Zraly employs his usual inimitable irreverent style as he takes a close look at America's wines and their history, discussing varieties from all 50 states.

Looks at how and where wine is made and how this affects its quality and pricing, including information on how the professionals taste and rate wine and a country-by-country tour of the latest vintages.

No one can describe a wine like Karen MacNeil. Comprehensive, entertaining, authoritative, and endlessly interesting, The Wine Bible is a lively course from an expert teacher, grounding the reader deeply in the fundamentals—vine-yards and varietals, climate and terroir, the nine attributes of a wine’s greatness—while layering on tips, informative asides, anecdotes, definitions, photographs, maps, labels, and recommended bottles. Discover how to taste with focus and build a wine-tasting memory. The reason behind Champagne’s bubbles. Italy, the place the ancient Greeks called the land of wine. An oak barrel’s effect on flavor. Sherry, the world’s most misunderstood and underappreciated wine. How to match wine with food—and mood. Plus everything else you need to know to buy, store, serve, and enjoy the world’s most captivating beverage.

This glorious book not only brilliantly showcases one man's love affair with all the beauties that can flow from the bottle, it definitively makes the case for the wines that are the most superbly suited to be served with food.

The ultimate course for wine lovers! Learn your sauvignon blanc from your chardonnay and your merlot from your grenache. Smell, swirl and taste your way to transforming from wine novice to expert. The pages of this wine book make a comprehensive, no-nonsense wine tasting course that covers every aspect of wine from grape to glass. Explore the nuances of your favorite red and white and discover new cultivars. Inside, you’ll find: • A dynamic course in understanding wine — through tasting and appreciation — with every subject given a high-impact visual treatment. • A structure that reflects how people approach wine — talking, tasting, and buying wine comes before exploring grape varieties and wine regions. • All key wine subjects are covered, shown and explained in an easy-to-understand way. • Themed tasting exercises are located throughout the book, encouraging readers to learn at their own pace. Follow expert wine advice in the latest edition of Wine: A Tasting Course. The updated text and refreshed design bring concepts to life like food and wine pairing, identifying the style spectrum, and distinguishing taste and smell. It explores fun wine facts and explodes myths, giving you everything you need to talk, taste and enjoy your favorite vintage. Can't smell honeysuckle in that glass of sauvignon blanc, or wondering which end of a bottle of chianti is the "nose?" With this immersive guide to all things wine, you'll soon become an expert. Pour over vibrant infographics and learn through “Did you know?” boxes as you try out a selection of taste tests, and get a handle on grape varieties and regions. This wine guide is a beautiful gift for the wine lover in your life, or the book for beginners you’ve been searching for to enjoy, understand and appreciate wine.

An “engrossing” history of the restaurant atop the World Trade Center “that ruled the New York City skyline from April 1976 until September 11, 2001” (Booklist, starred review). In the 1970s, New York City was plagued by crime, filth, and an ineffective government. The city was falling apart, and even the newly constructed World Trade Center threatened to be a fiasco. But in April 1976, a quarter-mile up on the 107th floor of the North Tower, a new restaurant called Windows on the World opened its doors—a glittering sign that New York wasn’t done just yet. In The Most Spectacular Restaurant in the World, journalist Tom Roston tells the complete history of this incredible restaurant, from its stunning $14-million opening to 9/11 and its tragic end. There are stories of the people behind it, such as Joe Baum, the celebrated restaurateur, who was said to be the only man who could outspend an unlimited budget; the well-tipped waiters; and the cavalcade of famous guests as well as everyday people celebrating the key moments in their lives. Roston also charts the changes in American food, from baroque and theatrical to locally sourced and organic. Built on nearly 150 original interviews, The Most Spectacular Restaurant in the World is the story of New York City’s restaurant culture and the quintessential American drive to succeed. “Roston also digs deeply into the history of New York restaurants, and how Windows on the World was shaped by the politics and social conditions of its era.” —The New York Times “The city’s premier celebration venue, deeply woven into its social, culinary and business fabrics, deserved a proper history. Roston delivers it with power, detail, humor and heartbreak to spare.” ?New York Post “A rich, complex account.” ?Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

A collection of articles and excerpts on the various aspects of wine, written by a variety of authorities on the subject. --

To help celebrate the 25th anniversary of the latest edition of Kevin Zraly’s classic book, we have created this tasty supplement: a wine journal of the same excellent vintage. Elegantly produced, this deluxe edition will debut this October along with the Complete Wine Course. A 64-page introductory section includes lots of information--including details on wine basics, tasting, and buying; How to Understand our Sense of Taste and Smell; What to Look for in a Wi≠ How to Indentify the Major Grape Varieties; and Vintage Best Bets from the Top Wine Regions in the World. The actual journal contains a fill-in area for jotting down tasting notes and for saving your favorite wine labels. It’s a gift any wine lover would savor!

Tells the story of red wine through 50 varietals and styles. Generously illustrated, it gives tasting profiles and notes, examples of red wines from countries throughout the world, as well as recommended wines

A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.