Customer Reviews
Poorly designed, but some good finds - By: N. Byrne, 23 Apr 2008 
This is not a bad guide, but nothing amazing. It is a little let down by a poor layout design, which makes it quite hard to read - it is disappointing that a book like this couldn't include more labels & images. Also, it is unexpected that there is no full colour printing!
There a few good findsin the book - the best thing is that it is quite easy to find majority of the winesin particular supermarkets & the average cost of the wines are definitely cheap. At a guess I would say about over half would be around the £4-7 mark. There aren't many 'fine wines'in the book, but it is definitely good for a few supermarket bargains.
Oz's is the best of the bunch - By: C. Nation, 26 Jan 2008 
If you need a book to help you buy wine, Oz's can be relied on to see you through. Not surprisingly, the text is as Oz speaks: rather breathless, somewhat purple & hyperbolic, with occasionally quite ludicrous attempts to match the taste of a wine with some other substance. For example, how much do you learn about the taste of a drink from "but like the hum of an electric cable, the taut mineral flavour of quartz dust never lets the fruit & honey out of its sight."? If I had James May's 'wine bollocks' Acme Thunderer whistle to hand as I read that, I'd give a loud "that's a penalty!" blast.
As another reviwer has noted, the layout of Oz's wine guides is poor. It used to be very much worse, so be thankful for small mercies. Plentiful use of a highlighter & post-it note markers helps navigate the confusion of categories & the illogical layout.
Better still, DIY. I've given up buying wine guides.
If you have a PDA, phone or other handheld that you always carry around & will do spreadsheets or text, save yourself the cost of a book & make up your own guide. Just rate the the stuff that you actually buy from the shelves of the shops you go to regularly or wine you get a taste of from someone else's bottle. Score XX/20 plus a brief note, along with the i.d. from the label. Then dig your gizmo out as you standin front of all those bottles ... this way I have discovered loads of wines that I now buy over & over again that have never featuredin any guide. They can't taste them all, can they?
The merit of this DIY system is that if you buy a B0G0F, 2fer or, particularly, one on offer that is usually priced more than you like to spend, you can note it [if it's any good] & build up a data base that will provide you with a list of wines that you like that are, from time to time, worth buyingin quanity and/or temporarilyin your price range. A great eg of this is Nero d'Avola Sicilian red from Tesco. This is usually £8. Priced at £3.99 I was happy to give it a go. It was terrific. Well, I've just discovered that at full price it's an IWC Silver Medallist: at half price, it's a steal.
So now it'sin my d/b as one to buy when they run another offer on it, which they will. A book will not give you this info. Worse, they often feature a wine - or even a whole range of wines - that never actually make it onto the stock list of the supermaket. One of Oz Clarke's Supermarket Superheroes suffered this fate at Morrisons. His purple prose was wasted on a range of wines that didn't exist! The replacements were plonk.
So, go with Oz if you are a complete starter or lack confidence, then build up your own list. By next year, you'll be your own Oz & maybe indulgingin a bit of 'wine bollocks' of your own!
Fancy a nice glass of "road tar under a Tuscan sun" anyone?
Vino - By: Dk Roche, 08 Jan 2008 What do I want from a guide?
Easy to use
Value for money choices
I like the wine recommended
I am more informed after using guide
Ticks all the boxes use with Matthew Jukes as a comparison.
Oz knows best - By: Zin, 14 Dec 2007 
This is an excellent book.
Oz manages to pack loads of information into this small & concise volume, he readily explains the best wines available from dealers & the local shop / supermarket, I have tried a few from the book & he is spot on every time.
Being a relative beginner to the world of good wine this is the first book I have bought & I find it very informative but notin a posh snobby way, it is easily accessible & he really does wellin bringing good wine to the masses & beginners.
Well done Oz.
Brilliant guide to the best wines on sale now - By: RC, 16 Nov 2007 I hate choosing wine because I have absolutely no knowledge on what types are the best for drinking with what etc... & often spend at least ten minutes pacing up & down the aislein the supermarket trying to best guess what will be a nice drink. I do not have this problem anymore - this book is really easy to follow & Oz just tells you instantly what the big hitters are. Includes all the supermarkets & wine merchants. I bought a £3.11 red wine & a £10 bottle of white from Majestic following the book & both were much much better than anything I would have chosen myself.
