We may not be able to struggle through this vale of tears without self-medicating, you and I, but darn it, at least we can have fun doing it. For those looking for an unusual little gift for the fellow wine slaves on their list, you might want to take a sniff at “The Essential Scratch & Sniff Guide to Becoming a Wine Expert”.
Written by master sommelier Richard Betts and illustrated by Wendy MacNaughton, the guide takes a children’s book approach to explaining the wine-making process and why it is you like what you like. Tucked in the back cover you’ll also find a helpful poster, “The Whole Wine World”, that tells you everything you would care to know about the subject.
And yes, just as the name implies, there is an olfactory component to this 22-page board book. As FastCoDesign’s piece on the book delightfully observes:
Scents of bacon, flowers, butter, grass, and even cat pee are translated onto paper to help readers identify the aromatic components of their beverages. “Once you realize there are cat pee scents in white wine, you’ll never be able to drink a lot of white wine again,” MacNaughton tells Co.Design.
Come on, admit it. They had you at “cat pee”.
