Discover the nuances of California wines and increase your drinking pleasure Want to be a California wine connoisseur? This friendly guide gives you the knowledge you need to appreciate these fine wines, showing you how to taste them, select a good bottle, pair wine with food, and much more. You'll see why certain wine regions are renowned and how to further enrich your wine-drinking experience. California wine 101 — understand the range of California wines, what makes them unique, and what a varietal wine is Review the regions — explore the major wine regions of California and what makes each one special, from the soil to the climate Open the bottle — become fluent in the Big Six: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Zinfandel Go beyond the basics — appreciate Pinot Grigio, Viognier, Syrah, sparkling wines, and more Round out your wine experience — pair and share wines, learn about the proper glassware and serving temperatures, and prepare for a winery visit Open the book and find: An overview of California wine today Wine recommendations for all budgets Explanations of wine label language A map of wine regions Tips for aging and collecting California wines Winery tasting etiquette The ins and outs of recent vintages Top wine country travel destinations

A tasteful guide for California wine novices and connoisseurs alike California accounts for a large percentage of the total U.S. wine production — about two of every three bottles sold. This handy guide presents the latest information on California wines and the regions where they are produced, including Napa and Sonoma Valleys, Santa Barbara, and Monterey. Open the book and find: The areas where wine is produced in California Recommened wineries in Napa and Sonoma valleys An introduction to the wines south of San Francisco, including Monterey A glimpse into the wines of Santa Barbara and the rest of California

Are you up to date on today's wine scene? Wine For Dummies, 6th Edition reveals what's in, what's out, and what's new in wine. With new and revised content, this edition of the popular Wine For Dummies text takes you on a tour of emerging and old world wine regions, showcasing the varieties and styles you need to know to stay up to date on today's wine scene. In addition to highlighting wines themselves, this approachable resource offers insight into wine shops, supermarket wine selections, wine and food pairings, vintage charts, and price guidelines. For the aspiring wine aficionado, the text offers expert advice on buying, collecting, and rating wines—and can direct you in updating your personal collection through its thorough guidance. Wine has, for generations, been an important part of culture and society around the world. Over time, trends in wine change—as do the ways in which it is created, celebrated, and enjoyed. Exploring today's wine trends is a great way to learn more about and appreciate different cultures—and let's be honest: educational value aside, wine tastes amazing. Understand different grape varieties and varying wine styles Read wine lists and labels, and understand how to use them to make the right purchases Pair your wine with food in a way that will bring out the best flavors in all aspects of your meal Explore how to best select, store, open, pour, and enjoy your wine Wine For Dummies, 6th Edition provides you with the information you need to confidently navigate today's wine scene!

For this powerful successor to his best-selling guide to California wine, Charles E. Olken has joined forces with Joseph Furstenthal to craft The New Connoisseurs’ Guidebook to California Wine and Wineries. An encyclopedia, atlas, and buying guide combined in one comprehensive, authoritative work, this new guide delivers information and guidance that is not available in any other place. From first page to last, it is geared towards a wide range of consumers, yet also offers the depth and detail that made its predecessor one of the most frequently referenced works by wine educators and industry insiders. Now organized geographically into eight wine regions, the guide has been completely rewritten and expanded to provide the most current information on the state’s evolving wine industry—its history, grapes, winemaking, terminology, geography, and leading wineries.

An all-inclusive, easy-to-use primer to all things wine Want to learn about wine, but don't know where to start? Wine All-In-One For Dummies provides comprehensive information about the basics of wine in one easy-to-understand volume. Combining the bestselling Wine For Dummies with our regional and specific wine titles, this book gives you the guidance you need to understand, purchase, drink and enjoy wine. You'll start at the beginning as you discover how wine is made. From there you'll explore grape varieties and vineyards, read labels and wine lists, and discover all the nuances of tasting wine. You'll see how to successfully store wine and serve it to your guests-and even build up an impressive collection of wine. Plus, you'll find suggestions for perfect food pairings and complete coverage on wines from around the world. Features wine tasting, serving, storing, collecting, and buying tips, all in a single authoritative volume Includes information on California wines, as well as other domestic and foreign locations including the US, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Greece, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, and Argentina. Helps you choose the best vintage for your needs Also covers champagne, sherry, and port wine Ed McCarthy and Mary Ewing-Mulligan are the authors of seven Dummies books on wine including the bestselling Wine For Dummies, 4th Edition, other contributing authors are recognized wine experts and journalists in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada Whether you're a wine novice or a budding sommelier, Wine All-In-One For Dummies is the one guide you need on your shelf to make your wine experience complete.

