Book Review

[Innkeeper]

An excellent new book released this year is Andrea Immer's "Great Wine Made Simple", Broadway Books, ISBN 0-7679-0477-X. For those of you not familiar with her, Andrea is one of the rising stars in the wine world. She trained under Kevin Zraly at Windows on the World, where she went on to become beverage director and named Best Sommelier in America. She is currently beverage director for Starwood Hotels, and writes articles for several publications.

What makes this book different from others is that she has you taste your way through it. Each subject is followed by a tasting of appropriate wines to demonstrate her points, and she walks you though each of these. She starts with what she calls the big six grapes and their body styles. These are riesling, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, pinot noir, merlot, and cabernet sauvignon. She maintains that 80% of the wines in the world are made from one or more of these grapes. This first chapter has detailed tasting instructions that teach the difference between these grapes as well as the difference between light, medium and full bodies.

Next she has you identify the flavors of fruity, oaky, crisp (acidic), tannic, buttery, grassy, spicy, and floral. Then she tells you how to use the wine label. Here she maintains that you can always tell the body of a wine by the alcohol content. Under 10.5% is light body, between 10.5 and 12.5% medium, and over 12.5% full body! If you think that is controversial, what comes next is a stunner. She introduces a "flavor map" She charts the world between parallels 30 and 50 degrees north and south, and divides them into three zones; cool, moderate, and warm with hot and cold spots to account for microclimates. She then has you taste wines from these zones including other than the big six, and shows how certain flavors consistently show up depending on the where the grapes were grown. Examples riesling grown in cool zones consistently give a taste of green apples, while syrah from warm zones remind you of prunes and figs.

She sums up the difference between "old world" and "new world" wines with one word each. Old world wines are subtle and new world wines are bold. This is defined further including examinations of concepts like terrior and earthiness. Many wines from both "worlds" are compared in tastings. The results of the viognier tasting compare favorably with comments on this board. Next comes a detailed look at the French wine regions, a not so detailed look at Italy, and a cursory look at the rest of the world, all with additional tastings. She concludes with information on buying wine in stores and restaurants, and tips on stemware, openers, and storage.

Her biases are kept fairly under wraps for most of the book. At first I thought she was an oak freak, and in fact she even agreed with adding oak chips at one point. "I think that when skillfully employed, oak chips are a very good thing indeed - they make the oaky flavor so many people like affordable." As her personal preferences come out, though, oak in whites is not there. Her favorites are Champagne, riesling, "crisp" sauvignon blanc from the Loire and New Zealand, pinot noir, and Rhones. Like Willie G, her desert island only wine is Champagne. Different one from Willie though; she likes the big guys and he likes the little guys.

Her prose is engaging. Sort of mano-y-mano with a feminine flair, kind of like CCK. Some examples: On complexity: "A complex wine commands your attention, revving up your senses with its scents, flavors, and textures, and luring you back to the glass for more." On riesling: "In Germany, it achieves a bewitching power and purity of fruit and an uncanny range of flavor, all in a sleek package. It is a lithe ballet dancer of a wine compared to the sumo wrestler bulk of Chardonnay." On bottle opening problems: "When it comes to opening and serving wine, stuff happens."

This is an excellent book for novice or expert as well as those of us in between. It is available at discount at Amazon. One technical complant is that the wine labels she uses to demonstrate points, are not very well reproduced in some cases.


[This message has been edited by Innkeeper (edited 11-15-2000).]

[hotwine]

Thanks, IK, I'll look for it.

[Innkeeper]

Just after posting this, the December edition of W&S arrived with a much shorter; but still favorable review of the same book.

[barnesy]

Now, if she has tastings set up at the end of each chapter, what are the price ranges on the wines she is suggesting?

Barnesy

[Innkeeper]

Most of the way she gives you choices in various price ranges including low ones. The exception is when you are in Bordeaux and Burgundy. She recommends doing a chapter a week with friends. The whole idea is to make it less intimidating to go to a wine store or restaurant.

[chittychattykathy]

Any book with a well thought out, smart &new, prospective on wine sounds refreshing! (ba-dum-ching) Thanks for the heads up! &the [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]

[Thomas]

Thanks, IK. Sounds like a book for me to use to train my staff; Amazon here I come.

[Innkeeper]

It is now available in full hard back version for $17.50 from Jessica's Biscuit. The reference number is #00502. You can reach them at: Tel. 1-800-878-4264, Fax. 1-617-244-3376, or www.ecookbooks.com .

[Botafogo]

I've never been able to take her seriously after watching her make a Grasshopper (old fashioned, old ladies drink with Green Creme de Menthe and Cream), pour it into a Martini glass and pronounce it a "Mint-tini" on The Food Network.

Martinis are made with GIN and Vermouth, period!!!!!

Fighting for traditions and definitions on your behalf, Roberto

[cpurvis]

IK, you get a gold star for your book report [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/wink.gif[/img]

This sounds like an excellent answer to the question I asked two months ago about specific, practical methods of further educating oneself re: aromas & tastes in wine. Thanks! cp