"How To Love Wine: A Memoir and Manifesto": A must-read book written by Eric Asimov

For most, choosing the right wine comes with strong feelings of anxiety: the sense of inadequacy when you find yourself, clueless, scanning the shelves of your local wine store, or when a restaurant sommelier approaches you to taste the bottle for your table. Do you twirl the glass? Inspect it carefully? Drink the full amount or just take a sip?</p

New York Times chief wine critic Eric Asimov knows that while wine anxiety is normal, it’s also the greatest obstacle to deriving pleasure from this incredible yet complex beverage. In HOW TO LOVE WINE: A Memoir and Manifesto (William Morrow), Eric weaves in stories of his love affair with wine that began as a graduate student on a budget, incorporates in-depth discussions of beautiful and rare wines that instill a sense of discovery within wine drinkers, and takes readers across the globe as he tastes wonderful wines from California to France to Australia and so on.

As Eric Asimov puts it: “The idea is to start a discussion, and a reconsideration. I do believe I am asking the right questions, and if I can pull a thread on the crazy-quilt of established dogma, accepted principles, and so-called facts that rule our wine culture, I will feel that I have done my job.” Part manifesto, part memoir, HOW TO LOVE WINE addresses subjects as varied as the Rise of American Connoisseurship, the Tyranny of the Tasting Note, What’s Wrong With Scores?, and How to Learn to Enjoy Wine, while paying special attention to wines that have been particularly meaningful to him. Thought-provoking and vicariously enjoyable, Eric Asimov will inspire readers not by offering tricks and methods for memorizing arcane data, but by isolating and diminishing the sense of anxiety that so burdens would-be wine lovers.

Eric Asimov’s regular articles in the New York Times are a must-read for wine lovers. He belongs to a fast growing community of wine lovers whose motto is: “Wine is for drinking, not tasting”. At Vitabella, we are part of this community and so naturally @Vitabellawine decided to follow @EricAsimov on Twitter. We strongly advise you to do so and continue to “drink” his comments on new wine experiences.