Need some basic info

[Benjam]

Hi (from Australia),

Am am brand new to wines and want some basic info about what characterises the different types (e.g reisling, bordeaux, semillon). Does anybody know where I can obtain some very basic information (I don't even know the different types other that that listed above). Thanks kindly.

[Innkeeper]

Hi Benjam, and welcome to the Wine Board. An excellent book originally published in England and available in both of our countries is Michael Shuster's "Essential Winetasting." It covers how to taste wine, how wine is made, how wine is named, a comprhesive review of the winegrapes of the world along with their charaterisics, then he walks you through tastings of the specific wines, and ends with wine maps of the world, and an excellent glossary. It will run you around $40 Australian, and will greatly shorten your learning curve.

[fangi]

I'm also a big fan of Jancis Robinson's Wine Course. You can sometimes pick it up on half.com for half the retail price, which is usually around $30.00. There are also a set of videos that go along with it, but really the book is all you need. She also goes over everything from tasting to specific grape varieties and their origins. (she's witty too and best of all, there's lots of lovely pictures for the kid in you.)

good luck
bf