- Paperback: 160 pages
- Publisher: Faber and Faber (3 July 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 057120287X
- ISBN-13: 978-0571202874
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 13.5 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,107,225 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Fifty years in the wine business have equipped Pat Simon with a nose and palate of formidable finesse. His ruminations on how a taster learns to taste, how memory and appreciation are deepened, and how the intensely subjective experience of tasting wine can be communicated meaningfully, are distilled in Wine Tasters' Logic. This wonderfully interesting volume manages to be both a manual of practical instruction in discriminating among the endless subtleties of wine, and a series of elegant pensées on the subject, fully justifying the subtitle "Thinking About Wine and Enjoying It".
The first of its two parts, "Thinking About Tasting", comprises a series of meditations on key topics such as balance, tannins, taste versus aroma, and the qualities of soil and terroir. There is a fair quantity of chemistry in this part, not all of it equally accessible, but even non-chemists will come away appreciating the differences between "green-apple" malic acidity and the less "mouth-puckering" tartaric. Context nearly always makes clear the sense of apparently opaque statements, such as "the alkalinity of the saliva should take quite a few of the anthocyanins past the isoelectric point of tannin, so that they flocculate and come out of solution". (In fact this describes what happens when a wine is "chewed" and acquires a texture in the mouth--precipitated tannin particles.) It's worth persevering, for the rewards and insights are many. The second part, "Practising Tasting", shows how this carefully acquired knowledge can be translated into the skills of the wine taster. The copious anecdotes Pat Simon offers from his own wine education reinforce the impression that many beginners must have: the whole discipline is so endlessly complex that you'd give up in despair if it weren't also endlessly fascinating. --Robin Davidson
Product Description
In this unique book, Pat Simon, a Master of Wine for more than thirty years, draws on his half-century of experience in the wine trade to share his ideas on wine-tasting. The book is divided into two parts: Part One encourages the reader to think about tasting, and explores ideas such as balance, finish, aroma and tannin. It guides both new and experienced tasters through the many and various concepts behind wine-tasting. Part Two is a practical guide to developing expertise, including discussions on tasting glasses, keeping records, and decanting wine. Illustrated with reminiscences from an earlier age of the wine trade, as well as suggestions for new thinking in the currently developing world of wine, this search for a logical base for wine-tasting will enhance every reader's pleasure in wine-drinking.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is not an introduction to wine. It goes beyond common sense and nonsense and is a highly individual contribution. The author writes from his extraordinary experience in the wine trade and commercial considerations are frequently present. Inspiring and daring suggestions (like the possible explanation of the mellow character of mature red wine) are most interesting. Historical remarks on the sometimes lost original meanings of standard tasting vocabulary terms are excellent. On the minus side, the introduction of Gestalt Psychologie to the consideration of the shape of wine seems to me to be less than solid. The book is not a systematic treatise and the title does not seem to fit the content very well. A unique contribution for fairly advanced learners.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What do I know about wine-tasting?
About thirty years ago I bought Hugh Johnson's World Atlas of Wine at least partly because of the excellent maps of the vineyards. It made the reading of labels from bottles of wine all the more attractive and I occasionally collected them along with my brief comments in a small book.
From time to time, depending on the tastes of my friends, I would improve my knowledge of wines and teas.
Now I have just read a new book by
Pat Simon "Wine-taster's Logic, thinking about wine and enjoying it"
and it has been refreshing to compare with the taste experiences I have had over the past decades. I read the book from cover to cover, it is that kind of book. A sort of distilled wisdom economically setting out the essential art and science of the subject.
My palate has been invigorated and refreshed. I am ready to try some wines that I have previously ignored or avoided. My old favourites will come under greater scrutiny and I shall have the curiosity to apply the same methods to tea tasting.
Was there anything about the book that didn't appeal to my attention? Well the tables of statistics might have been visualised as line graphs and Figure 13 could have been more thorough. As for the cover photography, I would have hoped for the brilliance of colours of wines in glasses rather than the uninspiring view of newly corked bottle necks.
Fortunately, never has it been more true that one shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Pat Simon's insights into the taste, culture, science and his language of wine-tasting is an exhilarating read.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Highly individual contribution for the advanced learner
9 April 2001
Format:Paperback
Wine taster logic
This book is not an introduction to wine. It goes beyond common sense and nonsense and is a highly individual contribution. The author writes from his extraordinary experience in the wine trade and commercial considerations are frequently present. Inspiring and daring suggestions (like the possible explanation of the mellow character of mature red wine) are most interesting. Historical remarks on the sometimes lost original meanings of standard tasting vocabulary terms are excellent. On the minus side, the introduction of Gestalt Psychologie to the consideration of the shape of wine seems to me to be less than solid. The book is not a systematic treatise and the title does not seem to fit the content very well. A unique contribution for fairly advanced learners.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Excellent
21 Aug 2000
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is excellent because it is very accurate, and at the same time very enjoyable. For once, a book aimed at people who know and appreciate wine, but surely a source of valuable information for passionate beginners.
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