Exploring Wine For Dummies

1. Wine 101 4

The basics: turning grapes into wine and telling red from white

Feature 1: Keeping Leftover Wine 9

2. Grape Expectations: Grape Varieties 10

Sorting out the raw materials: grapes and what they do

3. Judging a Wine by Its Label 16

Decoding the label lingo

4. The Wine Name Game 22

Understanding what's in a name through the mysteries of terroir and brand

5. These Taste Buds Are for You 28

Getting to grips with the subject: smelling, tasting and describing wine

6. Finding and Buying Good Wine 34

Knowing your good wine from your bad, and where to find the good stuff

7. Marrying Wine with Food 40

Matching what you drink with what you want to eat, whether dining in or out

Feature 2: Restaurant Wine Tips 46

8. French Wines and the Legendary Bordeaux 48

Taking a trip through the heartland of great wine

9. Burgundy: The Other Great French Wine 56

From Beaujolais to Chablis – and beyond

10. Other French Wines 62

Discovering the riches of the Rhône and the Loire – amongst others

11. Wine in Italy: Piedmont and Tuscany 68

Getting in the zone with Italy’s great reds

12. Tre Venezie and Other Italian Regions 74

Exploring the northeast - and the rest

Feature 3: Does the Glass Really Matter? 78

13. Intriguing Wines from Old Spain 80

Running the rule over Rioja, Ribera del Duero and Priorato

14. Wines in Germany and Portugal 86

Reviewing Germany's Rieslings and Portugal's Vinho Verde

15. Wines Elsewhere in Europe 92

Rounding up the best of the rest of Europe

16. North American Wines 96

Checking our the best in the West

Feature 4: Does Wine Really Breathe? 102

17. Australian and New Zealand Wines Arise 104

Discovering delights down under, from Murray River to Marlborough

18. Heating It Up with Chile, Argentina, and South Africa 110

Surveying the Southern hemisphere in Old World and the New

19. Champagnes and Other Sparkling Wines 116

Adding some sparkle with Champagne and other bubblies

20. Wine Roads Less Travelled: Fortified and Dessert Wines 122

Coming on strong with fortified and dessert wines

Feature 5: Vintage Wine Chart 128