Microsoft Wine Guide

EXPLORE THE WORLD OF WINE

A Review of Microsoft Wine Guide

by Judy Pozar

Do you enjoy wine but wish you were more knowledgeable about it? Are you too

shy to request a Pouilly Fuisse because you aren’t sure how to pronounce it?

Want to know which is more tannic – a Merlot or a Cabernet Sauvignon? What is

an “appellation”? Is “Sangiovese” a grape variety, wine region, wine

producer, or something else altogether? Microsoft Wine Guide will answer

these questions for you, and a whole lot more.

Microsoft Wine Guide is a multimedia reference hosted by renowned wine expert

Oz Clark. The guide uses videos, audio, text, graphics, maps and more to

educate both novices and seasoned oenophiles. Videos demonstrate the key

steps in tasting wine, and illustrate the wine making process. More

experienced wine buffs will use the guide as a reference for wine, and to

increase their knowledge of wine varieties. Clark is a congenial host, with

refreshing wit and a no-nonsense approach. His flair for the dramatic (he has

performed with The Royal Shakespeare Company), his expressive voice, and his

extensive knowledge and obvious passion for wine have resulted in some very

entertaining and informative videos.

The guide has four main sections, plus the Wine Selector. Start with the

first section, Wine Tasting with Oz. Here you will find the basics, such as

descriptions of wine glasses, and how to open and pour wine. It is loaded

with videos, probably more than anyone needs (there are five videos in

“Opening the Bottle”, three in “Opening Sparkling Wine”, and one for each of

four different types of corkscrews), but better to have too much than too

little! There are several instructive video animations on how to taste and

appreciate wine.

Finally, there is the “Tasting Tour”. With a witty

directness and much pleasure, Clark observes, smells, tastes and describes

eighteen representative wines from around the world. My favorite tasting

video was the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. According to Clark, in this wine

we have asparagus, gooseberries, and canned peas (!), along with the expected

cut grass, green apples and lemon, of course. It made me want to run out and

try a bottle.

The simply titled “All About Wine” section provides a wealth of information

about all aspects of wine. Explore life in the vineyard throughout the wine

growing year using an interactive time line. With another interactive

flowchart, find out how wines are made, from arrival of the grapes at the

winery, through pressing, fermentation, aging and bottling. Many other

subjects are covered in this section, including classic grape varieties, wine

styles, reading wine labels, matching food and wine, aging wine, and planning

your own wine cellar.

Next there is the World Atlas of Wine, which contains 57 interactive maps,

fifteen of which include locations of individual wineries. There is

information on geography, climate, history, classification systems and grape

varieties for each region. The text is not dry: “Only a bureaucrat could see

Italy as a single country. Her wines reflect that diversity…”

The Wine Encyclopedia section of the Wine Guide contains nearly 2000 entries

on wines, producers, wine regions and grape varieties. There are close to

6000 individual wine profiles, including tasting notes. Vintage charts and

maturity charts will help you decide what to purchase and how long to age

your wines. A glossary provides definitions for nearly 700 wine-related

terms. A nice feature is the ability to hear the names of wines, regions and

producers pronounced correctly.

The Wine Selector is probably the most useful feature of the Wine Guide for

the knowledgeable wine consumer. You can search the database of nearly 6000

wines, restricting your search by region, wine style, grape variety, star

rating and food match. Want to know which 2-star white wines go well with

anchovies? (There are thirty-two.) You can use the Wine Selector to develop

your own custom wine lists, which can be saved, modified and printed. You can

also search for specific text in the wine profiles.

You might use this to

search for a particular producer. A limitation is that you can specify only a

single word, with no embedded spaces, so you can’t specify “Iron Horse” if

you want a list of that vineyard’s wines. Fortunately there are other ways to

get that sort of information. For example, call up the “Iron Horse” entry in

the encyclopedia and click on Selected Wines.

Because the Wine Guide contains many sections, hypertext, a control bar and

numerous menus, it is easy to access the many topics available. On the other

hand, until you understand the structure of the guide, you might sometimes

feel lost. A little practice is all it takes to feel comfortable.

Installation of this product was more trouble than it should have been. I had

problems with memory and device drivers, not only when attempting to use this

product, but when trying to run many of the other programs already installed.

Attempting to play videos often resulted in a General Protection Fault error,

and sometimes the whole system locked up and had to be rebooted. The Read Me

file had the solution for this problem (insert the line “DVA=0″ after the

“[drawdib]” line in the win.ini file). This product was originally installed

under Windows 3.1. It may be more compatible and easier to install with

Windows 95.

As is the case with many CD-ROM reference products, there is no printed

manual. However, the online help section is very thorough and easy to use.

Graphics, video and sound are first rate (once the installation bugs have

been worked out).

I especially like the opening music with its accompanying

sounds of corks popping and the “glug, glug, glug” of wines being poured.

So, if you are ready for a new way to expand your experience with wine, pour

yourself a glass of your favorite Chablis or Chianti, start up Microsoft Wine

Guide, and explore the wonderful world of wine. It is guaranteed to broaden

your horizons and improve the quality of wine in your glass.

Multimedia Cafe Scorecard

Product:	Microsoft Wine Guide
Company:	Microsoft Corporation 800-426-9400

Cost:

$39.95

Multimedia PC with a 386SX or higher processor;
4 MB RAM; 1 MB available hard disk; CD-ROM drive;
and a Super VGA, 256-color (or better) display;
MS-DOS 5.0 or later; Windows 3.1 or higher;
Mouse or pointing device; Audio board
and headphones or speakers.