An excellent guide for buying 'reasonable' to 'ultra-premium' wine. Thousands of wines are covered in short informative paragraphs along with ratings and vintage guides.
It's less detailed than "Wine Behind the Label" but at pocket size is totally portable. This is a thoroughly practical book and is genuinely helpful in making wine buying decisions, (mine has been everywhere from the supermarket to the caves of Burgundy). Hugh Johnson manages to combine a careers-worth of expert knowledge with a down-to-earth, sensible and non-stuffy approach.
If you already have the 2008 guide and were going to skip this one (like I was), there are multiple changes and updates to the individual entries, as well as rewritten country introductions. (And yes, last year's gremlins have fled the publisher and they've sorted out the mishaps before sending it to print).
It's also (to me) easier to read with maroon and black type, rather than last years gold and black, and the maps are recoloured and clearer.
It's only a tenner, the price of a bottle of wine, and it might help you to get more bouquet for your buck!