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of a book re-printed as recently as 1997 (3rd edition in this case, which is the one I have at home) as being BADLY out of date, but when it comes to wine, that's par for the course.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