Windows on the World Complete Wine Course - Kevin Zraly

A book review by Franz Scheurer

Kevin Zraly has been teaching the ‘Windows on the World Wine School’ for over 30 years, having started it as a private lunch club when he began working at Windows on the World Restaurant atop the World Trade Centre in 1976 (where he worked until 11 September 2001). He now runs his classes from the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square and has received, among others, the James Beard Wine & Spirits Professional of the Year Award and the European Wine Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

To offer a ‘complete wine course’ in one volume (even one this substantial) is quite a claim. The book however, is well structured, beginning with a quick Q&A session covering the basics, interesting questions such as ‘can white wine be made from red grapes?’ and a beginners’ guide to wine tasting (beware, when he talks about the cycle of growth and harvest, Zraly only refers to northern hemisphere seasons). A detailed section follows, covering the wines and vineyards of the world over 8 chapters. Interestingly Italy and Spain are lumped into a chapter with Australia, New Zealand and South America, while the white wines of the USA and Germany get their own chapters, perhaps reflecting North American tastes.

The next section is probably the most valuable to a budding wine connoisseur, listing Zraly’s ‘101 wines you need-to-know’, the list of wines tasted during his 8 week consumer wine course and a great starting point for anyone trying to taste their way through the world’s bench-mark wines.

The final chapters cover the physiology of tasting wine, food and wine matching, how to stock a cellar, write a good restaurant wine list, store and serve wines and, finally, frequently asked questions.

While it’s far from comprehensive Windows on the World would be a great book for someone just beginning to seriously explore wine. The information is solid, well presented and approachable, helped greatly by the use of graphs, maps and wine labels throughout the chapters. And although a lot more space is dedicated to French wine growing regions and wines of the USA, giving a definite ‘American slant’, most of the information is globally applicable. It’s interesting that countries as diverse as Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Italy, Monaco, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, USA and the West Indies feature in Zraly’s list of Award Winning Wine Lists.

As Zraly says: “May your glass always be more full than empty!”

Published by Sterling Publishing Co. Inc.

Distributed in Australia by Capricorn Link (Australia Pty. Ltd.)

ISDN-10: 1 4027 5141 9