Demonstrating the same breadth of knowledge and the same sense of enthusiasm as all the best wine books, but with none of the pomposity and pretentiousness that so often afflict such volumes, Graham Harding's "A Wine Miscellany" is a book to entertain, to stimulate and to inform. Packed with arcane information about everything from types of cork and other closures to the rarest and the most expensive wines (which are not necessarily the same thing), here at last is a book that a wine connoisseur may give to a novice, and that someone ignorant of wine may give to an expert. For anyone tired of miscellanies which are little more than the weary rehearsal of warmed-over facts, here at last is a book to charm the reader's nose and enliven the palate!
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About the Author
Graham Harding is an amateur wine enthusiast and Chairman of the Oxford Wine Club, a director of a specialist wine importer, a joint founder of the Oxford Wine Forum, and holds the Diploma of the Wine and Spirits Educational Trust. He is also co-author of The Bluffer's Guide to Marketing and co-founder and director of Britain's largest independent branding consultancy.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By LoftyC
Format:Hardcover
I always thought the Duke of Clarence drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine. After reading 'A Wine Miscellany' I now know that the story came from chronicler Dominic Mancini, writing just five years after Richard the Third's death. I also know that Malmsey, which I had idely supposed to be related to Madeira, actually came from Crete. So next time (if there is a next time) I confront a bottle of Retsina, it'll be with due respect.
For this and much more, I am indebted to Graham Harding, who has produced, rather than a miscellany of wine - a cornucopia. All the usual wine scandals are here, but so too is evidence of a thirst for knowledge and accuracy that betrays the writer's earlier life as a Cambridge history graduate, Here I have to declare an interest. As one of those too, I am naturally going to look favourably on this fellow's work. And as a fellow wine imbiber, I'm not going to ignore the subject matter, either.
But enough of all that; this is a subject you could make unutterably boring, and Harding masterfully avoids the anorak pitfalls. There's fact mixed with scandal on every page - there are enough Chateau D'Yqem price stories (my favourite's the one about Piers Morgan and Marco Pierre White on page 84) to fuel many a dinner parrty conversation, for instance. But did you know that Thomas Jefferson owned the most expensive bottle of D'Yqem ever sold? No, neither did I (it was a 1787). The result is light enough for pick up and put down reading yet solid enough to add to knowledge. It's nicely laid out and illustrated too.
From highest vineyard to lowest wine practice, it's here. At a price which has it firmly among the great value gift books, its 172 enjoyably fact-packed pages should find their way into many a wine fan's Christmas stocking. Enjoy.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By dee
Format:Hardcover
For the enthusiastic wine amateaur or the wine connoisseur this book is a hugely enjoyable read. Whether you are just dipping into a couple of items or reading cover to cover this book will inform, entertain and encourage you. It demystifies the traditional snobbery associated with wines in amusing and entertaining way. Moreover it might even get you to try some of the wines mentioned in the book.Great fun and well worth the money.
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