REVIEW: Wine for Normal People by Elizabeth Schneider

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From the creator and host of the award-winning podcast Wine for Normal People, described by Imbibe magazine as “a wine podcast for the people.”

Wine for Normal People is an unpretentious guide to everything you ever wanted to know about wine.

Learn a not-snobby wine vocabulary, how and where to buy wine, how to read a wine label, and so much more.

• Rich with charts, maps and lists
• Includes tips on how to smell, swirl, and taste wine
• Both highly comprehensive and approachable

Explore the basics of wine, including tasting, regions, wine making, etiquette, and buying with this vividly illustrated handbook.

Author Elizabeth Schneider’s deep knowledge and unintimidating delivery make this a friendly introductory wine book.

Dear Ms. Schneider, 

My knowledge of wine is basically 1) it’s a liquid 2) that is either red, white, or pink-ish. Some of it I like and some of it I really don’t like. I feel intimidated looking at those big ‘ol walls of wine bottles in stores and trying to decide what I might like.This title seemed liked a life preserver flung to a drowning woman. I like to think of myself as a normal person so what better book to read when trying to learn more about wine.

The way you write makes the subject approachable and (dare I say it?) fun. There’s a lot of information here but it’s broken down into bite sized pieces which make stuff easier to digest and understand. You explain why this or that is important to a wine’s taste and what makes this wine go with that food or just nice to sip while sitting on the porch. The wine pairing exercises look as if they’ll be fun to do at a party yet also impart important lessons on which with what and why.  

Now that I’ve read it once, I know that I’ll go back both to learn more as my wine skills and confidence grow as well as use it as a handy guide when braving the wine shop. I can do this! Oh, and the mock discussion of wine snobs talking about oak cracked me up. B+

~Jayne

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Jayne

Another long time reader who read romance novels in her teens, then took a long break before started back again about 25 years ago. She enjoys historical romance/fiction best, likes contemporaries, action- adventure and mysteries, will read suspense if there's no TSTL characters and is currently reading more fantasy and SciFi.

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