Wine basics in a day? Easy.

Wine can be an intimidating topic, but doesn't have to beand this handy little guide gives you just what you need to buy and serve wine with confidence.

Buying& Serving Wine In A Day For Dummies covers everything from navigating wine shops, lists, and varietals to opening and serving wine properly. Plus, you'll get tips and advice for storing both unopened and leftover wine.

Navigating wine shops and restaurant wine listsHow to open a bottle, choose a glass, and serve the wineServing temperatures for wine, and guidelines for storing leftover wineUnderstanding more about wine from its labelOnline component takes readers beyond the book with bonus content and features

Get set to impress your friends with your newfound knowledge in no time!

Ed McCarthy, CWE, (Baldwin, NY) is a regular contributor toWine Enthusiast andThe Wine Journal.

Mary Ewing-Mulligan, MW, (Baldwin, NY) is the owner and president of the International Wine Center, a New York City wine school that offers credentialed wine education for wine professionals and serious wine lovers. She's the U.S. director of the Wine& Spirit Education Trust, and is also the long-standing wine columnist of theNY Daily News. Mary was the first female Master of Wine (MW) in the United States, and is one of only 31 MW's in North America (with 300 worldwide).
Ed and Mary have co-authored six wine books in theFor Dummies series and also share wine columns inNation's Restaurant News and inBeverage Media, a trade publication. They are each columnists for the online wine magazine,WineReviewOnline.com. Ed and Mary are both accredited as Certified Wine Educators (CWE).

Introduction 1

Chapter 1: Unlocking the Mysteries of Wine 3

Wine 101  3

What Color Is Your Appetite?  4

(Not exactly) white wine  5

Red, red wine  6

Pink wines: From rosé to blush  7

Which color of wine when?  7

Other Ways of Categorizing Wine  8

Table wine  8

Dessert wine  9

Sparkling wine  9

The Special Technique for Tasting Wine  10

Savoring a wines appearance  11

The nose knows  11

The mouth action  12

Chapter 2: The Wine Label and What It Tells You 15

The Wine Name Game  15

One or the other: Naming a grape or a place  16

Hello, my name is Chardonnay: Varietal names  16

Hello, my name is Bordeaux: Place names  17

Wine Labels, Forward and Backward  17

The mandatory sentence  18

Phrases of origin  20

Some optional label lingo  20

Chapter 3: Buying Wine to Drink at Home 23

Wine Retailers, Large and Small  23

Supermarkets, superstores, and so on  24

Wine specialty shops  25

Online merchants  26

Criteria for Choosing Wine Merchants  27

In the wine shop  27

On the Internet  30

Strategies for Wine Shopping  31

Dont be afraid to experiment  31

Explain what you want  31

Name your price  32

Asking the right questions  33

Chapter 4: Knowing the Necessary Wine

Gadgets and Glasses 35

Contemplating Corkscrews 35

The corkscrew not to use  36

The corkscrew to buy  36

Other corkscrews worth owning  37

Looking at Glass Matters 38

The right color: None  39

Thin but not tiny  39

Tulips, flutes, and other picturesque wine-glass names  40

Washing your wine glasses 42

Chapter 5: Serving Wine 43

Confronting the Cork  43

Removing the cork  44

Waiter, theres cork in my wine!  45

Opening Champagne and sparkling wine  46

Welcoming the Rebirth of the Screwcap 48

Letting Your Wine Breathe  48

How to aerate your wine  49

The wines that need aerating  49

Serving Wine at the Right Temperature  51

Pouring Wine 52

Keeping Leftover Wine  53

Chapter 6: Confronting a Restaurant Wine List 55

Understanding How Wine Is Sold in Restaurants  55

Wines by the glass: House and premium wines 56

The (anything but) standard wine list  58

Discovering How to Read a Wine List  59

What the wine list should tell you  59

Tips for using the wine list  60

Digital browsing  62

Ordering Your Wine  62

Handling the Wine Presentation Ritual  63

Trying Restaurant Wine Tips  65

Chapter 7: Where to Go from Here 67

Taking Your First Steps  67

Visiting dummies.com  68