--- title: Wine & Wine Tasting description: Wine appreciation combines tasting skill with knowledge of grapes, regions and winemaking. You will learn structured tasting, the major grape varieties and wine regions, how viticulture and production shape style, food pairing, and the WSET qualification path. category: trades-crafts subcategory: cooking-and-culinary difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/wine-and-wine-tasting --- # Wine & Wine Tasting Wine appreciation combines tasting skill with knowledge of grapes, regions and winemaking. You will learn structured tasting, the major grape varieties and wine regions, how viticulture and production shape style, food pairing, and the WSET qualification path. ## Available Resources 5 Books • 1 Courses • 1 Papers ## Podcasts ### 1. I'll Drink to That! Wine Talk **Author:** Levi Dalton Long-form interviews with winemakers, growers, sommeliers and importers, hosted by former sommelier Levi Dalton. More than 500 free episodes cover particular regions, producers, vineyard practices and cellar decisions in practitioners' own words. Adds first-hand producer perspective on regions and winemaking choices, which the reference books cannot. Best used alongside the books, after the basics. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://illdrinktothatpod.com/ **Tags:** winemaking, wine-regions, viticulture, sommelier, producer-interviews ## Books ### 1. The Science of Wine: From Vine to Glass (3rd Edition) **Author:** Jamie Goode Explains how grapes are grown and wine is made: vine biology, terroir, soil and climate, vineyard management, fermentation microbes, flavor chemistry, extraction, sulfur dioxide, wine faults, oak aging and sweet wine production. Goode bridges consumer guides and dense oenology textbooks (Jackson's Wine Science, Bird's Understanding Wine Technology), with current science on terroir, yeasts and faults. Written for students, wine professionals and curious drinkers. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0520379500?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** wine-science, viticulture, oenology, terroir, wine-faults ### 2. The Oxford Companion to Wine (5th Edition) **Author:** Julia Harding MW, Jancis Robinson MW, Tara Q. Thomas An encyclopedia of wine in about 4,000 A–Z entries. It covers grape varieties, regions, viticulture, enology, tasting science, history and the wine trade, with nearly 300 specialist contributors. The 5th edition was published by Oxford University Press in 2023. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0198871317?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** wine-reference, grape-varieties, wine-regions, viticulture, oenology ### 3. The World Atlas of Wine (9th Edition) **Author:** Hugh Johnson, Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding It is the definitive study tool for wine regions. A cartographic reference to the world's wine regions, down to individual vineyards and appellations. Each map comes with commentary on climate, soils, grapes and producers. The 9th edition adds 18 new maps, revises every existing one, and covers climate change and sustainability. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1784729701?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** wine-regions, wine-maps, appellations, terroir, wine-geography ### 4. The Wine Bible (3rd Edition) **Author:** Karen MacNeil A country-by-country survey of the world's wine regions. It opens with chapters on viticulture, terroir, winemaking and tasting. It covers how production and place shape style. The 2022 color edition adds Great Britain, Croatia, Israel and ancient-world wine, with maps, label guides and producer recommendations. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1523510102?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** wine-regions, grape-varieties, winemaking, wine-tasting, terroir ### 5. Wine Folly: Magnum Edition — The Master Guide **Author:** Madeline Puckette, Justin Hammack The best visual first book for learning grapes, regions and style profiles quickly. A visual reference covering more than 100 grapes and wine styles, color-coded by style. It includes flavor profiles, maps of major and emerging regions, label and classification guides for key European countries, and basics of tasting, serving and food pairing. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525533893?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** grape-varieties, wine-styles, wine-tasting, food-pairing, wine-labels ## Courses ### 1. Wine Tasting: Sensory Techniques for Wine Analysis **Author:** John Buechsenstein A self-paced UC Davis course on how wine tasting works as a sensory process. It covers setting up tastings, classic wine styles, aroma and flavor vocabulary, spotting faults and defects, and principles of food and wine pairing. It ends with a capstone tasting project. Learners do need to buy their own wine, which the course estimates at $150-250. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/wine **Tags:** wine tasting, sensory evaluation, wine faults, food and wine pairing, aroma vocabulary ## Papers ### 1. WSET Level 3 Systematic Approach to Tasting Wine (SAT) **Author:** Wine & Spirit Education Trust Structured tasting is the core skill for this topic, and this is the reference framework itself. The Wine & Spirit Education Trust's official tasting grid and lexicon. It covers appearance, nose, palate and conclusions, including how to judge quality and readiness to drink. Level 3 candidates are examined against it, and study groups worldwide use it as their standard. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.wsetglobal.com/media/11766/wset_l3wines_sat_en_may2022_issue2.pdf **Tags:** wine tasting, wset, systematic tasting, wine quality assessment, tasting notes --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/wine-and-wine-tasting