The New Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition

asked by benzdrives on November 6, 2006 7:18 AM

If you want to learn about wines of the world and advance your comprehension of wine production, grape varieties, appellations, and individual wineries, understand the factors (such as location, soil, climate, and methods of viticulture) that affect the taste and nose, and visit your wine shop with a list of quality wines to explore, Tom Stevenson is the man to read. Author of 12 books (including Champagne and The Millennium Champagne & Sparkling Wine Guide), three-time winner of the Wine Writer of the Year award, and columnist for Wine magazine, Stevenson has the gift of taking vast quantities of knowledge and experience and translating them into lucid, sparkling prose, easily graspable by the novice, yet still interesting and instructive to the connoisseur.

Arranged geographically, with nearly 100 maps, profiles on top producers, and valuable Author's Choice charts for each region, the Wine Encyclopedia covers the wines of Europe (from Great Britain and Switzerland to Southeast Europe, Greece, and the Levant), as well as wines from North and South Africa, North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. In addition, there's a guide to wine and food (pairing fois gras with a Champagne or Sauterne, for example, and claret or Cabernet Sauvignon with beef), a guide to wine flavors (making sense of descriptors such as fig, gooseberry, violet, and hay), a list of good vintages, and a glossary of tasting and technical terms, distinguishing "cheesy" and "chewy" from "creamy" and "corked." Enhanced by beautiful pictures of vineyards, wine labels, and Stevenson himself demonstrating the art of wine tasting, from examining and nosing the wine to spitting it out, this a visually beautiful as well as an informative volume. As sumptuous as an elegant Tuscan Barolo, as rewarding as a Sarget de Gruaud-Larose from Bordeaux, as pleasing as a Ferreira port, the Sotheby Wine Encyclopedia is a remarkable tome of oenological erudition. --Stephanie Gold

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Reviews

This bood gave detailed notes about many of the wineries I was looking for an objective rating/score by an independent source.

I read it for hours and constantly refer back to it.

Great buy!

reviewed by learner on November 24, 2006 3:14 PM

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If only one wine reference encyclopedia is to be purchased, The Southeby's Wine Encyclopedia: The Classic Reference To The Wines Of The World should surely be a strong contender: it's now in its 4th edition, has been fully updated, and is the only single volume that maps and provides in-depth details about every wine-growing region from traditional to new - including those of emerging areas. Each region receives an analysis of appellations, taste and quality, winning producers, and offerings. Add rating systems, small color photos of labels and vineyard descriptions and you have a real winner.

reviewed by bigben on November 27, 2006 5:50 PM

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When I first reviewed this book, I must have been on crack. I gave it four stars, but accused it of leaving out "almost unforgivable" information. Looking through it again, I'm shaking my head, wondering if I was looking at a different book, perhaps Curious George, or Fox on Socks. The New Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia has information that is unavailable in any other credible book on wine.

This reference is AMAZING, and belongs on every wine lover's bookshelf, even if you have The Oxford Companion to Wine, The World Atlas of Wine, Ox Clarke's Encyclopedia of Grapes, and others. Many of the maps included in this book are superior to those found in The World Atlas of Wine (strangely odd), and nowhere can you find a more comprehensive listing of major wine producers. Every wine making country in the world is covered (as far as I know), and that is something lacking in other references. I don't mean to knock other references, but each reference has a slightly different slant, each provides information that the other doesn't. To me, this book, along with the aforementioned books, completes an unsurpassed reference quadrology.

If you're an oenophile, or a wannabe oenophile, you need this book on your shelf.

I offer my sincere apologies to the author for my earlier review.

Amazon's policies will not allow me to change the rating, but make no mistake: this is a five star book.

reviewed by formula on November 28, 2006 2:33 PM

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An excellent and consise reference book. Well indexed and organised. Goes in depth where neccesary.

reviewed by reviewer on November 29, 2006 3:47 PM

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add a new book!