The Wine Savant: A Guide to the New Wine Culture

Book excerpt: “Entertaining and edifying. . . . [Steinberger] deftly shows how any and all of us can be savvier about wine.”—Bill Ward, Minneapolis Star Tribune Today’s dynamic wine culture calls for a different kind of wine book. The Wine Savant is just that: punchy, polemical, and brimming with insights to educate and entertain beginning wine drinkers and seasoned oenophiles alike. Never has the wine world had so much to offer, and never have smart decisions about value, quality, grape, and season been so difficult to make. In The Wine Savant, Michael Steinberger tramps through the world of contemporary wine—from three-buck Chuck and bucket-list Bordeaux to bottle speculators and biodynamic wineries—to give the inside scoop on the key concerns facing the new generation of wine lovers: • Why is California suddenly cool again? • What’s really the difference between a 95-point wine and a 94-point wine? • Why is Burgundy ascendant and Bordeaux suddenly so passé? • What’s a biodynamic wine, what’s a natural wine, and should you care? • Do food and wine pairings still matter? Featuring expert buying guides—including the New Kings of California and the World’s Great $25-and-Under Bottles—and tips on tough-to-pair cuisines like Indian and Japanese, The Wine Savant is the perfect guide to today’s often-bewildering realm of choice: ferociously opinionated and committed body and soul to enjoying every glass.