Weekend Cooking: Wine Isn't Rocket Science by Ophelie Neiman

I love learning about wine, but finding just the right wine book can be daunting. Many books are too dense with much more scholarly information than I'm ready for. Others assume you have tons of money to buy wines, travel the world, and create a cellar.

Here's where Ophelie Neiman's Wine Isn't Rocket Science saves the day. This is a no-nonsense guide for all kinds of wine lovers, from the rank novice to the curious to know more. Want to throw a party? Not sure what kind of glass to use? Wondering about Italian wines? Neiman has you covered.

Best of all, the information is easily absorbed, thanks to Yannis Varoutsikos's colorful and useful graphics (see the scans; click to enlarge). I'm thankful there are few pages dense with prose; the paragraphs are surrounded with fun illustrations, making the guide a joy to read.

Wine Isn't Rocket Science jumps right into the good stuff. No long introduction about the culture of wine drinking and wine lovers. Neiman treats you as if you were her good friend--no snobbery, no over explaining, just good advice right from the get-go. The first chapter, in fact, is all about how to host a party, from picking the glasses and corkscrew to figuring which wines will suit your gathering best.

Other chapters cover tasting, mastering wine vocabulary, learning how wine is grown, and figuring out what is meant by terroir. For the more experienced, Neiman also reveals the secrets of aging wines and building a wine collection. I particularly like the grape descriptions, the tips on how to taste wine, and clues for reading a wine list and wine label.

One cool idea is found in the food pairing chapter. Neiman provides the expected "what wine to drink with this food" information, but then she turns the tables around to suggest "what food to serve with this wine." So if you have a bottle of Pinot Noir, you can see a list of good pairings (try vegetarian soup, cured meats, and fresh tuna); or if you're planning to serve crab, you'll discover that a bright or aromatic white is a safe choice.

Chances are you won't want to sit down and read Wine Isn't Rocket Science all in one afternoon, cover to cover. Instead, it's a book to dip into. Flip through to find the answer to a specific question, such as how to store your opened bottles. Read about a specific wine region, say Portugal, and then spend a few weeks tasting Tempranillos, Arintos, and Vinhaos. After making a reservation for a special celebration, check out the information for ordering wine in restaurants, so you won't be stumped at the table. You'll use Neiman's guide in different ways as your curiosity about and experience with wine increase.

If you're looking for an accessible, easy-to-use book for learning more about wine, I suggest picking up Ophelie Neiman's Wine Isn't Rocket Science. The guide is approachable on so many levels, wine newbies, sophisticated sippers, and average wine lovers (that's me!) will find plenty to discover.

Note on the scans: The scans are used here in the context of a review, and all rights remain with the original copyright holders, including illustrator Yannis Varoutsikos. Note too that the quality of the finished book pages is much better than the quality of my scans.

Published by Black Dog & Leventhal (Hachette Book Group), 2017
ISBN-13: 9780316431309
Source: review (see review policy)
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy)

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