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Jeff Cox From Storey Publishing Cellaring Wine is a complete sourcebook for developing a system to enjoy wine as it’s meant to be enjoyed — matured to excellence. The home wine cellar is far more than just a building project — in fact, in many cases very little building is necessary. Rather, the book presents a working system of selecting wines that will age well, laying them down properly, keeping track of what is in the cellar, and knowing when to drink the wines at their peak. Peak Oil Resources Review: I must begin by saying that my hope was to have reviewed a book about the actual production of wine prior to reviewing a book such as this. It makes sense that way... or so I thought. Cellaring Wine is more than just a book about how to cellar wine. I was expecting the usual do-it-yourself type of fare and not much more. Naturally, how to actually build a wine cellar is at the heart of the book. But in order to fill a cellar with wine so that it ages properly, you need to be educated about what wine to put in it. Sure, some wines are better than others, which means that aging them will yield even better wines with time. Did you know that not all wines are meant to age? In fact, some are to be consumed shortly after purchase. Cellaring such a wine is a waste and will surely lead to a disappointed palate. Hence the value of this educational book. There are two basic sections covering the 'why' of collecting and cellaring wine, and the 'how' of building your cellar. While the reasons for storing wine vary, ultimately it is about letting a bottle of wine properly mature. In order to select the right bottle of wine, you need to know what characteristics of a quality young wine will mature into an excellent aged wine. Would that it were so simple, however. In order to do that properly, you need to know what actually happens to the constituents of wine during the aging process. This information is foundational to successful cellaring. To get a magnificent and mature wine however, it needs to be stored properly. Cox succinctly details the construction of a wine cellar. While you could make it as complicated as your desires and budget permits, it is truly not an enormously difficult and expensive project. My only criticism of this section is that I would have liked more sketches and illustrations to cement my understanding of what was being described. Perhaps this is more of a defect in me than in the book... Overall, the writing style found in Cellaring Wine is comfortable and enjoyable. You almost get the sense that he is an uncle or grandfather teaching you the secrets of life, obtained through experience and tempered with wisdom. Cox has a presentation that is nearly devoid of certain snobbish elements that you would expect from a book and writer of this topic. In fact, he maintains a fine balance of conveying the information and keeping a certain levity in his writing. He has a passion for this topic. That much is apparent. Reading about his passion and what goes behind it should inspire an excitement to learn more about wine and its singular delights. It did for me! Now that I know how to cellar wine, the time has come to learn how to make it...
Jeff
Cox
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Cellaring
Wine: A Complete Guide to Selecting, Building, and Managing Your Wine
Collection