Be Your Own Wine Expert

Be Your Own Wine Expert cover

Purchasing Information

Benjamin Franklin said it best, "Wine is proof that God loves us and wants to see us happy. And like any art form, the more you know about wine the better you can enjoy it. James Gabler's "Be Your Own Wine Expert," (only .99 cents until January 1, 2012), makes learning about wine easy to understand and fun, and does it in less than 3 minutes a day. It includes over 2000 wines that cost under $10, $15, $20 a bottle, proof that wine doesn't have to be expensive to be good; gives the phonetic pronunciations of the wines and grapes which eliminates mispronouncing them; tells what different wines taste and smell like; what wines go best with what foods; when the wines are ready to drink; and ideal serving temperatures.

Other sections include a discussion on wine appreciation; salient facts about more than 100 wine varietals; wine do’s and don’ts; a glossary of terms; questions and answers; and a special section about Thomas Jefferson’s favorite wines and foods available today. It eliminates intimidating wine lists, not saying the wine correctly, and feeling left out when the conversation turns to wine.

Be Your Own Wine Expert puts the world of wine at your fingertips, and because it's an e-book you can take it with you wherever you go. It's available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0064D6LI2, and on the iPhone, iPad, iMac, iPod Touch through Apple's iBook Store, and on all Android phones and e-reader devices including personal computers by using the free Kindle App.  Only .99 cents until January 1, 2012.

Below is the Australian Chardonnay entry. It shows how easy it is to access a great deal of information quickly, i. e., in less than 3 minutes. This format is followed throughout the book for over 100 wine varietals. A more detailed explanation of the book's format and how to best use it is set out in the Introduction to Be Your Own Wine Expert (see below). Happy wine drinking.

Jim Gabler

AUSTRALIA - CHARDONNAY (Shar-doe-nay)

Region or District:

New South Wales; Victoria; South Australia; Western Australia.

Color:

Pale to straw yellow.

Taste:

Rich; medium-bodied; dry with good acidity, hints of lemon, lime or grapefruit.

When to Drink:

Great and good years: 1-3 years.

Principal Grape:

Chardonnay (Shar-doe-nay) 100%

Bouquet:

Citrus; apple; pear; peach; oaky; toasty.

Best Clues:

Citrus nose with a hint of lemon, lime on the taste and aftertaste.

Serve with:

White meats, fish, shellfish, fowl

Serve at:

50°-55°F.

Notes:

Australia has a tradition of wine making that goes back 190 years and that tradition is reflected today in the high quality of Australian wines. All of the great European Vitis vinifera grape varietals are grown here. The main white wines represented are Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Muscat, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon; the reds by Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, and Merlot.

Chardonnay is the most popular white wine made in Australia, and like its California counterpart it is not made for aging. It should be drunk young while still crisp and fruity.

Value for Money Wines Under $10: DeBortoli ‘Willowglen’, Jacob’s Creek, Lindemans ‘Bin 65’, Hardys, McWilliams, Penfold ‘Rawson’, Penfold ‘Koonunga’, Wolf Blass, Wyndham, Yellow Tail, Yalumba ‘Y’ unoaked. Under $15: Jacobs Creek Reserve, Mitchell, Penfolds ‘Thomas Hyland’, Peter Lehman, Rosemount, Rothbury Estate, Seppelt, Moyston. Under $20: Brown Bros, Chateau Tahbilk, Mildara, Robert Oatley, Tyrrells, Mitchelton.

Other quality and popular Chardonnay producers include: New South Wales Arrowfield, Brokenwood, Draytons, Saxonvale. Victoria: Coldstream Hills, Mildara. South Australia: Black Opal, Château Reynella, Leasingham, Oxford Landing, Petaluma, Wynns Coonawarra Estate. Western Australia: Cullen Kevin John, Evans & Tate, Killerby.

Q. What are the principal Australian wine regions?
A. There are four main wine regions that stretch out across the southeastern basin of Australia, and are separated by as much as 1000 miles: New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. A fourth wine region surrounds Perth in Western Australia.

Q. What other popular white wine is often blended with Chardonnay?
A. Sémillon. In fact, you are more likely to find Sémillon in combination with Chardonnay than by itself.

