Book: Wines of the World

Wines of the World

Honestly, the initial impression of this book on me was not positive when I saw it for the first time. Its shiny outlook, the expression on the cover sayin "your essential handbook", the fact that the book is written collectively by several writers, these all made me think that this might be a shiny but empty book. I thought that a collectively written book belonged to no one and therefore  none of the writers would assume it as its own book, so none of them would care about it much. I was wrong.

I actually borrowed this book and I was supposed to return it to its owner ages ago. I don't even remember when I borrowed it. I thought that I would just browse through and then give it back, but then I started to read each line carefully and an endless period has started. In fact, such books are not really my style, because I never recall the names and dates mentioned in the book after I finish it, but I still like reading them.

As the name suggests, the book is about the wines produced throughout the world. While doing it, each country's wines are described in separate sections. Subregions within countries have their own subsections too. The characteristics of wines and the producers in different regions are mentioned in those sections.

You may recall that the previous books that I mentioned here classified the wines based on the grape types. This book, however, classifies the wines based on the place, which seemed to me as a bad idea at first. After I started to read, I actually liked it. I makes perfect sense when you think that each grape reveals different characteristics in different regions.

The quality of paper and printing is very good and the details and explanations in the book are actually interesting. The book is printed by Dorling Kindersley and you may buy it from bookstores in Turkey as well, in addition to amazon.com. It literally has been my "essential handbook" for a while as written on the cover. May be it becomes yours too.