Thinking About Wine Author:Elin McCoy, John F. Walker In Thinking about Wine Elin McCoy and John Frederick Walker bring together and expand upon some of their most talked-about columns for Food & Wine magazine. No aspect of the subject of wine fails to interest them; the result is a truly global view of wine making, wine dirnking, and wine criticism--and the people engaged therein. — McCoy and Walke... more »r are among today's top wine tasters and critics, but this book goes beyond tasting notes and references. The authors' prestige and position have given them access to the world's top wine estates and invitations to extraordinary wine gatherings, and they bring fresh insights, controversial opinions, and chamring stories to their reportage. Here, for instance, are an eye-opening critique of the growing tendency to rank wines by number, an illuminating short course on marching wines with food, a first-hand account of the pitfalls of investing in wine, and an idiosyncratic tour of Bordeaux (with stops for St.-Julien , Petrus, and the '82 vintage), California, and the rest of the wine world (including the Loire, Portugal, and yes, Maryland).
McCoy and Walker approach everyday wine concerns with equal enthusiasm, and the reader will find insights on the pleasures of modest wines as well as guidance to ideal serving temperatures, storing wine for the future, and getting the best wine values for the money spent.
McCoy and Walker discuss all this with great high spirits and a refreshing lack of pretension. Their passion for their subject does not preclude writing on it with wit and style, and occasionally, with irreverence.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. The Critical Palate
The numbers racket
In defense of winetalk
The trouble with "blind" tastings
When is a wine ready to drink?
New thoughts on old wines
To breathe or not to breathe
Cool reds
Changing fashions: dry versus sweet
The emerging international taste
2. On Bordeaux
A visit to St.-Julien
Controversial clarets: '82 and '83
From our tasting notes: Chateaux Haut-Brion and Haut-Brion Blanc
La Mission Haut-Brion and Petrus: Wonderful, but...