Q. Does Australia’s down under neighbor, New Zealand, make wines?
A. Yes. A full range of vinifera grapes are grown and wines are made on both the North and South Islands. Because the growing climate is relatively cool, white wines and Pinot Noir excel - although many high quality Cabernet Sauvignons are produced, especially in the Hawkes Bay region. See New Zealand.

Introduction to Be Your Own Wine Expert

For those with little time but a growing interest in wine, Be Your Own Wine Expert provides a quick and easy but thorough understanding of this fascinating subject. This book is not intended as an end-all to wine for learning about wine is a never-ending experience. Hopefully this book will pave the way for your exploring other wine trails that will lead to additional exciting adventures in taste and pleasure.

Be Your Own Wine Expert makes learning about wine fun. In less than 3 minutes you will learn to better enjoy any one of more than 100 of the world’s best wine varietals including:

Because it’s an E-Book, it brings the world of wine to your fingertips. You can download it to the Kindle, iPhone, iPad, iPod, iMac, Android, Nook, Kobo, Sony and take it with you wherever you go. No more intimidating wine lists, no more mispronouncing wine names and grapes, no more feeling left out when the conversation turns to wine. The great wines of the world are discussed, but the emphasis of the book is on good available and affordable wines. With more than 2000 Value for Money Wine recommendations that cost less than $10, $15, and $20 a bottle, you will discover that drinking very good wine doesn’t have to be expensive.

There are many people who genuinely enjoy wine but drink only a specific wine. They are afraid to venture further, perhaps because they are intimidated by an aura of mystery and elitism with which some writers treat wine. Some beginning wine drinkers are so intimidated that they have been heard to say that “most wines taste the same.” That’s not true. Even though some wines may look the same, they do not taste the same, and they do not smell the same.

Wine drinkers want to know how to taste the differences in wines, or why one wine is considered great and another ordinary. Unfortunately, the most available source of information, wine books, are of little help. They tell you much about wine except what it smells and tastes like. It is not uncommon to read that the bouquet is “distinctly Riesling” or “scented with the Cabernet grape” or “typical of a great Burgundy.” To call it “distinctly Riesling” or “scented with the Cabernet grape” does not describe the wine. The reader wants to know what is the scent of a Cabernet Sauvignon? What are the smell and taste characteristics of a great Burgundy?

This book classifies more than 100 of the world’s great wine varietals by color, smell and taste. Descriptions of smell and taste are, of course, subjective. Nevertheless, wines made from different or the same grapes, grown in different soils and different climates, have distinctly different smells and tastes. If you can taste the difference in foods, you can learn to taste the difference in wines. No claim is made for complete success, but it is a start into an aspect of wine that has long been neglected.

The two short sections that follow, “Wine Appreciation” and “How To Read The Guide” tell you what the book is about and how to use it quickly and easily. Please read them.
The book’s format makes it easy to use. After the name of each wine you will find the phonetic pronunciation; region or district of origin; principal grape variety; what the wine tastes and smells like; best clues for identifying the wine; when great and good vintages should be drinking best; which foods best complement the wine; and the ideal temperature at which the wine should be served.

The “Notes” cover salient facts about each wine along with the names of reliable wineries and producers. Here you will find not only the most famous producers but also Value for Money Wines, recommendations of wineries and producers who make good but inexpensive wines, wines that sell for less than $10, $15, and $20 a bottle. Many of these wines are equal in taste to wines that sell for double, even quadruple and more of their prices. In other words, good value for your money.

Demand (especially in China) for Bordeaux and Burgundy wines such as Lafite, Petrus, Latour, Romanée Conti have pushed wine prices and wine futures to record highs. Examples of the craziness surrounding the prices of these wines are seen in the auction price of a bottle of 2000 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild for $3000, the futures price of $5000 for a bottle of 2009 Chateau Petrus (it won’t be ready to drink for at least another 10 years), and a bottle of 1985 Domaine Romanée-Conti with a suggested auction price of $8,000-12,000! Where does it stop? Nobody knows. This extraordinary price pressure at the top has influenced wine prices across the board. Exorbitant wine prices now permeate the entire fine wine market. The trickle-down effect and tough economy that most of us are suffering through has caused many wines we could afford to now be beyond our reach. Unfortunately, price and quality of wine are not synonymous. A higher price does not necessarily mean a higher quality wine.

