Why do you need a NEW edition of Wine For Dummies (Wiley, 978-1-118-28872-6,
September 2012)? Well, Ed McCarthy and Mary Ewing-Mulligan wrote the
first edition in 1995, and the world of wine has changed tremendously
since then. It has even changed a lot since their fourth edition in 2006.
What has changed exactly? [excerpted from the book]
The wine world has an exciting new face thanks to the communities of
wine lovers who share opinions, chat, and blog on Internet sites like Wine
Review Online and Burghound.com,
and these voices are shaping new trends. In addition, great wine
shopping can also happen online. “When we wrote the fourth edition, we
bought almost all our wine in wine shops that we visited in person.
Although we still buy much of our wine in wine shops, these days we use
the Internet to find shops that sell the wines we want at the best
prices, and then we often purchase wine online,” say McCarthy and
Ewing-Mulligan.
New styles of popular wine are emerging, and a whole new approach to
food and wine pairing has taken root. Back in the era of the TV show Mad
Men, a few simple – and simplistic— rules guided people in selecting
wines for their meals. Today, the enormous range of wines available and
the eclectic gamut of food choices render yesterday’s easy rules
obsolete. Not only that, but today, science has documented that people
have inborn sensitivities or inborn tolerances to some of the
fundamental tastes present in foods and wines.
The wines of South America have come on strong, and they offer some of
the best values around (Chilean wineries with reasonable prices include
Calina, Caliterra, Carmen, Casa Lapostolle, and more). Wine grapes have
grown in Argentina and Chile since the mid-16th century; however,
Argentina’s source of vines was more diverse. Many vines came to
Argentina with the vast numbers of Italian and Basque immigrants and as
a result, Argentina boasts grape varieties, such as Bonarda and Malbec,
that are insignificant in Chile. The authors have ramped up coverage of
both countries to give you the inside track on these explosive wine
regions.
When most wine drinkers think about American wine, they think of
California. That’s not surprising—the wines of California make up about
90 percent of U.S. wine production. Gallo Winery is the largest winery
in the state, producing one out of every four bottles of wine sold in
the United States. But dozens of new California wineries have opened and
a few have gone out of business, many have improved, and a few have
slipped. The book’s recommendations reflect all these changes.
Remember those prices listed for wines worth trying in earlier editions?
Well, big surprise: just about all those prices have increased. But
don’t fear, because McCarthy and Ewing-Mulligan point out some bargains,
such as the white Mâcon and wines from one of Burgundy’s best-kept
secrets, the Côte Chalonnaise.
Several new vintages have occurred: Wine For Dummies, 5th Edition
gives you the lowdown on them throughout the book, and especially in our
vintage chart in the Appendix.
In addition, you’ll enjoy the always popular “Part of Tens,” where the
authors debunk ten wine myths, such as “a screw cap closure indicates a
lower-quality of wine,” “white wine goes with fish, red wine goes with
meat,” and “the quality of a wine is objectively measurable.”
And a Cheat
Sheet on Dummies.com includes a quick guide to wine pronunciation,
useful terms for describing wine (think “bouquet,” “tannic,” and
“oaky”), an easy wine identifier, and helpful hints for buying wine with
confidence.
Wiley
Adrienne Fontaine, 201-748-5626
afontain@wiley.com