In what looks set to be the ideal stocking filler for amateur
wine lovers, Master Sommelier Richard Betts has released a scratch and sniff
wine book that aims to make wine easier to understand for novices. Nearly five
years in the making, the first run of The Essential Scratch and Sniff
Guide to Becoming a Wine Expert, illustrated by Wendy MacNaughton, has sold
out on Amazon.
“People are hungry to be included in this
conversation,” Betts told the Daily Camera, admitting
that wine is sometimes viewed as the domain of “fusty old guys.” The book
features 16 different scents found in red and white wine, divided up into three
key aroma categories: fruit, wood and earth. At the back of the tome is a fold
out aroma wheel, which breaks down wines by grape, region and style.
Scratch and sniff circles help the reader to
distinguish between red and black fruit aromas in red wines and stone fruit
versus more exotic fruit in white wines. The tome also explains concepts such
as terroir and the use of oak, and explores more unusual smells found in wine
from butter and flowers to grass and bacon.
US-born Betts came up with the idea while on a ski
trip with a friend in which wine played a key role. Turning the book from an
idea into a reality took four-and-a-half years, with Betts finally finding a
publisher in Ohio willing to take a punt on it.
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