I bought this book on a lark while ordering audio cables on Amazon. It’s a goofy, hand-illustrated, little board-book by Master Sommelier Richard Betts. His conceit is that he will help you follow your nose to a wine you like, minus all the pretentious verbiage associated with wine-tasting.
The core concept, which I like, is to begin with your favorite fruit aroma: red versus black fruit in the case of red wine, and ripe/tropical versus pear/apple for whites. He also covers woody, earthy, and “other” notes. Every so often there is a scratch and sniff sample to try—which could be more than a gimmick in this context. After sniff-reading my way through it, however, my reaction is “meh.” The scent samples leave a lot to be desired. While the peach, for example, comes through ripe and clear, the pear is weak and nondescript. The dill is a fail, and “flowers” smells like the courtesy soap in a budget motel.
Oh well.
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