Retrieve Wine For Normal People: A Guide For Real People Who Like Wine, But Not The Snobbery That Goes With It Formulated By Elizabeth Schneider Rendered As Print
received an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review, Thanks to Netgalley and Chronicle Books,
Wine for normal people seems like the perfect book for people just getting into wine,
The language is easy, straight forward, peppered with jokes, The design is incredibly easy to follow and provides a nice overview, Vocabulary and all kinds of terms are being explained and it even contains practical stepbystep instructions e, g. how to taste wine properly,
I dont find this the type of book to read from cover to cover but more like a fun reference book to look up one thing at a time.
Nonetheless, this seems like a great gift for new wine lovers, Ive been listening to the Wine for Normal People podcast for quite a while now so its no surprise that I love this book, Unpretentious, easy to read and understand, A great resource if youre just getting into wine or want to have a better understanding of wine, The charts and maps are well done, Note that its not a completely exhaustive reference book but thats not it purpose, Great jumping off point for expanding your knowledge of the wine world, Highly recommend! I won a copy of this book via a Goodreads giveaway under the premise that I would read it and provide my honest feedback,
The author is a certified Sommelier and certified Specialist of Wine, per the book cover, Apparently, she also has a podcast, which I hadnt heard of before called, you guessed it, Wine for Normal People,
What is cool
about the book is it manages to mix history and geography with wine, And who doesnt like that The sections are separated into regions with maps and discusses Old World wine vs New World wine, Before going into all this though, the author first describes vineyards, farming, and from vineyard to winery,
Overall, an excellent reference book that is especially great for breaking out during wine parties or laid out as a coffee table book for guest to glance through.
A worthy book on the subject of wine, Giving thisfor now, but I expect this may evolve toas I continue to come back to it, The beginning of the book establishes vocabulary and tasting notes, which was pretty intimidating and overwhelming, I felt like I wasn't retaining anything, As I dug into each wine region, though, I found that the book was repetitive, in a good way, and things slowly started to make sense, While shopping for wine and looking for other wine info online, again, common themes began revealing themselves, I can't lie, it feels good to have a foot in the door, even though I have a long ways to go,
I read fairly quickly through just the regions that interested me mainly Italy, France, Spain, United States, Australia, and Argentina but I imagine I will revisit each of them again as I check out wines from each place.
I'm still at a loss for picking out tasting notes, but the book at least gave me a strategy to follow for starting to get more comfortable with identifying things like acid, tannins, fruit, and earthy tones.
Easily digestible, well written book, The real meat of the book is found in the regional breakdowns, but information on everything from winemaking to food pairing is broken down in a way that anyone can pick up.
Some truly helpful tidbits for my wine classes are found here, Handy to have around. Schneider simply summarizes wine making, flavor profiles, and appellations around the world to better inform casual wine consumers, I learned about this from listening to her podcast, It is full of lots of information that is written in a very readable style, It also has some very practical types of advice for knowing the language to talk about wine, This is the kind of book I would keep on my shelf to refer to at intervals, dipping in and out of it at leisure or when sparked by interest in looking up a particular wine.
I have had a particular interest in wine since traveling first to France and then, Sicily, It was interesting to read that Sicily produces more white wines than red ones, especially as I fell in love with their red wine! The writing is very accessible for all wine lovers.
I may put it on my wishlist, I've read a few other wine guides, and Wine for Normal People is far and away the best one, Elizabeth Schneider approaches wine education from a slightly different perspective, as she understands both the industry and the pieces of it that the average consumer might struggle to understand, While she touches on the basics, she isn't afraid to dive into deep dorkery about particular topics that others might consider too advanced for the average consumer, and she does so in a refreshingly nonjudgmental way, such that I never felt stupid for not knowing something.
For anyone looking to learn more about wine, I highly recommend both this book and Elizabeth's podcast! DNF
This is interesting and useful stuff it's just a bit dry pun not intended when you're reading it with no intention to apply the tips to actually buying or trying wine anytime soon.
