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I decided to road-test the book on a wine tasting weekend, Toast to the Coast,
around Geelong in Victoria, Australia. It was a good idea, as I kept referring
to the book to compare what I was seeing and discussing in viticulture, the
growing of grapes; viniculture, the making of wine; grape varieties and my own
sensory experiences.
Beverage Basics does give you the tools to work out what it is that does suit
you, especially with respect to wine. Central to the book is the chapter on the
Sensory Evaluation of Wine. First comes appearance - clarity, brightness,
colour, concentration and viscosity. Second comes smell, grape aroma and
bouquet and oak overtones, which he goes into in great detail. Taste is the
essence for many of us and so his third point of discussion here is a discussion
of the five tastes - sweet, sour, bitter, salty and the more controversial
umami. He advances to the term mouthfeel where he discussed factors like
alcohol, body, tannins, temperature and carbonation, before going on to other
components of sensory evaluation including complexity, intensity and balance.
It gives clues on wine and food pairing and describes wine faults that can be
seen, smelled and tasted. The ensuing chapters on particular grape varieties
refer back to this chapter so it's worth paying attention!
Beverage Basics devotes a substantial section to viticulture, covering grape
varieties, the growing cycle of grapes and numerous terms from dormancy to
fruit set, the period of grape growth where the grapes produce acids and
tannins, and the period of veraison where the grapes are growing rather than the
shoots and leaves, changing in colour and in sugar content as they do. It
also explains the process of green drop or green harvest where the fruit is
thinned to decrease grape variability and increase the quality and
predictability if the harvest.
Most of the wine producers on my wine tasting weekend talked about the specific
terroir of their vineyard, so it was helpful to read the book's overview of
terroir, that is, the geographic characteristics which affect the grapes, such
as topography, soil and climate. The book goes further for those engaged in
growing vines, discussing the matching of vines to the terroir,
phylloxera-resistant root stock, clones and hybrids, canopy management, vineyard
management, vine management and vine-training systems.
If the viticulture section left me in awe of the grape-growers, the next section
on viniculture made me appreciate the art and science of the wine-makers. I
started to appreciate every drop of wine a whole lot more. The book explains
differences between making white and red wine, the detailed processes involved
in taking the harvested grapes through to tanks and barrels, and the final
processes of stabilising, clarifying and bottling the wine.
There are chapters on dessert and fortified wines and sparkling wines. But the
majority of the wine section is on grape varieties focussing on Chardonnay,
Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling in the case of white wines and Cabernet Sauvignon,
Merlot, Pinot and Shiraz/Syrah for red wines and the other red grapes.
The chapters on individual grape varieties are good, giving information about
acreage in different countries and regions, discussion of the extent to which
the particular grape variety is influenced by the terroir and the winemaker,
appropriate food pairings and other consideration in buying, storing, serving
and drinking the wine from that grape.
The book is styled for anyone with an interest in beverages and a desire to
seriously understand wine, beer and spirits. It uses graphics and photos to
support the written content without letting them dominate the book or distract
from the words. So it's unfortunate that the book's cover and title are
relatively bland compared to its contents, and so the book may not attract the
general readership it deserves.
From an Australian's point of view, there isn't enough detail, and you would
need to supplement your reading. It does discuss Australian and New Zealand
wines but it's superficial, omits some key Australian wine regions and doesn't
discuss the Australian Geographic Indications (GI) classification system for
wine. The cool climate wines that were the focus of Toast to the Coast, were
not mentioned at all despite their increasing global status. Yes, it may be too much to expect from a book with an international coverage, but I was
disappointed not to see additional references to Australia in the book's
bibliography and website listings.
Nevertheless, overall Beverage Basics is a very practical guide to wine. It
gives you a great appreciation of the reasons for the unique qualities of
individual wines.
It's a book to have with you at home as you taste and compare different wines,
checking and double checking against descriptors and check lists to see what you
can identify and what you can learn to identify. It's also a book for
professionals engaged in the beverage industry, a guide to trends, developments
and age-old attributes of a carefully produced beverage.
Beverage Basics is a satisfying book to refer to if you're visiting vineyards
and vignerons, but definitely too weighty to carry in your back-pack, except as
an e-book on your tablet. But if you stay home with the book for 365 days,
you'll discover something new every day and your wine vocabulary is sure to
increase exponentially. So a year of opportunity comes with Beverage Basics!
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 2011
ISBN 978-0-470-13883-0
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