Like a lively course from an expert teacher, «The Wine Bible» grounds the reader deeply in the fundamentals while layering on informative asides, tips, amusing anecdotes, definitions, glossaries, photos (all new for this edition), maps, labels, and recommended bottles.

Karen MacNeil’s information comes directly through primary research. For this second edition she has tasted more than 10,000 wines and visited dozens of wine regions around the world. New to the book are wines of China, Japan, Mexico, and Slovenia.

And through it all the reader becomes ever more informed — and, because of the author’s unique voice, always entertained: «In great years Pétrus is ravishing, elegant, and rich — Ingrid Bergman in red satin». Or, describing a Riesling: «A laser beam. A sheet of ice. A great crackling bolt of lightning».