Wine. All the Time.: The Casual Guide to Confident Drinking

I graduated from Calistoga High School in 1979. I played football with the sons of vineyard owners and winemakers. Many of my teachers owned small vineyards of three to five acres where they made small lots of wine they sold at statewide auction houses. I dated girls from winemaking families, girls who worked weekends giving winery tours, and girls who grew up planting, pruning, and harvesting grape vines.I remember vividly the day I walked into a wine shop for the very first time. I was still eighteen and living in Denver where I was studying automotive technology. I knew I was underage, I suspect the wine owner knew I was underage. I was missing the taste of home and looking for some familiar names. What made this commonplace moment memorable was picking up a bottle of 1975 Cabernet Sauvignon that I had helped pick, helped load into the crusher, and opened the valve to pour the must into the fermentation tank. A group of friends and I had poured several bottles of this wine into a watermelon as part of our graduation party.The wine shop in Denver wanted $250 a bottle.That was the day I discovered that I knew more about wine and winemaking than most of the people who spend their lives buying it, selling it, reselling it, drinking it, and pretending to be experts.Marissa A. Ross knows a lot about wine and this book is stuffed to overflowing with facts, anecdotes, and solid information about wine and winemaking. Unfortunately, it is delivered with a tone of self-righteous condescension that is on a couple of occasions satirical, but mostly just annoying. She is definitely not a "wine snob". She is something far worse. She is a high priestess of arrogance deigning to share her wisdom with we poor peasants living outside the moat of her castle. I don't know if this is because she has absorbed the worst of California winemaking culture, or if she is just a typical child of the information age believing her generation is gifted with vastly more wisdom than their parents. The one thing I do know is her tone completely destroyed for me what could have been a very entertaining trip down memory lane.Yes, she knows wine. That does not excuse her self-righteous attitude.

I LOVE this book! If you are at all interested in wine at any level, I highly recommend this book. This book also makes an excellent gift, I think all my friends have it now!Marissa has played a HUGE role in my passion for wine. She really turned me onto natural wine, I knew almost nothing about it before reading this book. Since reading her book, I have started taking classes with a company called Vintel in Austin, Texas (check them out!), and was even promoted to Wine Buyer in the company I work for! I really don't think I would be doing what I'm doing today if it wasn't for her!In her book, she talks about wine in the most approachable and educational way. I love that she is trying to make wine for everyone and de-elitist-fy wine. She covers all of the basics, varietals, reading a label, how to talk about wine (tasting), stemware, pairings, etc. all of which are super intimidating for beginners, and she does it in the most relatable and hilarious way ever!By the end of the book, she will have instilled a new confidence in you that you thought you might never have because you were too afraid to ask questions in the what you used to think was an intimidating world of wine. She is really breaking all of that down with this book!I also recommend the podcast she co-hosts, Natural Disasters, and following her and the podcast on Instagram if you want to learn more about natural wine! She is also the wine editor for Bon Appetit Magazine and her articles are equally as entertaining and educational as her book!Marissa is truly an inspirational woman on so many levels. Without knowing her personally, she has inspired and encouraged me, not only in the world of wine and my career, but in my personal life too! Thank you, Marissa!

Marissa has a way of describing the art of wine consumption that makes it accessible. I was pretty anti-wine connoisseurs because they always seemed so elitist; but she made me want to learn more and be more conscious of how I drink wine without the warnings of only taste never over drink - loved her bottle tasting test.As a South African, we have such great wines at affordable prices, so I've never really needed to taste wine from anywhere else; but I've learnt so much about American and French wines that it opened me up to exploring Old Wines as much as I do new wines.My only recommendation is that she include some South African wines and wine terms such as MCC (and I'm sure other New wine region terms weren't included), that would make this book more international and open it up to a larger market.If you're new to wine, love wine but can't be bother to study it or just want to have a good laugh, read this.

I loved reading this book - before I was even halfway through I had decided I was going to read it once for entertainment and then a second time to try to really absorb the information. I found myself asking a dude at a wine shop for a recommendation on a bottle by telling him "here's what I know I like ________ (fill in the blank) and I want to try something new, funky, that I probably haven't had before". Got some great recommendations and then took two new bottles home, sat down with the book, dissected the labels, read about the regions and the grapes, and then popped open the bottle and took time to drink slowly and truly appreciate it. The best part was realizing you don't need to spend $40 a bottle to get a great wine, there's plenty of great stuff at $15 if you just know what to ask for / look for. So intrigued by all the info about natural wines too, and all the stuff that gets put into conventional / mass produced wines.anyways, enough raving. TL;DR: This was entertaining, informative, and a useful reference if you want to know just a bit more about wine, just enough to make informed decisions and find drinkable stuff you truly love. No snobbery, just comedy and helpful info!

Getting into, and learning about, wine is a daunting journey. So many books make the world of wine seem like a scary and complex world where you're not really welcome if you're not a sommelier in the making or Rain Man – or both.Wine. All The Time is not like that. If Cork Dork is a journey told throufh obnoxious and condescending snob uncles that makes you insecure, Wine. All The Time is the super-cool cousin that introduces you to new and magical things, explains the world in a way that's easy to understand, and makes you feel confident and excited.I'm a big fan of Marissa's writing – filled with personality, fun, and knowledge – and would recommend this book, and all of her articles, to anyone who's getting into wine and thinks stuffy snobbery is a bit boring.It's the perfect wine primer and a fun read.

She liked, it was a present.

Very funny

When I purchased this book I knew nothing about wine. I was the person who went into the liquor store and bought the coolest looking bottle when I was going to a party or looked for wines that won 'awards' (it turns out the wineries actually buy those awards!!!). Now I am able to go into a real wine store and pick out bottles I like, how to order wine off of a wine list and pair wine with foods. I understand how wine is made and the different varietals!I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn the basics about wine and even discuss it with people who think they know a lot about wine - you may even come to find out you know more!!This is a fantastic book. Probably one of my most recommended this year. I love how Marissa (you will feel you are on a first name basis by the time you are a few pages in!) writes and think this book is genius!

I am enjoying this book. It is easy to read and understand. The author explains all of the terms used in making and tasting wine in a clear and concise manner. The language is very blunt and if you are sensitive to raw, often foul language don't purchase this book. If you are a person who enjoys buying and drinking wine but feels lost in the techno babble this may be a good choice. It keeps it simple and is a good starter info book.