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Are you a newly minted executive in your twenties who suddenly finds you are in a world where you have to instantly know everything there is to know about wine? In today’s world, people just a few years out of college find themselves in jobs and social situations when wine is frequently a topic of conversation. Since most American families do not serve wine at the dinner table and in college, beer is often the drink of choice, Hip Tastes: The Fresh Guide to Wine, by Courtney Cochran, is required reading.

Describing herself as a “regular gal” with a newly minted MBA and sommelier certification, Cochran segued into running her own San Francisco based special-events company, Hip Tastes Events, which inspired the book. And in writing the book, Cochran managed to provide a chatty, service-oriented handbook to beginning oenophiles of every age.

Cochran sometimes refers to her book as "Cliffs Notes" for understanding wine, and she is right. While covering every area of wine production (the soil, winemaking styles) Cochran manages to get to the gist of the matter without pontification. In less than 300 easy-to-understand pages, she whizzes through the wine regions and wine styles of the world, giving the reader the necessary background to understand the wine, the region, and the style, without layering on so much detail she loses her audience in the process. On top of giving her readers and education about wine, she also reveals

-- techniques for not getting "ripped-off" in restaurants
-- food-pairing ideas
-- recommended producers in increasingly popular wine regions

If you are already a wine maven, consider Hip Tastes as a gift for the college grad of your choice. And if you are just beginning your wine education, you will find this chatty, upbeat, information-filled book an asset — whatever your age.

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