Required Reading – Wine Folly: The Essential Guide to Wine

Justin Hammack, founder, and Madeline Puckette, the creative wine guru of one of my favorite sites, Wine Folly, have written a book that everyone should be required to read – Wine Folly: The Essential Guide to Wine. From wine newbies to seasoned sommeliers, what’s there not to love about this easily understood, incredibly informative, thorough, and unpretentious guidebook? Nothing! This book answers the wine questions you never even knew you had!

Fundamentals of wine include the basics (everyone’s favorite subject, sulfites, is addressed), tasting tips so you can assess the profile of a wine like the pros, how to handle your wine (what is “room temperature” anyway?), and food and wine pairing suggestions…all are made surprisingly fascinating. The many styles of wine, from sparkling to aromatic white wine to full bodied red wine to dessert wine, are explained with detailed and straightforward charts. Each wine’s flavor profile, list of regions where it is grown, and food pairings are written in such a vivid way that you’ll refer to this book again and again. I love the section about the wine regions of the world where you can find maps, top wines in those regions, terms, and answers to those questions that have been bothering you for awhile. Seriously, you’ll finally be able to figure out where Chateauneuf-du-Pape is located and what the heck GSM really means.

But how did these two innovative authors make a complex subject so explicit? My new favorite must-have is written for the visual you with comprehensive, colorful infographics, twenty detailed wine maps, charts and narratives, bullet points identifying succinct facts, easily readable fonts that I love (yes, I’m also a font freak…), and chapter headings that actually make sense. Wine Folly: The Essential Guide to Wine includes links to how-to-videos, a plethora of articles, resources, and more.

After reading this book, you’ll be wine literate but not a wine snob (whew!). You’ll be able to pronounce the name of a wine correctly (Claret is Claire-ette), navigate a wine list so you’re able to choose a new favorite, and have a meaningful conversation about the fruit of the vine without embarrassing yourself(you’ll now learn what tannins really are…). And so much more!

Perfect to give for someone’s birthday, to your favorite host or hostess, or to share “just because”, you can bet that Wine Folly: The Essential Guide to Wine book will be on my site’s annual holiday gift guide in December. Just don’t forget to purchase one for yourself for $25 at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Nook, and more. Check out the links here.

Madeline and Justin have made wine knowledge accessible without intimidation. Interesting and entertaining, Wine Folly: The Essential Guide to Wine must be in your hand…the one that is not already holding the wine glass!

Cheers ~ Cindy

Note: Thank you to Madeline Puckette for graciously sending me a complimentary copy of Wine Folly: The Essential Guide to Wine for review. I love it! ~