The Wine Guy: Everything You Want to Know about Buying and Enjoying Wine from Someone Who Sells It

by Andy Besch and Ellen Kaye

Everybody loves to drink wine, but when it comes to buying it, so many of us are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of choices, and intimidated because we don't think we know enough about wine to take a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060582995
• ISBN13: 9780060582999
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Great book

Easy to understand and thorough. I had the pleasure of seeing him speak, after reading the book, and he's truly a people person and makes wine education understandable to all.

Review of The Wine Guy

If you like wine, want to learn good ways to tell the differences between all those grape varieties, or maybe even want to know which wines to pair with which foods, then you might want to check out The Wine Guy : Everything You Want to Know about Buying and Enjoying Wine from Someone Who Sells It, by Andy Besch. Andy, a former television executive, turned his love of wine into a very successful Manhattan wine store called West Side Wine. In The Wine Guy, he condenses his passion, knowledge, and love of wines into a very readable and useful book. You will learn not only about the different grapes, the different wine regions, and how to taste the wines, but you will also gain the confidence and knowledge you need to buy the wines you like, pair wines with foods, and try new wines you might enjoy. In a sense, this book trains you to be your own Wine Guy. In addition, the book contains handy charts and tables so that you can learn to decipher wine bottle labels, pick wines according to desired flavors, decide which lesser-known wines to try based on your current preferences, pick which wines to try based on which grape, and determine which are the primary grapes of the different geographic wine regions. Amusing stories and insightful tips---from how to buy wine in restaurants to how to calculate the number of bottles of wine you will need for a party---add to the useful tables and wine knowledge, resulting in a very enjoyable book. Cheers! (reviewed by Kendall Giles)

The Wine Guy Has Sold Me

The Wine Guy has changed my life. Or perhaps I should say enhanced my life. For years I've enjoyed drinking my nightly glass or two of inexpensive Cabernet or Chardonnay. My repertoire was limited by my lack of knowledge. Then The Wine Guy came into my life and a new world opened up. The authors, Andy Besch and Ellen Kaye, encouraged me to try different wines and to trust my own taste. I now understand that swirling, smelling, and tasting, instead of simply being pretentious, are practical testing methods. Then there's what wines go with what food? What wines come from which country? This all-encompassing book, written in a fun, easy-to-digest and remember style, has prompted me to adventure into trying wines I've never heard of-Tempranillo, Riesling, Sangiovese, and so on. Only one problem: Chances are, my $2-a-bottle case of Cabernet that's been sitting in the garage for months will sit opened forever.

In Vino Veritasty -- This guy knows of what he speaks

Many of the wine books one may acquire (usually as gifts from well-meaning friends) are likely to be heavily dressed up coffee table editions that tend to remain corked through the years. Andy Besch and Ellen Kaye's The Wine Guy takes a refreshing and highly readable approach to the selecting and tasting process, imparting a great deal of the wisdom along with the knowledge. Even if you're the type who reads a wine list from right to left, you'll find that your options for enjoying wine will expand with the priceless insights offered here. Sante!