But for those of us who buy wine for the pure enjoyment of drinking it, runaway wine prices do not present a problem because there are still good, reasonably priced wines to be found. The secret is in knowing where to find them. That is what Value for Money Wines is about—wines that taste good year-in-and-year-out, are reasonably priced, and are broadly available throughout the United States and in many parts of the world. In some instances I have included a fourth category and called it Splurge. These are wines that cost more than $20 a bottle but are especially good and worth the difference in price if you can afford them. They are often priced under $30 a bottle, but not always.

What do I mean when I say wines that consistently taste good? The criteria are simple. Wines you can drink or serve to anyone with total confidence.

In recommending Value for Money Wines it was important to select wines that are of consistently good quality and generally available. We have all experienced the disappointment of reading about a certain “wonderful” wine, but when we go to buy the wine, we can’t find it because it’s not available. The wines recommended in Value for Money Wines have wide distribution. That doesn’t mean that every wine recommended will always be found in your favorite wine shop, but many will be there.

There are two methods to find what you are looking for: 1. Table of Contents. 2. Tap the search icon, type in the word(s) you wish to find, tap “search” or “return”.

All the wine prices were available at the time of purchase or research. Some wine merchant prices will be higher and some lower than those listed but the difference should not be too great. A difference in price will sometimes exist because wineries make different styles of wines from the same grape varietal and price them accordingly. If your merchant’s price is substantially higher than listed herein, it’s probably because it is a special wine such as a reserve or single vineyard. For example Chappellet’s Cabernet Sauvignon Mountain Cuvee is recommended as a Splurge wine. It sells retail for about $28 a bottle. But Chappellet also makes other Cabernet Sauvignon wines, Signature at $48 and Pritchard Hill at $135. All three are very good wines.

Wines from certain vineyard regions such as Cote Rotie, classified Bordeaux, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Meursault cost more than $20 a bottle. When that is the situation, a price range is given. Often there is a wide spread in the prices, i.e., $35-175. These price differences can reflect differences in the quality of the wines, but it can also reflect the exaggerated values some wineries place on their wines. In this regard, the reputation of the wine producer is important. I have listed reliable producers and shippers to serve as a helpful guide.

The “Questions and Answers” cover a broad range of information.

Keeping wine notes is a good idea if you intend to develop your palate to the degree that you are able to translate smell and taste perceptions into an accurate judgment of what you are drinking and its relative value. It is recommended that when you find a “wonderful” wine that you make a note of its name or soak off the wine label. If you don’t, that “wonderful” wine will quickly fade from memory and you won’t be able to enjoy it again.

The aging potential for most quality white and red wines is shorter than often recommended by many wine writers. I have learned this through the painful experience of pouring down the drain old, dried-out wines. The “When To Drink” recommendations are based on my experience as to when a particular wine varietal will be drinking at its best. If you keep wine too long, the fruit fades and it develops a “burnt” or “cooked” smell and taste and the remaining bottles are wasted, or, at best, barely drinkable. It is far better to drink a wine when it is a little too young and tannic but still full of fruit. Life really is too short to drink bad wine, so I suggest that you drink your wines sooner rather than later to determine when they are best suited to your taste. The ultimate guide on when to drink a wine is when it tastes good to you. When it reaches a point of personal satisfaction, why wait longer? How do you determine when a wine has reached  the point of personal satisfaction? I suggest you drink a bottle from time to time at home, at a wine tasting, at a restaurant, at a friend’s house, wherever. Remember, most wines are ready to drink when bottled, and wine tastes better when drunk with food and friends.

I don’t have and have never had any commercial or monetary interests in the wine trade. My opinions and comments are made without bias in favor of any person, wine, winery, producer or shipper.

I'm sure you will know of or discover wines that you feel should be included in the Value for Money Wines categories. If you do, please email the names of the wines to me at bacchuspr@aol.com so that I can consider them for inclusion in the next edition of Be Your Own Wine Expert. Also, I am interested in new ideas, and I welcome your suggestions.

Happy wine drinking!