Shes managed to keep a conversational tone throughout the text, embodying her podcasts remarkably well, For example in a brief mention about biodynamic farming she says, “I know biodynamic farming sounds kind of out there, ” to show she knows what people are thinking when they hear about burying cow horns packed with manure in the field,
She also has great little pullout quotes and sidebars to keep people interested, For example she says that in general, the lighter the color of wines in both red and white, the lighter in alcohol theyll be, To be honest, Id never really thought about this, but shes very much right and its one of these great nuggets that gives people something to grab on to whilst traversing the vast chasm of wine knowledge intake.
But I think more than anything else, its the fact that the book looks sharp, Its well designed to be clean without being cutesy, It rivals another text that intends to simplify wine learning and which people always applaud for the design, In the case of Wine for Normal People, it not only looks good but actually has accurate information which is something that the other text is vastly deficient in,
Is it a quick read No, because it cant be, But it does overall excel in brevity as much as possible and I like the fact that in the Germany section Elizabeth flatout says that German wines are difficult, She tries to cover it in as much detail as makes sense just so that people are aware of them and have some text as reference, but by acknowledging theyre not easy has probably helped many a reader to breathe easier.
sitelinkRead the full review on Hudin, com DNF
I'm sorry and this is entirely a "me" problem, I love wine but as it turns out, I really don't care much about how wine works, And I thought a book like this would be perfect but something about the author's writings style rubs me wrong,
And again, I'm certain other readers are going to love this, Especially older audiences, I can see a book club skimming through this and loving it,
So yes, I wish I could have finished this and I'll never be a proper food snob but I'm sure that others are going to enjoy this more! Fun and informative
Great and fin way to learn about wine without the snobbery that goes with it
Companion to the podcast of the dame name This is a really neat little book, perfect for people who like wine, but know very little specifically about it.
Make no mistake: wine is complicated, from the color, to the region in which it's grown, to the correct pairing with food, and the temperature at which it's served.
How do you know what's right The simplest answer is to just go with what you like, But if you'd like a quick and dirty educationthis book will give it to you,
Elizabeth Schneider provides a wonderful look at everything you need to know about the beverage made from the humble grape in eight sections:
, Tasting and Talking winelearn the basics of wine vocabulary,
. How wine gets madediscusses everything from the importance of the location of the vineyard to the journey to the winery,
. How wine gets its flavor hint: there's more to it than just the grapes on a vine,
. GeographyOld vs. New World.
. Old Worldin depth look at the major European and Middle Eastern wine making countries,
. New Worldin depth look at wine making in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the Americas,
. Food and Wine Pairings.
. Picking wines at the store or restaurant,
There was so much in this book that was helpful, I loved the vocabulary and history/geography and found the charts there are a lot of great photos and illustrations in this book!, especially those that broke down each wine and its characteristics, very useful.
I'd recommend this one to any wine fan,
Thank you to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for providing this ARC to review, I received Wine for Normal People as a gift, The quality of the book is exquisite and I really enjoyed the QampA text blocks interspersed throughout, Schneider used colloquial language, tables and simplified explanations to make the complex and exclusive world of wine more accessible to lay folk, I do, however, think that there was a missed opportunity to incorporate more photographs and other imagery to support the text,.stars. A fun wine encyclopedia/guide written in plain English, At times I got frustrated by the authors need to preface information with how it really wasnt that hard/nerdy/scary, . . I picked up asomething page wine encyclopedia, I promise Im here for the legitimately good and useful! information, Now on to trying wine from a bunch of new regions, . . Love the podcast amp loved the book, Tons of information will definitely be using this as a reference going forward, Like the podcast of the same name this book is informative, unpretentious and wellorganized, Schneider is good at describing characteristics of wine in ways that are easy to understand and recognize, I finally understand how to recognize tannins, for example, Oh, I really liked the voice of the author in Wine for Normal People she neither talks down to you, nor expects you to know everything offthebat, Sometimes guides can come off as a bit patronizing, but I felt she did a great job avoiding that, Rather than, "You didn't already know this!" or, "You may not know, wine is made from grapes, . . ," it felt like a friend trying to meet you where you are, and teach you what they know in a kind and fun way, Fun, as in, the occasional subtle sexual innuendo and jokes are mixed in!
