Robinson - Great wine made simple: straight talk from a master sommelier

Its a different world is something we think and hear a lot these days. In the revised Great Wine Made Simple, well explore and taste whats different and new in the wine world. A lot has changed, and yet tradition powers on, keeping us connected to the land and to our history, which has been washed in wine since ancient times.

But its a different world in other ways, too. Windows on the World, the place that did so much to shape American wine service and education and my own career, is now a memory both of beautiful times and of friends and family members lost and deeply missed every single day. To Tony Marden of Ladder 165 Brooklyn, thank you for finding and saving a keepsake photograph of my Windows times and for seeking me out to send it. I will never forget how thrilled you were to learn that the girl in the picture taken years ago at Windows on the World was not there on September 11. I think of the work and sacrifices of you and those in your firefighting family every day, with immense gratitude.

In my world there is a new family. It is amazing to live in a house with two of the most extraordinary men on earth. To my husband, John, thank you for love, passion, creativity, and integrity that I never dreamed possible in one man, plus something I never thought Id havea daughter. I get the joy of looking forward to a lifetime of aspiring to earn your gifts and of watching you teach and share them with our children. To Lucas, our pride and joy and the best big brother in the world, thank you for the privilege of being your mom. To our parents, Sharon and David McKinster and Mildred and Garner Robinson; and to the Niemeyers, Whittiers, Steinmetz-Firras, and Yeatses, thank you for being part of the birth of this new family. Heres to many years of toasting our milestones together.

To my dear friend Cindy Renzi, if I could offer just one sip of Champagne for each helping hand and creative idea of the last year alone, Id do itbecause youd end up with a lifetime supply of your favorite wine. And you deserve every drop!

To the professionals and friends whove guided and inspired me so much over the yearsKevin Zraly, my Court of Master Sommeliers colleagues, Dorothy Hamilton and the French Culinary Institute teamthank you for your friendship and for modeling the very best of the hospitality profession.

Thanks to Steve Rubin, Jennifer Josephy, Rebecca Holland, and Umi Kenyon of Broadway Books; John MacDonald, Charles Segars, Susie Romano, Stephanie Eno-Bianco, and the Fine Living Network team; Gordon Elliott, Sandy Green, and the Follow Productions crew; and Greg Duppler and the Target team, for helping me pursue a dream to share with millions of people a simple approach to wine.

To Kimberly Johnson and John McJunkin, thanks for bringing the spirit of this book to the cover; and to Napa Valleys Truchard family, thank you for letting us use your gorgeous vineyard to show everyone who picks up this book where heaven on earth is.

And to the waiters, vinters, wine students, and just wine lovers whove shared your thoughts, questions, enthusiasm, and expertise as Ive continued to explore this deeply historic, personal, and inspiring topic, thanks for helping to bring it to life for others in this revised edition. These pages are for you and because of you.

INTRODUCTION
Wine by the GlassAn Immersion Course

CHAPTER ONE
The Big Six Wine Grapes

CHAPTER TWO
What Does It Taste LikePutting Flavors into Words

CHAPTER THREE
News You Can Use on the Wine Label

CHAPTER FOUR
A Flavor Map of the Wine World

CHAPTER FIVE
Old World, New World: The Secret Weapon of Sommeliers

CHAPTER SIX
France: The Objects of Desire

CHAPTER SEVEN
A Little Italy

CHAPTER EIGHT
The Rest of the Wine World

CHAPTER NINE
Shop Talk: Buying Wine for All Occasions and Selecting Wine for Food

CHAPTER TEN
Corkscrews, Decanters, and All Those Glasses: Choosing and Using Wine Gear

APPENDIX A
Bordeaux Wine Classifications

APPENDIX B
Champagne House Styles

Wine by the Glass

An Immersion Course

For anyone who has ever picked up a book to try to learn about wine, Great Wine Made Simple will be like nothing youve ever read before. Thats because I dont teach wine by the book. I teach wine the easy way: by showing how different styles taste and how to understand the label. In teaching countless consumers and restaurant waiters, I have found my method to be the fastest, most powerful way imaginable to overcome all the everyday wine-buying handicaps. Youll never again have to fear:

Pricey bottles that dont deliver

Snobby wine waiters

Foreign languages

Wine lists the size of War and Peace

Cryptic labels

Most wine books, even the most basic, try to teach the technical facts about winethings like labeling laws, soil types, and industry jargon. Memorize these, the theory goes, and you will be able to buy and enjoy wine easily, applying your so-called wine knowledge at the wine shop, a restaurant, or in your own home.

For most people, reading and trying to memorize wine facts is boring and pointless. And after teaching hundreds of waiters and thousands of restaurant customers, I know that it almost never works. We all have high hopes when we buy these books, but as anyone whos ever read one of these titles knows, most of that academic stuff proves pretty useless when it comes to choosing a bottle in a store or restaurant. (I think a wine made from Gamay grapes grown in granite soil and made by carbonic maceration would be perfect for tonights dinner, dont you?)

Worse, the memorization approach is no fun. Who ever fell in love with wine by reading a textbook? I am convinced that scholarly books are the reason legions of open-minded readers, drowning in jargon but still helpless in wine stores and restaurants, fall out of love with wine.