Wine for Every Day and Every Occasion: Red, White, and Bubbly to Celebrate the Joy of Living Book

Choosing a bottle of wine should be fun, not frightening. After all, one of the most important elements of enjoying wine is not so much the vintage or the vineyard but the occasion on which it is enjoyed.

In their new book, Wine for Every Day and Every Occasion, Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, authors of the popular weekly "Tastings" column in the Wall Street Journal, give you the kind of honest, accessible wine information that is hard to find.

In Wine for Every Day and Every Occasion, Dottie and John, as they are known to their fans, answer the most frequently asked questions about what wine to drink on specific occasions. They cover all the bases: What wine should I put away for my newborn's twenty-first birthday? What wine is best with Thanksgiving turkey? They also suggest ways in which wine can make every day a little bit more of an occasion — how to throw a wine tasting, how to start a wine-tasting group, even how to add wine to your tailgating party. And they share scores of tips from people like you.

Chapters include lists of specific wines and provide readers with suggestions for choosing Champagne to ring in the New Year and for chilled whites (and even reds) to drink in the summer. There is no stodginess about vintages and there are no numbered ratings. Wine for Every Day and Every Occasion gives you simple, straightforward advice to help you choose the best wines for life's best moments. As Dottie and John say, "The problem with most wine books is that they are about wine. Our book is about life."

So raise your glass to Wine for Every Day and Every Occasion. And drink to life.

Publishers Weekly

Rather than overload budding oenophiles with a comprehensive survey of winemaking, grape varietals, regions and producers (which Gaiter and Brecher nicely did in The Wall Street Journal Guide to Wine), the authors of the WSJ's "Tastings" column structure this book around holidays, events and common challenges such as traveling, negotiating wine lists and shopping confidently. It's an accessible, pleasurable read, showcasing the couple's unpretentious love of wine, from the jug to the rare vintage. Some chapters are stronger than others-the quiz on movie and TV "wine scenes" falls short of more informative sections on kosher wine, wines for summer, what to serve with Thanksgiving fare, wines for weddings and wine tastings. And readers may tire of the cheery letters from fans and find themselves thirsting for more Gaiter and Brecher. But this is really a testament to the couple's appeal as the ultimate anti-snob experts-their spirit comes so alive on the page, you'd love to find them sitting in your living room, opening one of their favorite California Cabs or white Bordeaux. Agent, Amanda Urban. (On sale Oct. 12) Forecast: Gaiter and Brecher's book should attract those who read their column, as well as people who've seen the authors on the Today Show, Martha Stewart Living and CBS This Morning. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.