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By Archive
from Salem Monthly, Section News
Posted on Tue May 02, 2006 at 09:27:08 PM PDT
Books worth drinking to
Outreach Services ManagerIn Hermann Hesse’s novel, “Peter Camenzind,” Hesse begins chapter four with a prayer to wine:
“The strong sweet god of wine is my faithful friend. Who is as mighty as he? Who as beautiful, as fantastic, lighthearted, and melancholy? He is hero and magician, tempter and brother of Eros. He can do the impossible; he imbues impoverished hearts with poetry. He transformed me, a peasant and a recluse, into a king, a poet, and a sage. He fills the emptied vessels of life with new destinies and drives the stranded back into the swift current of action …”
Who cares how it tastes if you are going to be a poet-king walking along a rainbow bridge on a spring night?
The great American philosopher William James called alcohol the “great exciter of the ‘yes’ function in man,” and who would disagree that this is the root of wine’s enduring popularity? The joy of inebriation is also why getting to know wine is such a fun hobby. Wine is a vehicle to show off one’s sophistication and an excuse to become unsophisticated. It’s good to know a thing or two about wine. It’s like duct tape — it comes in handy more often than you’d think.
To become acquainted with wine, I started with Karen MacNeil’s “The Wine Bible.”
Her book describes the essentials needed to make a great wine, offers a worldwide tour of the major wine regions, and teaches the reader to taste like a pro. The “Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia” is a reference work comparable in scope, and Kevin Zraly’s “Windows on the World Complete Wine Course” covers much of the same territory, but neither is as fun to read as “The Wine Bible.”
Knowing a thing or two about wine is also useful knowledge for those social situations that demand it, like ordering a bottle of wine you’ve never heard of at a restaurant you’ve never been to with a woman you’ve only talked to online. For these situations, I recommend a glance through “Oldman’s Guide to Outsmarting Wine: 108 Ingenious Shortcuts to Navigate the World of Wine with Confidence and Style.” Mark
Oldman’s nifty guide provides clear directions on how to buy a bottle of wine at a restaurant without paying a 400 percent mark-up and also equips you to pair the right wine with the right foods.
So read, drink and be merry.
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