Good, Better, Best Wines by Carolyn Evans Hammond

Carolyn Evans Hammond throws down the gauntlet in the introduction of Good, Better, Best Wines: 

If anyone can wobble into verbose, irrelevant, wayward, noun-strewn-as-adjective criticism, it's a wine writer. I know. It's my profession.

Hammond continues...

 With this book and the style of wines reviewed in its pages, I'm putting my foot down. Slamming my fist on the table and giving you the stuff that matters. The dirt. The goods. The short, sweet, critical information on what the wine tastes like so you can get on with drinking. I sample, you sip. Deal?

You get the sense that this guide won't be an homage to Decanter, Wine Spectator, or Wine Advocate. And it isn't. Oenophiles, and the gate keepers of the wine industry go to lengths in making wine as inaccessible as possible to the general public, weaving complex, arcane language that is at best confusing, and at worst downright opaque. The aforementioned aren't the author's target market. The book is for the millions of Americans who purchase wine's big brands at affordable, and specific price points. Dollar signs are used to symbolize four per-bottle price brackets: 

• $           Super-low price (under $4.99)
• $$         Moderate price ($5 - $7.99)
• $$$       A little pricier ($8 - $10.99)
• $$$$     Splurge-worthy price ($11 - $15)

Wines are then assessed as "Good, Better, Best" by varietal, with tips on food pairing, and ideal serving temperatures (see below). 

Chardonnay (Moderate price)

Riesling / Gewürztraminer  "Other  Great Wines" (A little pricier)

Rosé (Moderate price)

This book is for regular Americans, those who want a nice bottle to pair with pizza, burgers and fries or tacos during the work week, without having the need to break the bank at their local liquor store. And it's made for them to carry with its handy pocket sized format. 

Perhaps the Toronto Star wine columnist will pen a Canadian version for those of us north of the 49th parallel? I know the price points are different here, and the market smaller, but perhaps the choices for Canadians will be more diverse? I bet that Canadians in general are more international in their tastes --while Americans tend to buy wines from the US.

My better half, advertising and brand expert extraordinaire,  suggested that DK promote the book through stores where wine in purchased, be it liquor stores in the United States, or the varieties of outlets we have in Canada. Retailing at $12.99 in the USA ($16.99 in Canada), Good, Better, Best Wines is an easy and accessible read for regular people, devoid of jargon, that delivers the goods.




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Guest post by @ArijitBanik (Capital allocator, independent thinker, wine lover and fanboy, who occasionally scribbles at arijitbanik.com ) 

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