I read Cork Dork last year, and I've got to say, I kind of wish I had read this book first you know, had it been published.
It's a great primer on all things wine just jampacked full of information, It's like an accessible textbook in a lot of ways, This is one to keep on your coffee table, and flip through every now and then, learning different things in short little spurts but maybe not one to try to read every word of in one sitting.
Would recommend! And I haven't listened to the Wine for Normal People podcast, but now I want to start! This is a fun but respectful and very comprehensive guide to everything you ever wanted to know about wine from the creator and host of the popular podcast Wine for Normal People, described by Imbibe magazine as "a wine podcast for the people.
" More than,listeners tune in every month to learn a notsnobby wine vocabulary, how and where to buy wine, how to read a wine label, how to smell, swirl, and taste wine, and so much more! Rich with charts, maps, and listsand the author's deep knowledge and unpretentious deliverythis vividly illustrated, downtoearth handbook is a musthave resource for millennials starting to buy, boomers who suddenly have the time and money to hone their appreciation, and anyone seeking a relatable introduction to the world of wine.
Im a big fan of Elizabeths podcast and web classes and this book did not disappoint!
In her typical friendly, knowledgable and slightly corny humored fashion, Elizabeth walks you through all you need to know about wine.
I would not necessarily recommend reading it cover to cover as I did, but instead reading the first few chapters, the last few chapters and using the middle as a guide as you try new wines.
The middle goes through all the major wine regions in a fair amount of detail, I enjoyed making a list of wines/regions Id like to try as I read through it, Elizabeths voice for her podcast transitions beautifully into a narrative for her book! A valuable source for wine information, written for the winecurious and wine enthusiast but not the wine snob.
A great resource for I dare say “normal people”, This book is perfect for anyone that wants to know the basics of selecting wine, I have to admit that I didn't know much about it before reading this, except that it is enjoyable to drink, However, I now feel comfortable going to a store and selecting the perfect bottle, Great resource that I'll come back to again and again, Maybe even a little more info than a beginner like me would need, but like I saidit'll be good to have on hand as I learn more, particularly in regards to different wine regions.
After graduating from Wesleyan University CT and starting my career in Boston, I quickly realized that my heart was in my hobby than in my high tech job, Trips to the wine shop often yielded awesomely poor but hilarious results, so my sister and I finally took a course at the Boston Center for Adult Education to learn how to taste and appreciate wine.
And that kicked it all off, A stint in St. John in the Caribbean to wait tables and just unwind formonths yes, I quit my high tech corporate job, packed two bags, and hopped on a plane was followed by a great two years completing my MBA at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where I met M.
C. Ice, my podcast partner and husband and since then my career has been solely After graduating from Wesleyan University CT and starting my career in Boston, I quickly realized that my heart was in my hobby than in my high tech job.
Trips to the wine shop often yielded awesomely poor but hilarious results, so my sister and I finally took a course at the Boston Center for Adult Education to learn how to taste and appreciate wine.
And that kicked it all off, A stint in St. John in the Caribbean to wait tables and just unwind formonths yes, I quit my high tech corporate job, packed two bags, and hopped on a plane was followed by a great two years completing my MBA at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where I met M.
C. Ice, my podcast partner and husband and since then my career has been solely about wine, I am a Certified Sommelier, Certified Specialist of Wine, MBA, blogger, wine educator, and normal wine person, My goal is to bring the love of wine to people who dont take themselves too seriously but who want great info about wine, I do this through the podcast, blog, book, video, speaking events, social media, and anything else that makes wine fun, easy, and normal, sitelink.