If you want to make sure you Buy the Right Wine Every Time, make sure you buy the right book… Buy the Right Wine Every Time
Written by Tom Stevenson, and published by Sterling Publishing, Tom is one of the wine business’s most prolific authors. Tom Stevenson is a British author who’s been writing about wine for more than 30 years. He’s regarded as the world’s leading authority on Champagne; I have his Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia in my wine library; and now, I see him as a quintessential authority who’s simplified a process that has terrified more than a few smart people, by reduced buying wine to it’s lowest common denominator… He’s removed the vintages.
How can that happen, you might ask? We’ll, there are good years and there are trying years for each vintage, I’ll grant you that. However, each vigneron and winemaker strive for some level of consistency. That means that if you trust a wine brand for delivering great wines from one year tot he next, as best they can from year to year, so you’re going to most likely be successful if you stick with what you know.
While this won’t work for those of us who are adventure seekers; and, I recognized that the vast majority of us aren’t people out there looking for a grape variety that we’ve never tasted, like a Furmint, Garganega, or a Garnatxa Bianca. But, for anyone looking for their favorite Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir, or Cabernet Sauvignon… You’re on your way with Buy the Right Wine Every Time. Subtitled The No-Fuss No-Vintage Wine Guide, you can’t go wrong… It’s that simple.
What I really appreciated about Tom Stevenson’s book is that I actually found a Petite Sirah in the book. Once considered a really fringe variety, it found it’s way into wine reviews of Syrah, Shiraz, Petite Sirah. (I’ll take it… And so will Bogle vineyards. A huge supporter of the Petite Sirah effort, Bogle produces the most Petite of any other California brand and does an excellent job at it, as very affordable prices).. Tom brings all of this up, with his “Recommended” suggestion. He also mentions other PS I Love You wine brands, like Ridge, Rosenblum Cellars, Lava Cap, for greater quality and greater intensity; and Field Stone, with greater quality and less intensity. He’s pretty much nailed it!
Some of Tom Stevenson’s books and a Web story.
- Sunday Telegraph Good Wine Guide (1984)
- Champagne (1986)
- Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia, First Edition (1988)
- The New Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia, Second Edition (1997)
- The New Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia, Third Edition (2001)
- The New Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition (2011)
- Christie’s World Encyclopedia of Champagne & Sparkling Wine (1988)
- Christie’s World Encyclopedia of Champagne & Sparkling Wine, Second Edition (1998)
- Wines of Alsace (1993)
- Super Booze (1997)
- The Millennium Champagne and Sparkling Wine Guide (Millennium Champagne & Sparkling Wine Guide) (1998)
- Millennium Champagne and Sparkling Wine Guide 2000 (DK millennium M) (1999)
- How to Become a Millionaire: It Really Could be You (2000)
- Dk 101s: Wine Pack (Debenhams) (2001)
- Champagne & Sparkling Wine Guide (2002)
- Wine, 101 Essential Tips (2003)
- 2007 Harvest Report: California Vintners Praise High Quality (2007)
- Champagne’s Overachievers & Underperformers – A regular series of columns for Wine Searcher (2013)
- Buy the Right Wine (2014)
Recent Comments