Rating: 
Summary: Want to increase your enjoyment and knowledge of wine?
Review: If so, you should seriously consider buying this book for yourself, and for any friends who might have the same goal. I have enjoyed wine for a number of years, but have not ventured forth much from the cabernet-merlot-chardonnay rut because it all seemed so overwhelming. You go to the wine store and signs give wines different points from different people for wines you've never heard of and can't pronounce.Enter Andrea Immer, the sassy and straightforward Master Sommelier! Immer makes wine approachable, fun, and stimulating. Through a variety of different techniques (comparison tasting, old world wines vs. new world wines, flavor maps, and varietal information) Immer will open up your wine world and give you the confidence to sally forth to your local wine shop and ask for a Gruner Veltliner (she also tells you how to pronounce it!)to go with your chicken dinner. She also totally demystifies the restaurant wine list and tells you how to make good and economical choices from it. There is no pretention at all in this book. Ms. Immer is not a wine snob, nor does she make wine into some obscure chemical and gastronomical science. She knows her stuff so well she can make is simple for you, me and everybody else who would like to buy a $10 bottle of wine and find it is reasonably tasty. By the way, friends much more expert than myself have confessed that they bought the book and found a great deal of information that was helpful to them, too, so this book is not just for wine beginners.
Rating:
Summary: Elegant Simplicity
Review: Ms. Immer is both eloquent and to the point in this extraordinary book, making even the least-experienced wine taster comfortable and confident speaking about and enjoying fine wines. Her well-placed contention is that you needn't be a 'wine snob' nor must you pay half your mortgage payment to savor quality wine selections. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Fresh Perspective, Conceptual Approach
Review: Occasionally a book comes along with a new and exciting way of organizing information, and this book breaks new ground. Most wine guides are encyclopedic, with inconsistent organizing themes, since different wine producing areas use different labeling and categorization methods. This approach is very challenging for beginners and stiffles the learning process, frequently leading them to focus on American wines, which generally have the type of grape listed on the label in a familiar language. More importantly, this approach encourages the memorization of names of winemakers and good vintages, and discourages experimentation. Ms. Immer's approach is conceptual, and teaches broad ideas such as grape type, cool and warm climate zones, 'old world, new world' styles, oaked and non-oaked, etc. To emphasize and reinforce these concepts, she has inserted a number of tasting exercises, and dares the beginner to do the unthinkable--open two bottles of wine at once! What extravagance!! Her style is conversational, witty, and her enthusiasm for her subject matterial is contagious. Armed with these concepts, a beginner will become much more successful at picking new wines, and can actually predict how wines will taste based on an examination of the label. Best of all, I suspect her readers will be motivated buy and enjoy more wine, and want to go even further with their wine education.
Rating:
Summary: Can I give this book an infinite number of stars?
Review: Okay, I have waxed eloquent about another "intro to wine" book on Amazon, and I'm not taking back what I said the other review, but Ms. Immer's book takes the genre to a whole new level. Her level-headed guidance, helpful "here's why" background advice, specific, well-constructed tasting comparisons, obvious love of teaching, and general all-around good humor are inspiring and infectious. I am so enamored of this book, I can't even write a coherent review. All I can do is start calling my friends so I can get everyone together and start on the clear, specific, instructional, well-planned tasting comparisons she presents. This is one superb volume!
Rating:
Summary: The best wine book I've read!
Review: Since catching the wine bug a few years ago, I've read five or six books that survey the world of wine. This one is my clear favorite. No one else does a better job of teaching you what to expect when you open up a bottle from a region or varietal you've never tried before. While most books provide lists of grapes and regions and expect you to memorize the style of wines made from each, Ms. Immer presents a system for predicting how a wine will taste based solely on information on the label and basic geographical knowledge. Her "Flavor Map" approach is innovative, intuitive, and highly accurate. I also thoroughly enjoy the tasting exercises, which offer a hands-on way to compare and contrast different styles. This is homework I can deal with! My only critique is that I would have liked to see more space devoted to grapes beyond the so-called Big Six. But this book is so good, I can't bring myself to take off a star for that.
Rating:
Summary: Finally can get it.
Review: Stuck on California wines was my motto as the rest of the wine world was just too complicated and difficult to understand. Finally here is a way to make sense of it all. This is a wonderful addition to the literature of wine enjoyment for those motivated and interested but not yet really expert. Some of us have the experience of encountering wonderful past surprises in wine exploration but have been unable to fit it all together. This book is the answer. It can be either a beginning or a middle ground for advancing our wine appreciation. Some new concepts are there for the expert as well with flavor maps and a nice discussion of terroir (been looking for that). We are planning some neighborhood wine tastings to share our new found concepts and advance sociability. This will be useful for new and many existing members of our local Medical Wine Interest and Education Society (mwines) as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Masterful Insight For All
Review: The other reviewers here have been most eloquent in describing the varied merits of Ms. Immer's book, so I can only add this bit of simple advice for the "skimmers" of such reviews: A master and lover of her craft, Ms. Immer (in clear, captivating text) lays the foundation for a true understanding of wine, one that we all can learn from. If you want point ratings and "Dummies" categories, please skip this volume. BUT if you want to understand and celebrate the wine you that you taste, enjoy and purchase, and if you want to embark on a lifelong journey of wine appreciation (regardless of your prior experience) then by all means purchase this fine book. It is a wonderful companion for any true wine enthusiast.
Rating:
Summary: Masterful Insight For All
Review: The other reviewers here have been most eloquent in describing the varied merits of Ms. Immer's book, so I can only add this bit of simple advice for the "skimmers" of such reviews: A master and lover of her craft, Ms. Immer (in clear, captivating text) lays the foundation for a true understanding of wine, one that we all can learn from. If you want point ratings and "Dummies" categories, please skip this volume. BUT if you want to understand and celebrate the wine you that you taste, enjoy and purchase, and if you want to embark on a lifelong journey of wine appreciation (regardless of your prior experience) then by all means purchase this fine book. It is a wonderful companion for any true wine enthusiast.
Rating:
Summary: Different Approach, But Effective
Review: This book takes a different approach, but it is effective. Some of the typical things (opening, storing, etc.) are wrapped up quickly at the end of the book. The main approach is to be able to identify and enjoy the BigSix wine grapes (Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon). She goes in-depth into the differences between them and makes it easy for the reader to distinguish their characteristics. The section with maps that show the areas around the world is helpful and not seen in most other books (e.g., you can see the Gulf Stream effect in Europe). She mentions many producers that are good, making it easier to pick wines at a shop or restaurant, without a laundry list of items that are impossible to memorize. Overall, an excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: Great Wine Made Intelligible
Review: This is the most readable, understandable book on wine that I have read thus far.
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