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| Saucy sisters' guide conquers wine frontier for women |
Book keeps attitude of siblings' radio show
Let's get something clear from the start: "Saucy Sisters' Guide to Wine" is a chick thing.
If the subtitle ("What every girl needs to know before she uncorks") leaves any doubt, there's
the unabashed man-bashing in the introduction: The authors explain that learning about wine
"gave us confidence in the face of snooty waiters and insufferable wine snobs. (Mostly men,
by the way. Have you noticed?)"
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| Talk about saucy! |
The authors, siblings Barbara Nowak and Beverly Wichman, were hosts of a popular radio show out
of Nashville called "Eat, Drink and be Saucy" that focused on the fermented grape. The show is
no more, but the attitude lives on in the new book.
Though Wichman now lives in New Jersey, while Nowak is still living near Nashville, the two
sisters met in the geographic middle to come up with this collaborative effort.
"We showed up in this little town in Virginia, each with a trunk full of wine and glasses,"
said Nowak in a recent phone interview. "We spent a long weekend sipping wine and story-boarding
the book."
They had their first affirmation that they were on the right track when they started visiting
with an older couple in the hotel room next door. They invited the couple in for a glass of
wine.
"The woman said she only drank white zinfandel, but we got her to try a gewurztraminer and she
loved it," Nowak said. "We had helped our first woman before we had written a word."
This entertaining, no-nonsense guide begins with the basics: describing classic grape varietals,
offering tips on throwing a wine party or suggesting the best approach on how to negotiate a
restaurant wine list or a wall of wine bottles at the market.
"Before you go, you need to bone up a little bit," said Wichman. "Pick up a wine publication
or go to a restaurant's Web site and look at their list. Go into a store with a plan and a
price range in mind. If you want something around $10, don't be intimidated into buying a
$40 bottle."
This pair of wine divas also offer advice on putting together a wine cellar for $140 and
includes a guide to tricky pronunciations: Chateau Lafite-Rothschild should roll off the
tongue as sha-TOH lah-FEET-rawt-SHEELD.
When invited over to dinner at a friend's house, what are the fail-safe picks the wine divas bring?
"I adore sparkling wine and champagne, I think it goes well with everything," Nowak said.
"One of my favorites is a nonvintage Gloria Ferrier out of California. It's a great value;
you can usually find it for around $15."
Her sister prefers reds. "There's a tiny winery in California called Cosentino that makes the
best zinfandel." That's got limited availability, though. Her backup choice is a Ravenswood zin.
The Saucy Sisters will be in Memphis March 5 for a wine tasting and book signing at
Davis-Kidd Booksellers. It's a fund-raiser for WKNO 91.1, the city's public radio station.
Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at the door. The fun starts at 6:30 p.m. And, yes,
men are welcome too.
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