The Free Library Central branch has about 2 shelves of wine books. We've been through most of them, but we recently checked out Great Wine Made Simple by Andrea Immer Robinson, originally published in 2000 and updated in 2005. Most wine books seem to assume that you can simply track down and buy any wine at all, but Robinson points out how wine can be more difficult to obtain and be differently priced in different states due to differing state laws. She singles out PA for being one of the worst states for wine buying:
"One extreme example is Pennsylvania, a "control state" where wine is sold exclusively in a state-run monopoly that, without competition, has had little incentive over the years to source a lot of boutique wines (this is changing now, as it is responding to a growing demand for them)." p 277.
This book has a lot of sharp, accurate details like this one, but we also liked that Robinson is not afraid to make some sweeping generalizations that help to simplify and explain some complicated wine topics. A very well-written book, highly recommended.
