Welcome to Wine Week here at Broke Foodie! This week, I'll be reviewing a bunch of wine books, so that you can decide which ones are best for your library and your tastes. Next week, some actual wines.
First up: Good, Better, Best: A No-Nonsense Guide to Popular Wines by Carolyn Evans Hammond.
Wine books tend to assume a certain elevation of taste/income in their readers. I love reading about rare French wines, but how do I reconcile that knowledge with the big bottle of Yellow Tail on my table? Especially when I can only afford the Yellow Tail.
Not so with Good, Better, Best. This book ranks the...shall we say, most affordable end of the wine spectrum. All the $7.99 stuff you see in the supermarket--Turning Leaf, Little Penguin, Jacob's Creek, Woodbridge, and yes, Yellow Tail. Bottles you can find anywhere. Even Franzia and Gallo make an appearance. Nothing over $15.
If you're just starting (or wanting) to learn about wine, or your budget won't stretch beyond jug wine, or you just really like Franzia, this is a great book to have. It breaks out each type of wine (merlot, chardonnay, etc.) by price point and then ranks them by Good, Better, Best. So if you're looking for a $5 - $8 bottle of sauvignon blanc, for example, Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve is Good; Fetzer Vineyards Valley Oak is Better; and Rosemount Diamond Label is Best.
Tomorrow: the world's bestselling guide to inexpensive wines!
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