From the world-renowned sommelier Aldo Sohm, a dynamic, essential wine guide for a new generation NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR BY FOOD52 Aldo Sohm is one of the most respected and widely lauded sommeliers in the world. He's worked with celebrated chef Eric Ripert as wine director of three-Michelin-starred Le Bernardin for over a decade, yet his philosophy and approach to wine is much more casual. Aldo's debut book, Wine Simple, is full of confidence-building infographics and illustrations, an unbeatable depth of knowledge, effusive encouragement, and, most important, strong opinions on wine so you can learn to form your own. Imbued with Aldo's insatiable passion and eagerness to teach others, Wine Simple is accessible, deeply educational, and lively and fun, both in voice and visuals. This essential guide begins with the fundamentals of wine in easy-to-absorb hits of information and pragmatic, everyday tips--key varietals and winemaking regions, how to taste, when to save and when to splurge, and how to set up a wine tasting at home. Aldo then teaches you how to take your wine knowledge to the next level and evolve your palate, including techniques on building a “ flavor library, ” a cheat sheet to good (and great) vintages (and why you shouldn't put everything on the line for them), tips on troubleshooting tricky wines (corked? mousy?), and, for the daring, even how to saber a bottle of champagne. This visual, user-friendly approach will inspire readers to have the confidence, curiosity, and enthusiasm to taste smarter, drink boldly, and dive headfirst fearlessly into the exciting world of wine. Praise for Wine Simple “If you’ve ever felt like you ought to be smart about wine, this is the book. Aldo makes wine approachable and never dumbed down.” --Madeline Puckette, co-founder of Wine Folly “A meal at Le Bernardin is always an incredible experience, especially with Aldo’s expert knowledge and effortless charm! It can be intimidating to choose wine, but with Wine Simple we can all feel like world-class sommeliers.” --Chrissy Teigen “Whoever thinks wine is all about snobbery and intricate complexity should open this book! In less than 300 pages, Aldo Sohm manages to open the doors of this universe with wit, fun, and great pedagogy. A perfect, personal beginner’s guide by a legend in our industry, Wine Simple will surely be the bedside book for a new generation of wine lovers.” --Pascaline Lepeltier, Master Sommelier and managing partner, Racines NY ...

“If you’ve ever felt like you ought to be smart about wine, this is the book. Aldo makes wine approachable and never dumbed down.”—Madeline Puckette, co-founder of Wine Folly

“A meal at Le Bernardin is always an incredible experience, especially with Aldo’s expert knowledge and effortless charm! It can be intimidating to choose wine, but with Wine Simple we can all feel like world-class sommeliers.”—Chrissy Teigen

“Whoever thinks wine is all about snobbery and intricate complexity should open this book! In less than 300 pages, Aldo Sohm manages to open the doors of this universe with wit, fun, and great pedagogy. A perfect, personal beginner’s guide by a legend in our industry, Wine Simple will surely be the bedside book for a new generation of wine lovers.”—Pascaline Lepeltier, Master Sommelier and managing partner, Racines NY

“I always feel so at ease drinking wine with Aldo. While he is a renowned sommelier, he always helps me learn and listen to the wine, and this book will make you fall in love with wine again.”—José Andrés, chef/owner of ThinkFoodGroup
 
“This is undoubtedly the best introduction to wine that I’ve ever encountered. I wish I’d had access to a book like this when I was beginning my journey as a wine lover. Aldo Sohm makes oenophilia fun without making it dumb, proving yet again that he is one of the world’s greatest sommeliers—which is to say, a great teacher.”—Jay McInerney

Autorentext

Aldo Sohm with Christine Muhlke

Leseprobe
Intro

Every lunch and dinner, five days a week, you’ll find me ping-ponging between Le Bernardin and Aldo Sohm Wine Bar. It takes me just forty steps to get from one to the other, but there’s a world of difference between them: At Le Bernardin, a fourstar restaurant in New York City, diners order from a 40-page, 900-bottle wine list, with prices that stretch into the five figures. At the wine bar, where people hang out on stools and couches, they’re selecting from a much tighter list, with glasses starting at $11. Well, maybe they’re not that different after all—I’m asked many of the same questions at each: What should I order with my food? What should I try if I usually drink X? Can I find a good value in my price range? There are wine novices and connoisseurs at both places. It’s my job to help them find the perfect glass. But I can’t do it without them.

While young customers who have saved up for a meal at Le Bernardin might feel a little nervous about showing a guy with a weird-looking silver cup around his neck how little they know about wine, they open up at the wine bar, letting the questions flow. I love this curiosity—it’s what wine is all about. And to be honest, without those questions, I can’t help a customer find that perfect glass. I wanted to write a book that not only teaches people the basics of wine but also gives them the tools they need to get to know their palates—what they like and don’t like— and the vocabulary to help them describe it so they can go into a restaurant, wine bar, or store and dial in the bottle or glass that will delight them.

True, wine has lots of snobby associations and tons of words and details to memorize. But it doesn’t have to be intimidating. You really just need to know a handful of words and a smidgen of geography to be on your way. If it makes you feel any better, I’ll never know everything there is to know about wine. Luckily, I believe that the only way to learn—besides researching like crazy—is by making mistakes. So let’s start drinking!

About Aldo
(Or, How an Austrian Kid Who Hated Wine Ended Up the Wine Director of a Three-Michelin-Star Restaurant in New York City)

How I ended up the wine director at Le Bernardin is still a mystery to me (and my parents). But as I’ve learned over the years, life takes amazing turns when you’re open to challenge and adventure—and, of course, lots of hard work. And luckily for me, wine is one of those things that guarantee a nonstop journey of knowledge and pleasure: I’ll always be happy to keep learning, sip by magical sip.

When I was a teenager in Innsbruck, Austria, I wanted to be a chef: My friend’s dad cooked on a cruise ship, and I admired that free spirit. I went to a tourism college to study with a world-champion chef, but all that screaming in the kitchen was too much for me. The last two weeks of my summer internship at a restaurant, they were short-staffed, so they made me wait tables. I was in heaven. Even the chef said, “Oh my God. If we’d known that, we’d all have been better off!”

My first front-of-house job, at the age of nineteen, was at a hotel in the remote valley of Ötztal, Austria. I was happy to be earning my own money and to have time to mountain bike on my days off. It wasn’t until my third job—at a high-end resort where I worked breakfast, lunch, and dinner—that the idea of a career in wine really clicked for me. There was a Swiss couple who were so enthusiastic about food and wine, the…