My Favorite Wine Book

If I could own only one book about wine, it would be What to Drink with What You Eat: The Definitive Guide to Pairing Food with Wine, Beer, Spirits, Coffee, Tea — Even Water — Based on Expert Advice from America’s Best Sommeliers by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page (Bullfinch Press; $35). It’s a treasure trove of wonderful ideas for food-and-wine pairing. Page and Dornenburg enjoy educating consumers and taking the fear out of wine-and food pairing. They do it brilliantly–clearly, comprehensively, enthusiastically. And, for What to Drink with What You Eat, they enlisted the advice of more than 70 other wine experts, including master sommeliers, chefs and others at some of the country’s best restaurants

The heart of the book is Chapter 5 (matching beverages to foods) and Chapter 6 (matching foods to beverages). Here you’ll find wines to complement hundreds of ingredients, cuisines, and dishes, practically anything you can think of: cassoulet, ceviche, chicken tikka masala, osso buco, ceviche, dim sum, steak tartare, French toast, sushi, sandwiches, more than 100 cheeses–even gefilte fish. Also included are matches for fast foods like pizza, McDonald’s Big Mac, even a Kit Kat candy bar, for which they suggest a blended African tea.

There’s an important chapter on the fundamental rules of food-and-wine pairing and lots of other helpful, interesting information, like “Wines to Have on Hand So You’re Ready for Any Occasion,” “If You Like This, You Might Also Like That” and “Desert Island Lists of Some of America’s Leading Beverage Experts.”

Bottom Line: With Page and Dornenburg as your guides, soon you’ll be thinking like a sommelier. What to Drink with What You Eat is a must-have book for anyone interested in the topic. It’s empowering and eminently browsable. And it makes a great holiday present–for yourself or for others who love food and wine.