Thinking about Wine

Oenophiles and mere jug-wine fanciers will flock to this collection of irreverent, intelligent and useful observations on buying, serving and savoring wines. From the first paragraph, one finds more than enough proof that this capable duo, wine columnists for House Beautiful and Food & Wine magazines, have indeed been thinking . McCoy and Walker put an end to such shibboleths as always serving red wines at room temperature, eschewing sweet wines, refusing to serve a ``young'' wine and allowing all reds time to ``breathe'' before serving. Without flinching, they even give their blessing to certain rose champagnes. Their commentary covers wines from the inexpensive to the priceless and antique, including American, French, German, Italian and Australian vintages. For the discriminating buyer, the authors name specific vineyards throughout, and categorize wines as superb, good and forgettable. Readers will learn about investing in wine (questionable), storing wines (cool and humid is best) and whether such strictures as white wine with fish and red with meat are carved in stone (no). (June)