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California Wine For Dummies is an educational book for wine enthusiasts of a beginner level.

The book is organized into 5 parts and 15 chapters. Chapters 1-3 cover a background of California wine production with lots of statistics, what is in a varietal wine and which grapes are the most grown and harvested in California, and how to decode California wine labels

Chapter 4 covers the major wine regions of California which issentially means there is a section for Napa (5 pages), Sonoma (7 pages), and everything else (11 pages).

Chapters 5-11 cover different varietal wines and a bit about blends. These chapters also include the author's favorite examples of each varietal. They have LOTS of favorites. I think that it's good to offer examples and favorites (I think that lots of readers want guides of this type to assit them at the store as well), but it might encourage a reader to only seek out those wineries, which is pretty sad.

Chapter 12 covers pairing, collecting, storage, and a basic vintage guide.

Chapters 13 and 15 contain travel information.

Chapter 14 is sort of an FAQ (Are California Chardonnays Too Oaky? Are $100 wines worth the price?)

My opinion of the book is a bit mixed. I am very happy that I bought it because it does contain a lot of useful information and overall I am quite pleased with it. But I dislike that Chapter 4 was really about Napa and Sonoma and didn't contain as much information about the other regions in California. I think that these other regions are offering great values and should be explored and studied a bit more. After all, the book explains that Napa represents only 4% of California wine production.

So should you get this book? If you are at all interested in California wine, especially if you are a beginner my answer is a loud and clear YES! There is a lot of great information contained in these pages.

But I really do hope that subsequent editions of this book contain more information about other wine regions that are representative of production numbers.Get more detail about California Wine For Dummies (For Dummies (Cooking)).