A guide to wine

Julian Curry, actor and wine buff, has devised this unique guide to wine.

In a clear but light-hearted manner, he takes the reader to the heart of wine making and wine drinking.

However rich and complex the subject of wine may be, he insists that it is also hugely rewarding and great fun.

Curry's informative and entertaining account begins with a description of work in vineyard and cellar.

It outlines the many choices faced by grape-grower and winemaker, resulting in the variety of different styles of wine produced.

It continues with wine's journey from winery to gullet, with advice on cellaring, buying, serving, food-matching and tasting.

It then moves on to thumbnail sketches of the grape varieties most commonly used, their natural habitats and the related styles of wine.

It concludes with a lengthy section devoted to all the major wine regions, in the Old World and the New.