A rollicking wine country travelogue paired with the only comprehensive guide to Napa’s public tasting rooms Hank Beal is a wine pro–the executive wine buyer at an upscale supermarket chain. Rick Kushman is an ordinary joe–a guy who enjoys wine but doesn’t know a lot about it. Together, Hank and Rick set out to visit all 141 public tasting rooms in Napa during the course of a year. The result is A Moveable Thirst–an engaging, often hilarious book that’s one part Sideways, one part Frommer’s. The first part recounts their uproarious adventures on the road as Rick learns to sniff and spit like a true oenophile (but never stops asking stupid questions). The second part offers the most complete and detailed guide ever published to Napa’s wine rooms. For wine lovers and the more than 5 million people who visit Napa every year, A Moveable Thirst is a great read and an indispensable guide.

Winescapes are unique agricultural landscapes that are shaped by the presence of vineyards, winemaking activities, and the wineries where wines are produced and stored. Where viticulture is successful it transforms the local landscape into a combination of agriculture, industry, and tourism. This book demystifies viticulture in a way that helps the reader understand the environmental and economic conditions necessary in the art and practice of wine making. Distinctive characteristics of the book include a detailed discussion of more than thirty grape cultivars, an overview of wine regions around the country, and a survey of wine publications and festivals. Peters discusses the major environmental conditions affecting viticulture, especially weather and climate, and outlines the special problems the industry faces from lack of capital, competition, and changing public tastes.

California is the nation's great vineyard, supplying grapes for most of the wine produced in the United States. The state is home to more than 700 wineries, and California's premier wines are recognized throughout the world. But until now there has been no comprehensive guide to California wine and winemaking. Charles L. Sullivan's A Companion to California Wine admirably fills that gap—here is the reference work for consumers, wine writers, producers, and scholars. Sullivan's encyclopedic handbook traces the Golden State's wine industry from its mission period and Gold Rush origins down to last year's planting and vintage statistics. All aspects of wine are included, and wine production from vine propagation to bottling is described in straightforward language. There are entries for some 750 wineries, both historical and contemporary; for more than 100 wine grape varieties, from Aleatico to Zinfandel; and for wine types from claret to vermouth—all given in a historical context. In the book's foreword the doyen of wine writers, Hugh Johnson, tells of his own forty-year appreciation of California wine and its history. "Charles Sullivan's Companion," he adds, "will provide the grist for debate, speculation, and reminiscence from now on. With admirable dispassion he sets before us just what has happened in the plot so far."

"Lured by the discovery of gold to cross the plains to California in 1849, Haraszthy became the first sheriff of San Diego, a member of the California legislature, and the first assayer of the United States Mint in San Francisco. Long fascinated with the possibility of growing fine European grapes in America, he moved in 1856 to northern California's Sonoma Valley, where he built the first stone wineries in California, introduced more than 300 varieties of European grapes, and planted (or helped his neighbors plant) more than a thousand acres of choice wine vineyards. He made a well-publicized wine tour of Europe in 1861, wrote the first notable book on California wine growing, and built his Sonoma estate into what was widely advertised as "the largest vineyard in the world.""--BOOK JACKET.

Hiking California's Wine Country covers 67 hikes in the area for hikers of all abilities. Up-to-date trail information and miles and directions will be featured throughout, as well as sidebars on local culture, trivia, and wildlife. GPS coordinates are available for all trailheads.