QUICK GUIDE TO WINE.
By Robert JayMisch '25. New York: Doubleday andCo., 1966. 98 pp. $2.95.
"Drink wine and let water go to the mill" is an old Italian adage. That more and more Americans are taking this to heart, in whatever its modern and less poetic form might be, is indicated by a recent Wine Institute statement that within the next decade California will have to produce an additional 50 million gallons of wine annually to meet the growing demand in this country.
For those who are already part of this legion of wine fanciers and those who are about to join, Bob Misch '25, author and wine lecturer, has produced a concise primer "that tells all you need to know about wine in an hour." This helpful little volume does its job in a no-nonsense way, insisting that a little knowledge is not a dangerous thing where wine is concerned. "All I intend to do in this slim volume," writes the author, "is to suggest a few bench marks on wines and their service; disabuse the uninitiate of some of the cliches, pronouncements, and dogmatisms of the pundits and wine snobs; and perhaps help in casting off the chains (of the sommelier, in this case) from your own considered judgments." He succeeds very well.
The primer identifies the categories of wine, and then offers chapters on red wines, white wines, and roses, including information and comment on American wines as well as the more prestigious ones from Europe. There is a short chapter on vintage and a longer one on serving wines - "For heaven's sake, no napkins wrapped around the bottle. If you're ashamed of what you're serving, don't serve it!" Other helpful contents are a guide to the pronunciation of the more common wine terms, a vintage chart for rule-of-thumb use, and suggestions in chart form for matching wines to foods.
In short compass Mr. Misch has covered the essentials, and his own expertness and unaffected enthusiasm for wine make him a trustworthy and pleasant guide. The reader who masters this one-hour course in oenology can move with some confidence in the realms of the grape and thereby share in one of the age-old pleasures of life.
