MS Mark's Wine ShelfPlain advice from behind the counter Get the set · $27

Thirty years behind a Portland wine counter

Buy the wine, not the label.

Three plain-spoken books on choosing a good bottle, serving it well and keeping it right, so the gold sticker, the animal and the word “Reserve” stop doing your thinking for you.

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3PDF books
356pages
$27one payment, no subscription
30 daysmoney back, keep the files
1 · The ShelfBuy well: labels, prices, store brands, 43 bottles under $20 2 · The TableServe well: temperature, glasses, pouring, guests, pairing 3 · The KeeperKeep well: storage, open bottles, faults, myths, names

The wine aisle

When the label starts doing the choosing

Most people I sold wine to weren't short on taste. They were short on a few plain facts, and the bottle was happy to fill the gap. These are the moments the books are written for.

  • 01
    You pick the bottle that says Reserve, not knowing the word has no legal meaning on an American label.
  • 02
    A gold medal sticker settles it, though a study of US wine competitions found gold medals handed out in a pattern consistent with chance.
  • 03
    Someone pours you a glass at a dinner party and you're not sure where to hold it, when to drink, or how to say no to a second without fuss.
  • 04
    You save a good bottle for ten years for a special day, and open it a few years after it was at its best.

What the label costs you

One wrong bottle can cost more than all three books.

A “Reserve” bought for the word on the frontthe extra you paid for a word
A restaurant bottle, typically priced at about three times what the restaurant paidabout twice the store price
A bottle kept for years past its bestthe whole bottle
Three books that tell you what to look at first$27

The rule I gave customers for thirty years still holds: spend it on the wine, not the label. These books are that rule, written out with the evidence behind it.

The books

Three books, three jobs

Buy well, serve well, keep well. Read them in order, or open the one you need tonight.

Cover of The Shelf, Book 1 of Mark's Wine Shelf

Book 1 · 110 pages · PDF

The Shelf

Buying wine without getting fooled.

What the front label legally has to mean and what it's only hoping you'll assume. The tricks that sell bottles: animals, heavy glass, gold stickers and shelf scores, with the studies behind each one. What eight, fifteen, twenty-five and fifty dollars actually buy. Who really makes the store-brand wine at Costco, Trader Joe's and Aldi, and how to check federal label records yourself. And a list of 43 bottles under $20, each with the store and the month its price was checked.

  1. Reading the Front Label
  2. Label Tricks
  3. What Price Actually Buys
  4. Store Brands and Who Really Makes Them
  5. Bottles Under $20 I'd Send a Friend to Buy
  6. Talking to a Wine Shop
  7. Buying Wine as a Gift
Cover of The Table, Book 2 of Mark's Wine Shelf

Book 2 · 137 pages · PDF

The Table

Serving, pairing and good manners.

The twenty-minute rule that fixes most wine for free. Corkscrews, broken corks and opening sparkling wine without the bang. What glass shape really does. How much to pour, where to hold it, and what to do when someone pours for you. How much to buy for a party, how to read a restaurant list and what the tasting ritual is actually for. Six pairing principles you'll remember, and the holidays at three budgets.

  1. Temperature
  2. Opening the Bottle
  3. Glasses
  4. Pouring and Holding
  5. Decanting
  6. Being a Guest
  7. Being a Host
  8. Restaurants
  9. Pairing Without Rules You'll Forget
  10. Holidays
Cover of The Keeper, Book 3 of Mark's Wine Shelf

Book 3 · 109 pages · PDF

The Keeper

Storing, aging, faults and the myths I heard for thirty years.

Keeping wine well without a cellar, and why the top of the fridge is the worst spot in the kitchen. How long an open bottle lasts, by style, and which gadgets earn their drawer space. What ages and what doesn't. How to tell a bottle that has gone wrong from one you just don't care for. Ten myths, each checked against the evidence. Plus the extras: forty names you can say with confidence, six printable cards and a tasting journal.

  1. Storing Wine Without a Cellar
  2. How Long an Open Bottle Lasts
  3. What Ages and What Doesn't
  4. When a Bottle Has Gone Wrong
  5. Myths I Heard for Thirty Years
  6. One Drink, the Honest Measure
  7. Say It Without Worrying
  8. Quick-Reference Cards
  9. My Tasting Journal
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Look inside

See the pages before you buy

These are real pages from the books. Large, clear type, set for reading on a tablet, a phone, or printed out. Tap any page to read it.

