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Harriet Lembeck Reviews
I received a press release about a lawsuit brought by New York City attorney David Bamberger which cited noted wine writer
Harriet Lembeck as having written the worst wine book ever written. As an attorney practicing in New York Cit and wine
collector living in Melville, LI with a cellar of more than 5,000 bottles and a wine library with more than 500 volumes, I
was intrigued. So I purchased "Harriet Lembeck's Guide To Deciphering A Wine Label," the book subject of the press
release, from Amazon.com.
The press release was right on - I have never seen anything as awful as Ms. Lembeck's book - it's writing is horrific and
confusing and its maps drawn by William Lembeck are simply dreadful and of no useful purpose. The book has some chapters
of just two pages and even a chapter of just one page! What a ripoff!
And the book contains advertising - no self-respecting wine writer would sell advertising in a consumer book. In addition
to Amazon, this book is everywhere, all over the Internet. Given that it is indeed the worst wine book ever written far
surpassing the silliest and stupidest of wine books in my wine library, Ms. Lembeck's selling it for $18.95 is the biggest
ripoff the wine industry has seen in recent times.
The Complaint in the lawsuit recites that Ms. Lembeck devoted three years to write this book and complete it after
numerous delays and excuses and that the manuscript is totally inadequate and confusing. Any competent writer could have
dashed out this book in a month or less. This book is total drivel.
Ms. Lembeck includes numerous totally useless maps but makes no reference to them in her text. The book's meager text is
padded with large wine labels that are frequently not referred to in detail to create an understanding of the wine. After
reading this book, a novice wine consumer will certainly be more confused about deciphering a wine label than before
reading it.
Do not buy this book. It is a total ripoff. Ms. Lembeck should hide her head in shame for offering it to the public.