Interview with Author Jason Murray Arnold

WHAT CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF?
Well, professionally I’m an accountant. But my real passion has always been exploring the world. Whether it’s through sampling wine, scuba diving, or hitting the slopes, I’ve always wanted to travel the world and expand my horizons. For me, wine is one way to do this. Luckily, I’ve had the opportunity to travel to many places and experience so many different cultures. There’s a line in my book about how I see human history in every glass. And that’s so true. I think the wines we enjoy are a reflection of the characters of the soil, people, and care that went into it. Many winemakers come from a long tradition of winemaking, one that often goes back centuries. And the techniques go back even further than that.

CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT YOUR BOOK?
Of course, The Beginner’s Guide to Wine includes ten chapters of information on viticulture, oenology, and wine appreciation. I start by introducing the rich heritage of wine production and describe all that goes into producing a glass of quality wine. Did you know winemaking goes back thousands of years? I mean, I guess that should be obvious from the Biblical accounts, but it actually goes back much further than that.  I take the audience step by step through the process starting with the growing and harvesting the grapes all the way to fermentation and enjoyment.

Some of the topics I cover in the book include wine classification, the many different styles of wine, and the most popular winemaking regions. I describe proper etiquette for a wine tasting, how to select the right wine for an event, and provide a list of resources for further education. The Beginner’s Guide to Wine covers all of the most popular wine-producing regions in Europe and the Americas. By the time someone finishes the book, he’ll better grasp of the terminology surrounding wine and a greater appreciation of the different varieties.

WHAT WAS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT WRITING THIS BOOK?
For me, the hardest part is deciding what information to include and what to leave out. The Beginner’s Guide to Wine designed as an introductory work, but I could go on and on about wine. It really is a passion of mine. I wanted the book to be clear, concise, and to the point. So the biggest problem for me was finding a balance between having enough information and too much. I definitely wanted to include enough information to provide answers to all the basic questions that a beginner would have without sending them into information overboard. I think I found that balance. I wanted to provide enough to satisfy, while still encouraging the reader to look further. My hope is that by the end of the book, the reader will want to explore the world of wine for themselves. There’s a lot to be discovered.

WHAT MAKES YOU DIFFERENT?
Well, in the world of wine, there are far too many people, with far to many opinions. You have an old school mentality that wines made in the Old World are automatically better. But that’s simply not true. And there are far too many critics. The problem with critics is that they like to tell their readers what makes a good wine.  But the only thing that really matters is whether or not you personally enjoy the wine you’re drinking. I suppose a lot of that is snobbery.  I prefer to write content that empowers the reader to make their own choices about a particular wine. You can look in any wine magazine and professional opinions about any wine. They even give each wine a score. But, instead of force feeding people my opinions; I’d rather educate them to make up their own mind.

SO WHERE CAN I FIND YOUR BOOK?
It’s available from Amazon and other retailers in paperback, or as an eBook exclusively for Kindle. To order it: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BW5Y3NB 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jason Arnold is a wine connoisseur, art collector, and accountant. A frequent traveler, he can be found scuba diving, skiing, and exploring the great outdoors while in search of finest wines. He enjoys pairing unique wines with exotic cuisine and finds the vine to one of the world’s gifts to humanity.

You can contact Jason at jasonmurrayarnold@gmail.com or visit him at https://jasonmarnold.com/ or social media. Facebook: @jasonmurray.arnold , Twitter: @JasonMArnold and Instagram: @jasonmurrayarnold