I ran across this site today called NewsCred where you can create your own newspaper online with topics you’re interested in. It’s free and pretty neat – check it out:

http://wineshindig.newscred.com/

When I first started learning more about wine, I did what I assume most people do… drink lots of wine, talk to your friends, go to some tastings, and just try to figure it out. Then, read a few things online, maybe visit Snooth.com, or Wine Spectator.com, etc. and become fairly overwhelmed with ALL of the information. At some point, I happened to be in Borders and ran across this absolute gem: Bacchus & Me by Jay McInerney. Hands down, this book has become my new wine bible.

McInerney had been – and still is – a fiction writer. Until a friend of his took the helm at House & Garden magazine (too bad it’s since gone under) and positioned him as the new wine columnist. He was an enthusiast, but certainly not your typical wine critic. Exactly the combination that makes him a great wine writer. You get lots of the personal stories behind the making of the wine or of McInerney’s own discovering and sharing of the wines rather than a scientific explanation about fermentation and whatnot. By the end of each chapter, you will certainly have learned something new – whether about a wine maker, a wine region, a specific grape, or a must-have bottle of wine!

He made sense out of topics that I’d heard about but really had no knowledge of. Namely, terroir and vintage. It started to make sense how all different types of dirt and climate also affect the taste of the wine, not just the type of grape and the process once they’re off the vine.

Lines like these are one of my favorite things about the book, as he compares wines and grapes to other topics, including art and music and myriad everyday topics. Here’s a great example talking about Oregon Pinot Noir (of course, my favorite) as compared to a French Burgundy:

What you don’t usually taste from Oregon is that hint of actual dirt that Burgundy freaks often believe to be the funky soul of their beloved – like sweat on a handkerchief… Let’s say that in recent years Oregon Pinot Noir has been a little like [Eric] Clapton playing “Crossroads.” It ain’t exactly Robert Johnson. But it’s more danceable. And the ’98 vintage may well be Oregon’s “Layla.”

One more great music analogy talking about the blending of Merlot and Cabernet grapes in the Medoc region of Bordeaux, France:

…Cabernet Sauvignon was Lennon to Merlot’s McCartney; cab provided the guts, Merlot brought a bit of lyrical finesse. … The ideal in Bordeaux is more or less to mix “Yer Blues” and “Lovely Rita” so that you com eup with something like “A Day in the Life.”

Gotta love it… and once you’ve read this one about ten times (and I suggest reading a recent issue of Wine Spectator alongside… they seem to go together well insofar as a learning experience goes, and seeing the labels helps the info gel in my mind), then check out McInerney’s sequel, Hedonist in the Wine Cellar.

Happy reading (and drinking).