The Oxford Companion to Wine

The Oxford Companion to Wine

The Oxford Companion to Wine
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Book Summary Information

Editor: Jancis Robinson
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1994-11-17
ISBN: 0198661592
Number of pages: 1136
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Book Reviews of The Oxford Companion to Wine

Book Review: Structure of Oxford Guide
Summary: 4 Stars

The Oxford Guide is extraordinary by any measue. It's only flaw, and a major one, is that phoenetic spellings are not given for the wines and some of the vineyards, towns, et al. Even those who speak FLUENT French, Italian, German or whatever, will encounter unfamiliar names with pronunciations that may be a puzzle.

Summary of The Oxford Companion to Wine

There has never been a book like The Oxford Companion to Wine. From the novice to the connoisseur, wine lovers will be enlightened, informed and enchanted by this delightful one-volume guide to the world of wine. Beautifully designed and unrivalled in its scope, it is edited under the keen supervision of Jancis Robinson, heralded by The Wine Advocate as "perhaps the most gifted of all wine writers writing today," and one of the few journalists to pass the notoriously difficult Master of Wine exams. Going deeper than traditional buyer's guides and wine atlases, the Companion sought out contributions and advice from more than 70 authorities from around the world, including more than a dozen Masters of Wine. Its 3,000 alphabetically arranged entries range from brief entries--What is a blanc de noirs? Where is Chateau Latour?--to fascinating longer essays on the intricacies of wine scoring, wine aging, and the nuances of judging a wine's color, aroma and flavor. The sumptuous illustrations include 32 stunning full color plates and 31 maps of every major wine region.
As readable as it is comprehensive, the Companion recognizes wine in all its many roles--as a commercial commodity, as a complex and subtle work of art, and, of course, as a source of great pleasure. Ranging from Abruzzi and armagnac to Zimbabwe and Zinfandel, from Dionysian revels in ancient Greece to today's leading wine research centers, the entries explore all aspects of wine appreciation, the wine trade, and wine-making, including the very latest advances in viticulture and enology. All technical terms are fully explained, and the hundreds of useful drawings and photographs illustrate key processes. From the Napa Valley to Burgundy to China's Shandung peninsula, here are in-depth discussions of the climates, personalities, and grape varieties that have shaped the great wine regions of the world. Other single subject entries include the great winemakers, vintner's terms, hundreds of individual grape varieties, and some of the important names in the wine world, including American wine judge Robert Parker, and Michael Broadbent, head of Christie's Wine Department.
The Companion's stellar cast of contributors and consultants include wine correspondents, judges, wine merchants, historians, practical scientists, specialists from some of the world's leading institutions for the study of wine, including Professor A. Dinsmoor Webb of the University of California at Davis, and even a barrel broker. Other contributors include American wine educator and writer Harriet Lembeck, Thomas Pinney, author of A History of Wine in America, and Zelma Long, President of Simi Winery and the second woman ever to enroll in the Department of Enology at Davis.
Destined to become the ultimate reference on wine and wine-making, The Oxford Companion to Wine is the perfect volume to enhance a lifetime's enjoyment of the beverage Ernest Hemingway called "one of the most civilized things in the world."
With more than 3,000 entries on every aspect of wine from vine pests to specific grapes, this hefty tome has something for both the seasoned connoisseur and novice alike. Edited by one of today's premier wine columnists, the work covers all aspects of wine, travelling back in time to early Greece to examine wine's role in Dionysian revels, then returning to today's wine centers to explore all aspects of wine appreciation. A full third of the book is dedicated to specific wines and wine-producing regions. All those technical terms you've heard and puzzled over at tastings are clearly explained, making this the perfect reference for newcomers to the world of oenology.

For the true connoisseur, The Oxford Companion offers detailed information on the history of the vintner's art, as well as a plethora of details on everything from climate effects on vine disease to the function of the second malolactic fermentation. If you buy only one wine book, this should be it.

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