Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book 2002: The World's Favourite Wine Adviser [Special Edition] [Hardcover]

For everything there is a season, and in the world of wine the calendar is defined by bud break, fruit set, harvest and the arrival of the latest edition of Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book. Celebrating the sale of more than seven million copies of editions spanning a quarter-century, the 2002 edition provides an updated addition to the prestigious and prolific wine writer's popular series of pocket-sized reference books. With delineated chapters--some merely a page long--Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book: 2002 follows a standard format: wine trend prognostication, a brief description of the current vintage (here the 2000 harvest), a re-examination of 1999, glossary of grape types and food-and-wine matches. The book's bulk is composed of an alphabetical listing of short entries--mostly wineries--subdivided within geographical chapters. Johnson can be stylish, even witty (a lively Vernaccia pairs well with a dish of grey mullet: not the one "on the heads of aging rock stars"), but aside from the opening few pages, there's a decidedly ghost-written feel to the proceedings. Indeed, the acknowledgments list over 40 "kind friends"--including several regionally based wine writers--for their "special knowledge", most notably of some smaller producers. But it's remarkable for someone of Hugh Johnson's stature to allow, once again in the 2002 edition, the Syrah grape to be identified as identical to Petite Sirah. Friends--"kind" or not--shouldn't let friends get away with that sort of thing. --Tony Mason

Now in its 26th year of publication, this book offers up-to-date news on more than 6,000 wines, growers and regions. With comprehensive vintage information and recommended wines for current drinking, this is the only annual wine guide anyone really needs. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The 25th birthday edition, with eight extra pages, is more extensively updated than ever before offering up-to-date news on over 6,000 wines, growers and regions. There's more comprehensive vintage details and more recommended wines for current drinking than ever before, plus all the information to help you select anything from a weekday wine for supper to a prestige vintage for investment. New features include extended vintage charts, new maps and unique insider tips on where to buy and consume wine when travelling. Expert tasting notes and hints on serving wine and matching wine with food complete the picture.

Hugh Johnson is acclaimed as the world's favourite wine writer. His rare talent for making the most complex subjects readable, with wit and humour, has led to a remarkable sequence of books. Other Hugh Johnson titles are: The World Atlas of Wine (now in its fifth edition written with Jancis Robinson), Wine, The Story of Wine, The Wine Companion and The Art and Science of Wine.