The Periodic Table of Wine

The Periodic Table of Wine is a fun, concise, and appealingly geeky new concept to wine appreciation. The foundation of the book is a periodic table designed to give a visual overview of how different styles of the world’s wines relate to one another. Beginning with white wines in columns on the left, the table then highlights rosé in the middle, and then reds in the columns on the right. The rows, running from top to bottom, are organized by quality of flavor—fruit and spice, green and mineral, sweet, etc. If you like one “element” or wine type in the table, you can discover other examples situated around it you might also enjoy. The book also offers substantial descriptions of the 127 “elements,” or wines, each of which includes a full background and, frequently, food pairings. The book will be published with a companion volume, The Periodic Table of Cocktails.

Sarah Rowlands trained at Leiths School of Food and Wine, the renowned cooking school in London. She hosts wine tastings, works at wine fairs, and acts as an associate judge for the International Wine & Spirits Competition and as an examiner for the Wine & Spirit Education Trust.