meet scores of colorful, wine-loving characters, including Philippe de Rothschild, Julian Barnes, Francis Ford Coppola, and Julio Gallo.

There are many books about producing and rating wine; this one is about enjoying it. Witty, revealing, and knowledgeable, in Tasting Pleasure Jancis Robinson has distilled twenty years in the wine world into a hugely entertaining read.

--Robinson received the 1995 Wine Literary Award from the Wine Appreciation Guild

"Our cleverest, most thoughtful wine writer . . . well known wherever wine is made or consumed." -Paul Levy, The Wall Street Journal

"Of all the wine writers in the world," proclaimed Robert Parker, "Jancis Robinson may well be the most gifted. . . . She is witty, brilliant, authoritative."

Customer Review: A Matter Of Perspective

If you want tasting notes and rankings, pick up Robert Parker or Hugh Johnson. This is a book about a life in wine, not a book about wine.

"Tasting Pleasure" is a ramble through Jancis Robinson's ascent into the heavens of the wine world. She's been very lucky, and has supported that luck with intelligence and hard work. In other hands, this story might have been insufferable; but Robinson's greatest gift may be her ability to keep a sense of perspective while progressing from one table laden with fine bottles to the next. She is well aware of the essential frivolity of what she does for a living, and also well aware of her good fortune.

N.B.: Unless you're totally fascinated with Jancis Robinson, there are sections that are easily skippable. The book remains, even so, a worthwhile addition to your wine library.

Customer Review: Just a Wine Lover?

I confess to a liking for books from those who are knowledgeable when it comes to wine. Perhaps it is more correct to say books that provide me with knowledge and personal insights. Jancis Robinson's "Tasting Pleasure" is a particularly insightful look into the birth and growth of a wine connoisseur. In some respects the stars align perfectly for Ms Robinson as she rises, very quickly, from tour guide to assistant editor of the British wine trade magazine Wine & Spirit in 1975, to Master of Wine in 1984, to author and TV presenter. However it is also clear that the considerable knowledge and experience that she gained during these years contributed significantly to the evolution of her career and to her current status. She has been privileged to taste some extraordinary wines in the company of some extraordinary wine tasters; Michael Broadbent to name just one. It is easy for those of us who are unlikely to rise to such heights of pleasure to fall into the trap of dismissing such experiences as conceited ramblings. But it should be appreciated that access to such wine completes the spectrum of tasting experiences available to the connoisseur; those of us who taste the great and the near great have to be satisfied with being somehow incomplete. What is interesting is that Ms Robinson prefers to call herself a Wine Lover, that is something we can all claim to be.

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