The New Wine Lover's Companion

• #28 in Best Wine Books

12 Reviews

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I wasn't aware that this was a dictionary of wine terms when I ordered it, so I wanted other prospective buyers to be aware that that's what this is. It is not written like a regular book.

For its purposes, it's great.

I am suprised that I am the first to review this book. I bought this book on the recommendation of someone who has been in the wine industry for 19 years. I, too, am in the wine biz and purchased this when I was starting and my knowledge was very limited. This book contains information on all words and terms associated with wine, from the genreal to the specific. It contains definitions for grapes, appellations, technical and scientific terms, wine making terms, etc. It also contains an appendix with useful information such as how to read a label, how to open a bottle, optimal serving temperatures for certain wines, bottle sizes and types, glassware, a wine aroma wheel, French classification systems,statistical tables...just to name some of the topics. Often, I pick up the book and just start flipping through a few pages and read.

This book is just as useful to the wine neophyte as it is to a master sommlier. If you have an interest in learning about wine, you really should have this book...the information inside is worth many times the price of this book.

I'm a budding neophyte, and refer to this book constantly. Whether I'm reading The World Atlas of Wine, the Complete Wine Course, Sotheby's Encyclopedia, Cote d'Or - whatever - I always turn to this book for help. It almost always provides me with the extra information I need to understand what I'm reading in the other books - and it comes with pronunciations!! While the information isn't as in-depth as The Oxford Companion to Wine, it is certainly easier to carry around. And again, there's that bit about the pronunciations...you have to have that...how else are you going to know, unless you're French or speak French, that Echezeaux, an important Grand Cru vineyard in Burgundy, is pronounced ay-shuh-ZOH.

The quote on the back cover from Harvey Steiman of the Wine Spectator attracted my attention to this book. He says "Wine Lover's Companion packs a tremendous amount of useful, intriguing information about wine. This book is a joy to use-information is what it is all about." As I browsed through it I could see what he was talking about. I purchased it about a month ago and have learned so much. At 15 bucks it's worth every cent and more. I just got interested in wine about 3 months ago and have looked through a couple of the "introductory" wine books and although they are useful, Wine Lover's Companion is the one I go to first to look up a new term or find out about a wine growing region or how to pronounce something (I haven't seen another wine book address this at all). If you're new to the world of wine this is a must have.

This book is an awesome wine reference, containing a wealth of information. The perfect compliment to "The Food Lover's Companion"

This book was my favorite dealing with wine. It contains much of the same info as the Oxford Companion, but you can hold it in your hands and carry it about. It contains very useful information if you are learning about wine. Also has a great pronunciation guide for wine terms.

Whether you are new to wine or are a Cork-dork, this book, written in an easy to understand manner, is an excellent resource. The New Wine Lover's Companion is a must-have for any kitchen or wine library.

I purchased this book as a gift and my husband loved it. Yes, It is a dictionary so no pictures just words! It is a great addition to the "Complete Wine Course" by Kevin Zraly. Its small format is great to take along to diners or wine tasting party.
Great value for the price.

Bought this as a gift for a friend who is a fine wine lover. She says it is a great gift and she is able to refer to it frequently with surprising answers to her questions and items of interest that she had not heard about. Very nice and received in a timely manner.

This is the be all end all of information as far as wines are concerned. We keep a copy in the shop at all times for new employees, and when they encounter a question on a certain varietal or terminology, it answers all the customers questions. Highly recommended.

If you love food and wine, this book is the perfect companion to the Food Lover's Companion. It's the ultimate dictionary for wine terminology.

I too am surprised there are not more reviews on this book. I notice that the first edition (The New Wine Lover's Companion is the second edition) received a 5 star rating from Amazon reviewers. I have the first Wine Lover's Companion and couldn't do without it. This updated version is even better. As the introduction indicates much has been added regarding countries like Australia, Chile, and New Zealand. It also contains more viticultural and winemaking terms and the Appendix section is even better. I was slightly disappointed to see that wine producers had been dropped but I realize that the new book has grown to 667 pages. So I think the authors were right in doing this. This book is packed with information-the owner of a wine bar I frequent is always using it to look up information and so far it has not disappointed. And last but not least are the phonetic pronunciations that exist throughout the book to help those of us who sometimes stumble over some of the foreign terms. Kudos to the Herbsts. I would give the New Wine Lover's Companion 6 stars if that were possible.