An engaging introduction to wine that concentrates on the reader as much as the wine, pointing out the most common pitfalls as it proceeds step-by–step through the essential skills everyone needs to have in order to select, serve and serve wine successfully. Primary emphasis is given to teaching the reader how to identify the taste of different wines according to grape variety, climatic conditions and wine making style, how to select, serve and store wines and how to match them with various foods and occasions. Through a series of ten engaging conversations, the author coaches the reader through the steps needed to become a consummate wine consumer, concentrating on common stumbling blocks, pitfalls and sources of confusion that aren’t covered in other introductory wine books. Instead of presenting a curriculum in a categorical fashion, this fast-paced, witty and literate book shows why trusting your own instincts is more important than studying diagrams of the tongue, pouring over aroma wheels or memorizing the minute details of all the leading estates. It explains how and why labels, ratings and reviews can be misleading, how to see through various marketing ploys and what the most persistent misconceptions are about serving and storing wine. Readers learn how to read between reviewer’s lines, how to make excellent pairings with little fuss and how to converse with sommeliers and retailers in a way that tells whether they are trying to help or giving them the run around. Without giving you any tables, charts or listings of regions and producers, or requiring you to memorize a glossary of definitions before you can understand what the author is saying, this book communicates all the essential skills you need to fall in love with wine and become a very savvy consumer. Filled with unique insights and down-to-earth, practical wine advice, this book lets the reader understand what the others are really trying to say.

There are nearly 1,400 known varieties of wine grapes in the world—from altesse to zierfandler—but 80 percent of the wine we drink is made from only 20 grapes. In Godforsaken Grapes, Jason Wilson looks at how that came to be and embarks on a journey to discover what we miss. Stemming from his own growing obsession, Wilson moves far beyond the “noble grapes,” hunting down obscure and underappreciated wines from Switzerland, Austria, Portugal, France, Italy, the United States, and beyond. In the process, he looks at why these wines fell out of favor (or never gained it in the first place), what it means to be obscure, and how geopolitics, economics, and fashion have changed what we drink. A combination of travel memoir and epicurean adventure, Godforsaken Grapes is an entertaining love letter to wine.