Rating: 5/5
Review:
An excellent little guide
I think this is an excellent little guide to red wine. I suspect there are a lot of people like me out there who enjoy wine and are interested in it but don't study it particularly seriously. I have picked up a bit of knowledge from labels, books, TV and programmes and the like, I know quite a few grape varieties and a reasonable number of regions in quite a diverse range of countries and so on but I'm not really any sort of expert. If you're one of us, I think you'll like this book.
Peter Grogan is knowledgeable and keen to share his knowledge in a straightforward, comprehensible way. He has little time for the self-absorbtion and pretension which abounds in parts of the wine world, but recognises real quality when he sees it and does his best to describe wines clearly while avoiding the more absurd flights of fancy which some critics go in for. The style, in short, is readable and comprehensible and I've enjoyed browsing as well as using this as a basic reference.
The book is decently set out (although, oddly, there's no Contents page, just an index at the back) with good sections on the winemaking process, major grape varieties and major (and more minor) winemaking regions of the world. It is up-to-date, which is very important at the moment because the winemaking world is changing so rapidly and written with the average drinker in mind. Grogan does mention the top, super-expensive wines, but is more concerned with guiding people with more realistic drinking ambitions toward decent wine and away from poor stuff. He does it very well, I think, and I can see me looking into this pretty regularly as I'm making decisions or I hear of unfamiliar wines.
I think this is well worth a look if you're an ordinary wine drinker with a bit of an interest. I like it a lot and can recommend it.
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