Novices will swoon over this handsome, lovingly photographed, generally quite beautiful guide to the basics of the wine world. As the name suggests, this is a first course in wine, and the book dutifully walks through some of the first questions a new wine consumer might have. What different grapes look like, where they’re grown, how wine is made, what to drink with different kinds of wine… that kind of thing. This is the kind of book that trots out the full-page chart of what you call oversize wine bottles (27 liters is a Goliath!), even though anyone reading this book will never encounter wine in that capacity.

There are many, many photos of vineyards in all their glory here… though not much explanation about why the wine lover should care about them (aside from their natural beauty). There are a few pages on offer about viticulture basics, but this is never tied into the art in the book. Similarly, despite copious photos of wine labels (many larger than life), only a few pages give the reader information on how to read them.

Still, for a “first” course in wine, this is a book that at least gets the basics down in a rudimentary fashion. It doesn’t hurt that it looks nice on the shelf, too.

B- / $19 / [BUY IT AT AMAZON]

A First Course in Wine

$19

7

Rating

7.0/10

BUY IT NOW

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