Member Reviews
Useful and accessible guide to wine pairing - also gave me some new meal idea too. Great for a beginner and a perfect for planning those post lock down kitchen suppers .... assuming we ever get there!
I love wine, but I try to consume it as little as I can, so this book was the right choice for me. I believe this would be an excellent choice for all the people like me out there who wants to enjoy a good bottle with their food once in a while.
I thought it was a bit wordy and trying to be funny a little too much. Other than that, I like it and read it with pleasure.
Which Wine When is a simplified guide to pairing wine with everyday food. If you have ever been on a wine tasting or know a little about wine then you may find it a bit basic, there are a lot of obvious pairings but Bert & Claire also introduce you to lesser known grape varieties.
The Index is very good and easy to use, you can search by country, grape or food type.
This would make a lovely gift for someone moving in to their first home.
I was given a copy of Which Wine When by Netgalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.
Oh how I adored this book! Which Wine When is a complete eduction into...erm...well, which wine to have when! Wine is a subject shrouded in both snobbery and mystery, and this book completely subverts this. It’s helps you to understand why different grapes go with different flavours, so when you’re next in the wine aisle, you’ll be able to pick a bottle with poise, rather than blindly shuffling around. The writing is funny and joyful. I’m definitely going to buy a physical copy for my shelves! Cheers, chin chin, santé!
For food and wine lovers not yet well versed in matching the two to enhance both.
Bert and Claire don't start by explaining the principles of food and wine pairing. Rather, after first running through wine terminology in a very approachable way, they dive straight into foods and their wine matches.. It's a pragmatic, learn as you go approach, though I have a twinge that some preamble on the principles would be helpful.
Foods begin with everyday staples, then takeaways, followed by special occasions, snacks and nibbles, sweet treats, and cheese. Each wine/food pairing starts with a description of the wine then a section on why the paring is a good one. Alternatives are offered, specific or generic, followed by what sort of wine to ask for if all else fails.
The foods chosen are, I think, realistic and range from corned beef hash to roast pheasant through fish and chips. The wine choices are good and interesting. The style is direct and approachable. There is a good dash of hedonism. Fish and chips is matched with an English blanc de blancs for example.
The book rounds off with a chapter on choosing wine when eating out, and on wine tasting.
As an eBook it's pretty good, though there are some unreadable tables, which make the print version a better option. That said, I prefer reading on a Kindle, and the GoTo function allows you to quickly pull up all the wine/food pairs by chapter. There's a comprehensive linked index too.
A useful, enjoyable book for people who are new to wine or looking to find the best wine to pair with their meals. Will make you look like a wine pro at your next dinner party
Bert and Claire met over a glass of wine and decided to write this book. They say it is for their friends and for anyone who finds themselves struggling to choose wine based on more than a pretty label, a special offer or a vague memory.
I've been on a few wine tasting courses and visited a few. vineyards around the world. What I have taken from those adventures, is the fact that there are no rules, if you enjoy it, you can drink your wine with anything. The assumed rules are there to be broken. And the authors of this book do tend to agree with these thoughts at the end of the book. Before you get there though, they have you pairing wines with some very specific recipes that have brought them joy.
I found out some handy foodie information from this book, who knew that a couple of squares of dark chocolate in a chilli just before you serve it enhances the flavour? But this is a wine book, and I'm not sure I'm going to be turning to it when dishing up my macaroni cheese. Or when I pick up my fast food chicken nuggets. And I for one won't be wasting an expensive English sparkling vintage with fish 'n chips. And let's make it very clear here and now, I don't believe pork scratchings need an epicurean alcoholic beverage.
The sweet treats section was more useful and I'm liking the idea of a Canadian ice wine with my lemon meringue pie. And it's a nice touch to take away some of the mystery of choosing and testing a wine in a restaurant.
These wine recommendations are specific, but then followed by a helpful 'if you can't find this, go for...' and if all else fails, a description of the type of wine flavours.
I would say it's a good book to take with you as a gift for the host of a dinner party, but only if they don't have a great deal of wine knowledge in the first place, and definitely don't forget to take a real bottle too.
Thanks to net galley and the publisher for a free copy of this book for an honest opinion.
One to have on the shelf!
This is a book everyone (who likes cooking, eating, or wine) needs to have at some point; it's an ideal present for anyone, including yourself.
It does what it says on the cover - advise you on which wine to use when. Depending on the dish, you will want different options and this book tells you exactly what to pair with your meat or fish or snacks or cheese. Even dessert wines haven't been forgotten.
You will learn what type of wine to choose and there are suggestions of specific wines to buy or order, along with an explanation of why it is a good pairing and what your other options are.
You can study it to learn some basics and impress or keep it as a reference, but it's a must!
This book is a very nice Learners' guide to wine pairing. Matching a wine with a dish is always a challenge. And a good wine pairing can enhance greatly the dining experience. The authors are experts at this, and they are sharing their know how in a way that is accessible by those of us who don't know where to start when it comes to wine and wine pairing. The book offers pairing suggestions for a series of dishes (home made dinners, take away, snacks, desserts and cheeses). A specific wine is proposed, a few alternatives to it, and a broader description of which type of wine to pair with the dish. Not only does this help in case you cannot find the specified wine, but it also gives a start point for future wine pairing experts (and to know what to ask for at the shop). I also liked the "at a glance" overviews which hold your hand so you can venture into choosing for yourself. There were a few surprises in store in the book such as pairing an Asti Spumante with a Goan Fish Curry. But we all have our own taste and the book offers plenty for food and wine lovers to explore and create their own pairing successes. This book is a nice concept and a mouthwatering read.
Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK Ebury Publishing and the authors Bert Blaize and Claire Strickett for the opportunity to read this Advanced Readers Copy of "Which Wine When"
#WhichWineWhen #NetGalley
Many thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a free ARC of this ebook.
I didn't really know what to expect with this ebook, but requested it as eating and wine are two of my favourite things. Having now read it, I can say that I enjoyed it so much. Its a fun, well constructed book with tonnes of great wine related information and lovely ideas for food matching.
I'd just like to raise a couple of points.. The use of the words punch, punchy, punchiest are overused to the point of becoming meaningless. There must be other adjectives that could be employed?
This is no fault of the author but the charts in the ebook, Pies, Roasts, Chinese/Indian takeaways reproduce very poorly, to the point of being unreadable, which is such a shame. I'm sure the hard copy of the book would be a great improvement on this. If anyone has any suggestions as to how I can view these charts more clearly on Kindle I'd be really grateful. (I will buy the real book I have no doubt!)
My last comment is that the book ended too soon.. I would have loved more.. and wonder if there may be more books to come. Surely there are so many more wines and food to go with them?
I highly recommend this book, and am, very happy to give it 5 stars.
A great book which I will dip in and out of many more times. Great as a full cover to cover read or as a quick reference if you want to know which wines to pair with what. A nice starters guide.
I thought this book was great, really interesting, full of facts and useful information. I’m probably going to read it again as it was a lot to take in all at once, so will try to absorb the information more thoroughly. Full of so much I didn’t know already.
Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.