Love by the Glass : Tasting Notes from a Marriage

Rating:
Summary: Love and life with some wine along the way
Review: Dottie and John, as readers of their column in the Wall Street Journal inevitably call them, have written a book that's about life and love that sometimes made me laugh so hard that my 10-year-old wanted me to read whatever it was outloud. And sometimes, what was happening to them hurt and I felt pain not just for them, but for anyone who could be in that situation, whether it was struggling with infertility or dealing with the losses of Sept. 11th. Wine is usually something that people think of in terms of exclusivity. Only "some" people can know enough or afford enough or truly appreciate it. Their gift is their ability to bring a sense of the universal to things that often separate us. They build bridges between people, which they seem to have done quite naturally in their relationship. Race, religion don't seem to inevitably separate people in the story of their life. Instead, it's just like different vintages and varieties, to be sampled, celebrated and enjoyed for their own intrinsic merit.

I was a non-wine drinker when I started reading their column in the Wall Street Journal. Now as my bottles collect along with some cherished memories, I feel like they've introduced me to new life adventures that are available to anyone--this book, even while it looks back, is a great continuation of that journey.

Rating:
Summary: Sweet, helpful, and unpretentious
Review: Gaiter and Brecher have employed their love of wine as a wonderful frame for the warm and touching story of their lives together. Both are people of incredible accomplishment who share their experiences and appreciation of wine in an uncomplicated, unpretentious, and understated fashion. While what they share about their evolving interest and expertise in wine is interesting, it is their own personal chronicle that is fascinating.

This is a wonderful book for the neophyte/developing devotee of wine. They frankly point out their initially pedestrian taste in wine, and their continued willingness to try seemingly unsophisticated, "fun", or inexpensive wines. I experienced some mild nausea reading what a wonderful principled paragon of good journalism the "Wall Street Journal" represents (in light of its editorial page); however, its credibility jumped in my estimation while reading this book due to the admiration I developed for them and their advocacy of the paper. This book challenged my assumptions, in that the seeming journal of the privileged features a wine column ideal for the needs of regular people.

"Love By the Glass" is a practical guide to savoring wine that doubles as a touching memoir. It is not a great book or a connoisseur's guide, but definitely is a fun and worthwhile read.

Rating:
Summary: Sweet, helpful, and unpretentious
Review: Gaiter and Brecher have employed their love of wine as a wonderful frame for the warm and touching story of their lives together. Both are people of incredible accomplishment who share their experiences and appreciation of wine in an uncomplicated, unpretentious, and understated fashion. While what they share about their evolving interest and expertise in wine is interesting, it is their own personal chronicle that is fascinating.

This is a wonderful book for the neophyte/developing devotee of wine. They frankly point out their initially pedestrian taste in wine, and their continued willingness to try seemingly unsophisticated, "fun", or inexpensive wines. I experienced some mild nausea reading what a wonderful principled paragon of good journalism the "Wall Street Journal" represents (in light of its editorial page); however, its credibility jumped in my estimation while reading this book due to the admiration I developed for them and their advocacy of the paper. This book challenged my assumptions, in that the seeming journal of the privileged features a wine column ideal for the needs of regular people.

"Love By the Glass" is a practical guide to savoring wine that doubles as a touching memoir. It is not a great book or a connoisseur's guide, but definitely is a fun and worthwhile read.

Rating:
Summary: Alcohol and I don't mix, but I still loved this book!
Review: I'm doing research for a series of romance novels about a family of winemakers. My friend, Gwen, recommended this book since she knew I was a neophyte where wine is concerned. I'm so glad she did. I learned a lot about wine, how to choose a good one, why wine changes from the moment you uncork it to your last mouthful.
I learned about the regions where grapes are grown, and why some grapes grow better in certain regions. I learned that oftentimes how good a wine is depends not so much on the soil the grapes are grown in, but the patience, passion, and faith of the winemaker. Most of all, this book is about enjoying life. Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher definitely know how to do that! They're inspiring. A truly heart-warming story. And I didn't have one potent potable while reading it! :o)

Rating:
Summary: Good wine, good people
Review: Just finished this excellent memoir by the authors of The Wall Street Journal's 'Tastings' column.

While the authors do talk about wine a lot, it is truly a story of their lives and relationship long before they began writing about wine for a living.

An excellent and quick read. Gaiter and Brecher are a wonderful couple, if a bit "precious" at times. I have seen them on [a television program] on occasion and was charmed by their love for wine and their desire to make it understandable to all. Wine is truly an obsession for them, but we can all learn from their obsession without taking it to that level.

I highly recommend reading their "Tastings" column in the Wall Street Journal each Friday. It contains more information on particular wines and recommendations.

Rating:
Summary: A Sweet Read
Review: Peppered with fun anecdotes from nose to finish and delivered in a lean and direct journalistic style, this book will teach the beginner lots about wine, but perhaps a little bit more about John & Dottie's intimate details than we need to know. It is nonetheless a charming, informative, and engaging book, even providing the odd moment of humor, drama, and social comment.
The authors succeed admirably in their main mission, which is to show how passionate they are about wine and encourage readers to find the same passion in themselves. In the process, John & Dottie provide a unique insight into their own career paths from which all young journalists can benefit -- even teetotallers!
The book's only drawback is shared by even the finest wines: taken to excess it can cause headaches and occasionally even mild nauseau. This may be due to the high sugar content in John's musings about Dottie.

Rating:
Summary: Above all, a love story
Review: The book is an absolute delight to read. Dottie & John are great story tellers and they left me and my husband anxious for them to continue telling us stories. We had a hard time putting the book down and now are anxious to recreate the recipies they so graciously enclosed in the book.

Rating:
Summary: life is more than just wine
Review: This book was really lovely. It follows Brecher and Gaiter throughout their courtship and marriage, from the Miami Herald to the New York Times, back to Miami and the birth of their first child, back to New York and into Barbra Streisand's building and Page One of the Wall Street Journal - and through all the wines along the way. They make wine easy and accessible - but they also make it very clear that there's much more to life than wine. I really enjoyed it.

Rating:
Summary: charming, elegant prose
Review: When I got my copy of Love by the Glass, I think I was expecting a little less about love and a little more about what was in the glass. But just because I didn't anticipate this charming and inspiring love story doesn't mean I didn't thoroughly enjoy it.

Though I have been a fan of Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher's Wall Street Journal wine column for the last couple of years, I only knew the bits and pieces about their personal lives that I had gathered from reading their Friday installments. But while the column is about wine and it includes small asides about the couple's lives, this book turns the formula around and we find out much more about the writers in a lovely story where wine is an important but junior partner.

Each chapter is named after a bottle of wine that they enjoyed at that point in their lives, and a reader knowledgeable about wine will recognize that as their taste in wine became more sophisticated their bond to each other was becoming more profound.

The book is a light read -- please don't expect a meaty, intellectual tome -- but that's a big part of its charm. Fans of Ms. Gaiter and Mr. Brecher's column with immediately feel at home with the book's unpretentious and elegant prose, and anyone who picks it up should find him or herself immediately immersed in a story as simple and well made as some of the surprising wines they discover early in the book.