Book excerpt: There is no more inspiring place to buy, drink or study wine than at Berry Bros & Rudd’s historic building in St James’s, London. And now you can explore the pleasures of wine through the book produced by the firm’s award-winning Wine School. Whether you are starting to explore or building your experience, Exploring & Tasting Wine gives you the tools to recognise, remember and enjoy wine.. Why do I like this wine, not that one? How can I store this knowledge and use it to guide me to other wines I’ll enjoy? What are the reasons this wine works with this food? What about organic wine? Biodynamic wine? Natural wine? Featuring a foreword by the actor and author Emma Thompson, a former Wine School pupil, the book focusses on the classic grape varieties that form the backbone of great wines the world over. For each grape there are innovative practical pages with groundbreaking graphics that best describe vital factors such as aroma, flavour and balance, and wine and food. Background pages take you further and help broaden your understanding of wine and its components; and discussions by the Berry Bros Masters of Wine and other experts explore myriad wine topics. Exploring & Tasting Wine is from people who teach wine every day, and who know the questions wine-lovers, both novices and experienced, want to ask. This is not a book for wine snobs; this book believes that a wine can be summed up in one short sentence: ‘Is it good to drink?’ Word count: 50,000