Wine. All the Time

Can I just be Marissa, please? I want to be hilarious and sexy and smart and insanely knowledgeable about wine. Mindy Kaling, New York Times bestselling author of Why Not Me? Funny as hell Wine. All The Time. breaks down one of the most exclusive-seeming concepts and industries of our time, making it more approachable and inviting in anyone who cares to participate. Leandra Medine, founder of Man Repeller [Marissa Ross] is hilarious and passionate and she makes learning about wine seem fun, instead of the stuffy vibe you get from most wine writers. The Kitchn "Hilarious and unpretentious. Real Simple For 'beginners,' [ Wine. All the Time. is] a fun start to the insanely beautiful and rewarding world of natural wine. For 'mediums' (like me) it's a great refresher and enlightener. For 'experts' it will remind you about what wine should be: freaking fun times! No boring bourgeois sleeper chapters super funny and inspiring and very important to the impending food and wine revolution! Eric Wareheim, actor, comedian and creator of Tim & Eric Awesome Show Colorful wine descriptions are Ross's specialty Young (or young-at-heart) readers can enjoy this book for the brazen attitude and frank adviceand maybe learn a bit too. Wine Spectator Funny, knowledgeable and aesthetically pleasing ... Know a lot about wine? This book will impress you! Know nothing about wine? This book will teach you in a way that you can digest. Moly McAleer, co-founder of HelloGiggles "[Ross's] book showed me a new path to purchasing and tasting wineand how to really, really enjoy it.She approaches her topic with respect and curiosity. But she never takes herself too seriouslyall of which comes across in her first book. Jenni Avins, Quartz Well written, engaging, and crazy funny. Michael Cruse, Cruse Wine Co. Feels like Marissa wrote this for mesomeone utterly fascinated by wine but completely incapable of describing, buying, or pronouncing it. Kelsey Burrow, Food52 [Ross's] new book is awesome. C up of Jo [A] comprehensive guide to help us clueless wine lovers [learn] how to describe what we're drinking, how to find the best bottle for our budget, and more. Cheers to that! Elizabeth Enteman, HelloGiggles "Ross confidently, yet carefully, provides everything you've ever wanted to know about wine...This is the book I plan to keep in my shopping bag at all times." Rewire Informationen zum Autor Marissa A. Ross is contributing editor and official wine columnist for Bon Appétit magazine. Her column Unfiltered appears monthly in their print issue. Marissa began blogging about wine in 2012 and has since been named one of Wine Enthusiast 's 40 Under 40, served as Man Repeller's go-to wine expert, was named Coach of the Month by Elle magazine, and was featured in Food & Wine 's Guide to the Digital Wine Universe. Her blog, Wine. All the Time., has earned her Editor's Choice and Reader's Choice awards for Best Wine Coverage at the Saveur Blog Awards. She is from Upland, CA. Klappentext "Can I just be Marissa, please? I want to be hilarious and sexy and smart and insanely knowledgeable about wine." -Mindy Kaling A fresh, fun, and unpretentious guide to wine from Marissa A. Ross, official wine columnist for Bon Appétit. Does the thought of having to buy wine for a dinner party stress you out? Is your go-to strategy to pick the bottle with the coolest label? Are you tired of choosing pairings based on your wallet, instead of your palate? Fear not! Bon Appétit wine columnist and Wine. All The Time. blog...

Auteur

Marissa A. Ross is contributing editor and official wine columnist for Bon Appétit magazine. Her column “Unfiltered” appears monthly in their print issue. Marissa began blogging about wine in 2012 and has since been named one of Wine Enthusiast's 40 Under 40, served as Man Repeller’s “go-to wine expert,” was named “Coach of the Month” by Elle magazine, and was featured in Food & Wine’s “Guide to the Digital Wine Universe.” Her blog, Wine. All the Time., has earned her Editor’s Choice and Reader’s Choice awards for “Best Wine Coverage” at the Saveur Blog Awards. She is from Upland, CA.

Échantillon de lecture
This excerpt is from an advance uncorrected copy proof

Copyright © 2017 Marissa A. Ross

Introduction

 

I’m just going to get this out of the way: I am not a sommelier. People always assume that I am when they learn I’m a wine columnist, and I don’t blame them. Those are two very logical dots to connect, like A to B or Nate Dogg to Mr. Warren G. No one hears that I’m a wine columnist and is like, “Oh, shit! So you must be a college-dropout comedy writer, then!” Being a college-dropout-comedy-writer-turned-wine-columnist doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as saw-muhl-yay, but on the bright side, I didn’t have to take any tests to earn the title, and people can actually pronounce it. The important thing to take away from this is that despite my lack of formal education in this world, it eventually led me to writing the book you now hold in your hands: an unconventional, unpretentious guide to wine that I hope will help you become a more confident, more adven- turous  drinker.

Because you don’t need to be a sommelier to know your way around wine. That notion is as insane as telling someone they need to go to film school to have a good time at the movies. Sure, it helps if you’re interested in directing Scorsese- style tracking shots one day, but you don’t have to be top of the class at NYU with a brand-new beret to be entertained by Goodfellas. And yet, we’ve all been made to feel that way1about wine at one point or another, whether it’s been while browsing the shelves of a stuffy wine shop, being side-eyed at a dinner party for throwing some ice in your Sauv Blanc, or being winesplained by your hard-lining in-law.

Wine is for everyone, and anyone can learn about it. It isn’t this sacred subject surmountable only by a handful of human aroma Rolodexes. That might be true if you’re trying to sniff out specific French slopes in glasses of Sémillon, but most people out there are just trying to find a reasonably priced Pinot Noir. And for that, you do not need to know “everything.” You need to know the basics of tasting, so you can describe what you like. You need to know the basics of how wine is made and the effects of regions, so you can recognize patterns in the wines you like. And you need to know the basics of buying wine, so you can buy more of those wines you like, instead of shopping with your fingers crossed. This may seem like a lot right now, but you can totally do it. I know this because I totally did it.

When I started off my writing career, I was a blogger with a reputation as a freewheeling wino with a proclivity for cursing and little regard for open-container laws. When Molly McAleer started HelloGiggles in 2011, she suggested I do a video series reviewing all the shitty wines I drank. Thus, Wine Time was born, “the show where a woman who has absolutely no qualifications to be reviewing wine, aside from the fact that she drinks it every day, reviews wine.” I studied the steps of tasting and approached each wine like it was a $200 unicorn bottle rather than a $2 dusty bottle from House of Spirits. I inspected the color and clarity, swirled and accessed the bouquet, took three sips, and then I chugged it, a step I declared “The Ross Test.”

After ten episodes of reviewing wines under $10, I came to the conclusion that all wines under $10 tasted like all other wines under $10. I was bored, but thirsty for more. I never had thought of tasting wines before Wine Time, and suddenly that was all I could think about. Rather than just chugging to get drunk, I found m…