Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia: Fourth Edition, Revised
by Tom Stevenson
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Book Reviews of Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia: Fourth Edition, Revised
Book Review: Fantastic Reference
Summary: 5 Stars
This bood gave detailed notes about many of the wineries I was looking for an objective rating/score by an independent source.
I read it for hours and constantly refer back to it.
Great buy!
Book Review: In-depth details about every wine-growing region from traditional to new - including those of emerging areas
Summary: 5 Stars
If only one wine reference encyclopedia is to be purchased, The Southeby's Wine Encyclopedia: The Classic Reference To The Wines Of The World should surely be a strong contender: it's now in its 4th edition, has been fully updated, and is the only single volume that maps and provides in-depth details about every wine-growing region from traditional to new - including those of emerging areas. Each region receives an analysis of appellations, taste and quality, winning producers, and offerings. Add rating systems, small color photos of labels and vineyard descriptions and you have a real winner.
Book Review: A Feast For Oenophiles
Summary: 4 Stars
When I first reviewed this book, I must have been on crack. I gave it four stars, but accused it of leaving out "almost unforgivable" information. Looking through it again, I'm shaking my head, wondering if I was looking at a different book, perhaps Curious George, or Fox on Socks. The New Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia has information that is unavailable in any other credible book on wine.
This reference is AMAZING, and belongs on every wine lover's bookshelf, even if you have The Oxford Companion to Wine, The World Atlas of Wine, Ox Clarke's Encyclopedia of Grapes, and others. Many of the maps included in this book are superior to those found in The World Atlas of Wine (strangely odd), and nowhere can you find a more comprehensive listing of major wine producers. Every wine making country in the world is covered (as far as I know), and that is something lacking in other references. I don't mean to knock other references, but each reference has a slightly different slant, each provides information that the other doesn't. To me, this book, along with the aforementioned books, completes an unsurpassed reference quadrology.
If you're an oenophile, or a wannabe oenophile, you need this book on your shelf.
I offer my sincere apologies to the author for my earlier review.
Amazon's policies will not allow me to change the rating, but make no mistake: this is a five star book.
Book Review: Quintessential Reference Material
Summary: 4 Stars
An excellent and consise reference book. Well indexed and organised. Goes in depth where neccesary.Book Review: wide but superficial
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm a professional of wine working in Shanghai. I purchased this book in Amazon after the advise of a friend. I found the book to be interesting and a complete work, but I think his view sometimes lacks actuality. Although the author's mastery in wine tasting is out of discussion, his presentation of tasting is outdated: nowadays nobody can asses the origin of a wine just by tasting: the examples the author proposes are valid just in a ideal world without Australian Shiraz-Mourvedre, South African Cabernet-Merlot or Californian Zinfandel (otherwise rightly commented in his book).I can't help but bring here the review of "Toro" wine growing area. The author dispatches this area with few words, the last of them to tell us "among the many dirty cellars I have seen in my life, this one in Toro is the filthiest". This is the only comment he makes about wine cellars on that area. I bought also "The Oxford Companion to Wine" and Robert Parker's sixth edition of Wine buyer's guide. In "The Oxford Companion to Wine", edited by Jancis Robinson, in this region "a small number of producers have fostered a move away from the heavy, bulk reds of recent times, notably Manuel Farina, Vega Sauco and Frutos Villar". Concise and accurate, like all the rest in this excellent book.
Mr. Parker has tasted the wines more carefully: this region" has adopted modern technology, and the results have been some rich, full-bodied, deeply flavoured, southern Rhone-like wine from wineries like Farina. They taste similar to the big, lush, peppery wines of France's Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas, and they represent astonishing values..." He found one of the wines produced there to be outstanding, and several others to be good.
Nobody would expect from a wine taster to have the last news from every piece of vineyard on the world, but the word from such a well-known, reputable professional is too heavy to be delivered so lightly.