Discover new favorites by tracing wine back to its roots Still drinking Cabernet after that one bottle you liked five years ago? It can be overwhelming if not intimidating to branch out from your go-to grape, but everyone wants their next wine to be new and exciting. How to choose the right one? Award-winning wine critic Alice Feiring presents an all-new way to look at the world of wine. While grape variety is important, a lot can be learned about wine by looking at the source: the ground in which it grows. A surprising amount of information about a wine’s flavor and composition can be gleaned from a region’s soil, and this guide makes it simple to find the wines you’ll love. Featuring a foreword by Master Sommelier Pascaline Lepeltier, who contributed her vast knowledge throughout the book, The Dirty Guide to Wine organizes wines not by grape, not by region, not by New or Old World, but by soil. If you enjoy a Chardonnay from Burgundy, you might find the same winning qualities in a deep, red Rioja. Feiring also provides a clarifying account of the traditions and techniques of wine-tasting, demystifying the practice and introducing a whole new way to enjoy wine to sommeliers and novice drinkers alike.

For the thousands of people who know nothing about wine and want to rectify that swiftly and painlessly, Mark Oldman?the ?Naked Chef? of wine?is here to help with the kind of information readers can use right now: ? Australian Shiraz is the most instantly likable red under $15 ? Drink slightly sweet wine with spicy food ? Judge a wine shop by whether it has homemade shelf signs ? Don?t store unopened wine in the refrigerator for more than a week Loaded with his personal recommendations?including the top 100 wines less than $15?Oldman?s Guide also includes the wine picks of an eclectic mix of collectors, from Le Cirque owner Sirio Maccioni to Morley Safer of 60 Minutes. This is a wine guide like no other and is sure to be savored by anyone who wants their wine without the attitude.

An “entertaining and passionate” connoisseur tours the vineyards of Europe and California, arguing for an old-fashioned appreciation of authenticity (The New York Times). The drastic effects that influential wine critic Robert M. Parker Jr. has had on the winemaking industry are best described as wine Parkerization. Many vintners are leaving old techniques behind and turning to chemistry and technology in order to please Parker’s palate. This led to the disappearance of James Beard Foundation Award–winning writer Alice Feiring’s favorite wines—and she was determined to learn why. In a one-woman crusade that will have you wondering what exactly is in your glass, Feiring argues against the tyranny of homogenization, Big Wine, consultants, and, of course, Parker’s infamous one hundred-point scoring system. Traveling through the vineyards of the Loire and Champagne, to Piedmont and Spain, she searches for authentic Barolo, the last old-style Rioja, and the tastiest terroir-driven Champagnes. Feiring reveals what goes into the average bottle—the reverse osmosis, the yeasts and enzymes, the sawdust and oak chips—and why she doesn’t find much to drink in California. She introduces rebel winemakers who are embracing old-fashioned techniques and making wines with individuality and soul. And finally Feiring explains what love’s really got to do with it all, in a delightful read for anyone who truly appreciates the good things in life.

Wherever you are in the world, there are wineries that are worth visiting, vineyards that are ready to be explored and cellars packed with great bottles begging to be drunk. Among more than 30 countries and regions (and some 400 wineries), this book explores the classic destinations, reveals hidden gems in well-known wine country, and celebrates emerging wine-producing locations. Where to Drink Wine travels country-by-country, region-by-region highlighting the must-visit wineries in each location. Its the definitive guide for the travelling wine-lover. Practical and evocative, colourful and comprehensive, its information covers the traditions, innovations and character of each winery and will help you decide where to go, the best tour for you, and what to expect when you get there. From Bordeaux to New York State, Tuscany to China, let Where to Drink Wine tempt you to tour the world, estate by estate.

A delicious, comprehensive playbook that pairs 75 wine styles—including where and who to buy them from—with 75 recipes that complement them perfectly “If you want to know what good taste in the modern food and wine scene looks like, this is your manual.”—Jordan Mackay, co-author of The Sommelier’s Atlas of Taste Wine Food is a wine course in a cookbook for everyone who wants to learn about wine simply by drinking it. Here, natural wine bar and winery owner Dana Frank and wine-loving recipe writer Andrea Slonecker distill the basics—how to buy, how to store, how to taste—and deliver more than seventy-five instant-hit recipes inspired by delectable, affordable wines that go with them beautifully. Each recipe opens with a succinct summary of the wine style that inspired it, followed by a brief explanation of how it complements the flavors and textures in the recipe. There are also recommendations for three to eight producers of each wine style. Frank and Slonecker also include a wine flavors cheat sheet, a label lexicon lesson, a short course on wine tasting like a pro, and illustrated features on matching wine with types of favorite foods (typical take-out, beloved pasta dishes, and popular sweets). Whether you like thinking about which bottle to pour at brunch, with picnic fare, for midweek dinners, at weekend feasts, or for all of those times, Wine Food makes learning about wine flavorful, fun, and easy.

A compact illustrated guide to the emerging and enormously popular category of natural wine, a style that focuses on minimal intervention, lack of additives, and organic and biodynamic growing methods. Today, wine is more favored and consumed that it's ever been in the United States--and millennials are leading the charge, drinking more wine than any other generation in history. Many have been pulled in by the tractor beam of natural wine--that is, organic or biodynamic wine made with nothing added, and nothing taken away--a movement that has completely rocked the wine industry in recent years. While all of the hippest restaurants and wine bars are touting their natural wine lists, and while more and more consumers are calling for natural wine by name, there is still a lot of confusion about what exactly natural wine is, where to find it, and how to enjoy it. In Natural Wine for the People, James Beard Award-winner Alice Feiring sets the record straight, offering a pithy, accessible guide filled with easy definitions, tips and tricks for sourcing the best wines, whimsical illustrations, a definitive list to the must-know producers and bottlings, and an appendix with the best shops and restaurants specializing in natural wine across the country, making this the must-buy and must-gift wine book of the year.

In 2011 when Alice Feiring first arrived in Georgia, she felt as if she'd emerged from the magic wardrobe into a world filled with mythical characters making exotic and delicious wine with the low-tech methods of centuries past. She was smitten, and she wasn't alone. This country on the Black Sea has an unusual effect on people; the most passionate rip off their clothes and drink wines out of horns while the cold-hearted well up with tears and make emotional toasts. Visiting winemakers fall under Georgia's spell and bring home qvevris (clay fermentation vessels) while rethinking their own techniques. But, as in any good fairy tale, Feiring sensed that danger rode shotgun with the magic. With acclaim and growing international interest come threats in the guise of new wine consultants aimed at making wines more commercial. So Feiring fought back in the only way she knew how: by celebrating Georgia and the men and women who make the wines she loves most, those made naturally with organic viticulture, minimal intervention, and no additives. From Tbilisi to Batumi, Feiring meets winemakers, bishops, farmers, artists, and silk spinners. She feasts, toasts, and collects recipes. She encounters the thriving qvevri craftspeople of the countryside, wild grape hunters, and even Stalin's last winemaker while plumbing the depths of this tiny country's love for its wines. For the Love of Wine is Feiring's emotional tale of a remarkable country and people who have survived religious wars and Soviet occupation yet managed always to keep hold of their precious wine traditions. Embedded in the narrative is the hope that Georgia has the temerity to confront its latest threat--modernization.