The Shelf · Reading the Front Label
The Shelf · The under-$20 list
The Table · Serving temperatures
The Table · Being a Guest
The Keeper · Say It Without Worrying
The Keeper · Printable cards

Your order

Mark's Wine Shelf, the complete set

  • The Shelf110 pages · PDF
  • The Table137 pages · PDF
  • The Keeper109 pages · PDF, with the pronunciation guide, printable cards and tasting journal

$27one payment for all three · Fall 2026 edition

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✓ Instant PDF download. 30-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked.

  • Nothing ships. The books arrive as a download link right after you pay.
  • Opens on any phone, tablet or computer. No app, no account, no password.
  • The link is in your email too, so you can download them again any time.
  • One payment. Never a subscription.

My guarantee

Read them for 30 days. If they're no use to you, you get your money back.

Write to us within 30 days and every dollar comes back. You keep the PDFs. I ran a shop on repeat customers; I'd rather lose a sale than have you keep a book you don't need.

Mark Solberg

From the author

What I learned behind the counter

I ran a small independent wine shop in Portland, Oregon for almost thirty years. Before that I worked the floor of a restaurant, and then a few years for a distributor. I'm not a sommelier and I'm not a Master of Wine. What I know comes from selling a lot of bottles, hearing which ones came back, and reading the people who study this properly.

I've been wrong plenty, and I've fallen for a label or two myself. What I'm sure of is that the twelve-dollar bottle is often the better buy, and that wine is for drinking with people, not for impressing them. These books collect what I'd tell you if you walked into my shop.

— Mark Solberg

Is this for you?

Who I wrote these for

This is for you if

  • You buy wine at the grocery store, Costco or a wine shop, and want to choose with more confidence.
  • You'd rather know what a label means than memorise tasting notes.
  • You host now and then and want to get the small things right without fuss.
  • You like being able to check where a claim came from.

Probably not for you if

  • You're studying for a sommelier exam. These are practical books, not a course.
  • You want wine to be a status game. I'm on your wallet's side, not the label's.

Questions

Questions people ask

What exactly do I get?

Three PDF books: The Shelf (110 pages), The Table (137 pages) and The Keeper (109 pages), 356 pages in all. The Keeper also includes a pronunciation guide, six printable quick-reference cards and a tasting journal.

Can I read them on my phone or tablet?

Yes. They're ordinary PDFs that open on any phone, tablet or computer. The type is large and the pages are book-sized, so they read comfortably on a tablet and are fine on a phone.

I've never bought an ebook. How does it work?

After you pay, you get a download link on the screen and in your email. Tap it and the books open like any document. Nothing is mailed and there's nothing to install. If anything goes wrong, write to us and we'll walk you through it.

What if I lose the files?

The download link stays in your email, so you can get them again. If you can't find the email, write to us and we'll send it again.

Can I print them?

Yes. The cards and the tasting journal in The Keeper are designed to be printed and kept in a kitchen drawer or inside a cupboard door.

I'm new to wine. Is this too much?

No. Nothing assumes you know the jargon, and the pronunciation guide covers the names people are nervous to say. Start with The Shelf if you buy, or The Table if you're hosting soon.

I've been drinking wine for decades. Is there anything new here?

Probably more than you'd expect: what US labeling rules actually require, what the research says about medals, prices and label design, who stands behind the big store brands, and ten myths checked against the evidence.

Are the prices current?

This is the Fall 2026 edition. Every price says which store and which month it was checked. Prices change and vary by state, so treat them as a guide, not a promise.

Do you sell wine?

No. These books are information only. Nobody paid to be included, and I don't earn anything from the bottles I mention.

Is this about drinking more?

No. It's about enjoying the bottle you were going to open anyway. The Keeper even has a chapter on what one drink actually measures.

How does the money-back guarantee work?

Write to us within 30 days of buying and you get every dollar back. You don't need to give a reason, and you keep the files.

Start with the bottle in front of you

Three books, 356 pages, on buying, serving and keeping wine without letting the label do your thinking.

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$27 · 3 books · 356 pagesGet the set →