From South Africa's stunningly beautiful winelands to "shedistas" making wine in California industrial parks, from ubiquitous California chardonnay to the obscure Sagrantino di Montefalco, he gives us straightforward but nicely written descriptions of how wine tastes and what it goes with.

If I have any complaint, it is that some of the pieces are too short. The interesting and informative article about the so-called shedistas — low-budget wineries that have sprouted up in and around Santa Barbara that are now turning out some of California's most exciting wines — would have been even better with a few more pages.