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Review
All-in-all, an excellent reference book assembled with a pleasing lightness of touch. --Scotland on Sunday
Product Description
A new look at a new world of wine from a new generation of wine writers
Do you like to enjoy fine wine but want some down to earth recommendations and honest information? Written by over 30 new voices in the world of wine, The Wine Opus offers fresh, modern insight into the world of wine. Accessible and up-to-date, this covers 4,000 of the world's most significant wineries - from the reliable established producers to the rising stars.
Discover all the important wine-producing regions of the world, including maps to locate key producers and a checklist on the regions' recent vintages. If you want to drink good wine, The Wine Opus gives you the names you need to know.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is an attempt at a comprehensive coverage of the wines of the world, its regions, and key producers. Perhaps its too ambitious an undertaking in one book, as there is just so much information and so many areas to cover, its not possible to do justice to it all. However, the writers do give it a pretty good go, and have done a very reasonable job.
As a reference guide and educator, Hugh Johnson's 'Wine Companion' book is superior, but where this does very well is in its excellent detailed regional maps, helpful summary of major varieties in each region, and information on specific producers. However to try to cover the 'key producers' across every major wine region in the world is a pretty impossible task in one book, and any wine enthusiast is likely to find some of their favourites missing. Having said that, the lists are pretty good, with some helpful details. For something more more comprehensive, though, it would be better to look at books that cover a single country or region in more detail.
My main gripe with the book is its massive imbalance in the coverage of different countries. 'A new look at a new world of wine' is what we are promised, yet some New World regions are almost skimmed over. France will always be of huge importance, and the origin of many major varieties, but it is here that the book concentrates most attention, covering ground that has been trodden many times, and better. The various regions of France are given 236 pages, not unreasonable given it's importance, but what is bizarre is the fact that North America is given 124 pages. Even Italy and Spain, clearly among the world's top wine nations, and both developing in leaps and bounds in the last 2 decades in terms of quality, have half as much coverage as North America! (and a fraction of France)
So in conclusion, its very good in parts, but doesn't quite manage to live up to its claims. It's good, but if it's a choice between the two I'd recommend buying Hugh Johnson's better (and lighter!) 'Wine Companion'
As a reference guide and educator, Hugh Johnson's 'Wine Companion' book is superior, but where this does very well is in its excellent detailed regional maps, helpful summary of major varieties in each region, and information on specific producers. However to try to cover the 'key producers' across every major wine region in the world is a pretty impossible task in one book, and any wine enthusiast is likely to find some of their favourites missing. Having said that, the lists are pretty good, with some helpful details. For something more more comprehensive, though, it would be better to look at books that cover a single country or region in more detail.
My main gripe with the book is its massive imbalance in the coverage of different countries. 'A new look at a new world of wine' is what we are promised, yet some New World regions are almost skimmed over. France will always be of huge importance, and the origin of many major varieties, but it is here that the book concentrates most attention, covering ground that has been trodden many times, and better. The various regions of France are given 236 pages, not unreasonable given it's importance, but what is bizarre is the fact that North America is given 124 pages. Even Italy and Spain, clearly among the world's top wine nations, and both developing in leaps and bounds in the last 2 decades in terms of quality, have half as much coverage as North America! (and a fraction of France)
So in conclusion, its very good in parts, but doesn't quite manage to live up to its claims. It's good, but if it's a choice between the two I'd recommend buying Hugh Johnson's better (and lighter!) 'Wine Companion'
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
When Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book first came out - and, indeed, the first version of his wine atlas - I thought they were the best books out there on wine. The Atlas rapidly became outdated as it hardly mentioned the New World, and the revised edition continues the omission. The Pocket Wine Book is still great as something to bring out in a restaurant to check up before ordering a wine (there aren't yet any apps that do such a thing well), and it's still great if you are contemplating a specific vintage of a particular wine (but not a New World one as they don't get much of a mention). However, it's all organised in a very old-fashioned way and seems to me no longer really to be relevant.
What I particularly like about the Wine Opus is that it is focused on the producer rather than the name of the wine. In my experience of amateur enjoyment of wine, I have always found that the producer is the key to a good wine. You can get bound up in the intricacies of Burgundy, or you can demand a wine from Marlborough, but in either case you can end up very disappointed. With this book, the producer is given first billing and it seems to have carried that concept through very thoroughly.
It's early days yet with the book, but the reasons for my 5 star review are two-fold. First, I enjoyed a quick trip to Stellenbosch, armed with a photocopy of the SA pages and found the recommendations absolutely spot-on (and the rising star marker seems to work well). Second, I have now got in the habit of referring to the book consistently, over and above my other wine reference books. Some of them (particularly the Pocket Wine Book, which this has now superseded in my estimation) are already 5 star books, and this one is better.
What I particularly like about the Wine Opus is that it is focused on the producer rather than the name of the wine. In my experience of amateur enjoyment of wine, I have always found that the producer is the key to a good wine. You can get bound up in the intricacies of Burgundy, or you can demand a wine from Marlborough, but in either case you can end up very disappointed. With this book, the producer is given first billing and it seems to have carried that concept through very thoroughly.
It's early days yet with the book, but the reasons for my 5 star review are two-fold. First, I enjoyed a quick trip to Stellenbosch, armed with a photocopy of the SA pages and found the recommendations absolutely spot-on (and the rising star marker seems to work well). Second, I have now got in the habit of referring to the book consistently, over and above my other wine reference books. Some of them (particularly the Pocket Wine Book, which this has now superseded in my estimation) are already 5 star books, and this one is better.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I work in the wine trade, and having bought this book a couple of weeks ago to act as a reference guide and improve my own wine knowledge I can now give it a very big thumbs up.
The details provided on each producer are informative and accurate, with the majority of the world's most respected and reputable covered, and hardly any missed. The maps used in the book are also very good - they're clear and detailed without ever being cluttered as is the way with many other books of this type. Furthermore useful vintage guides are provided within each region.
Overall this is a brilliant book mainly because it unusually chooses to focus on the best producers in the wine world, which in my experience is far more reliable way to buy high quality wine than just to blindly select anything from a certain region.
The details provided on each producer are informative and accurate, with the majority of the world's most respected and reputable covered, and hardly any missed. The maps used in the book are also very good - they're clear and detailed without ever being cluttered as is the way with many other books of this type. Furthermore useful vintage guides are provided within each region.
Overall this is a brilliant book mainly because it unusually chooses to focus on the best producers in the wine world, which in my experience is far more reliable way to buy high quality wine than just to blindly select anything from a certain region.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Bulky and beautiful
This is a big and bulky book (23cm x 30cm x 4.5cm; weighing 3.36 kg), but it is beautiful and well made. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Hande Z
A Sad Disappointment
I was really looking forward to receiving this much-hyped Magnum Opus. When received, the only really impressive thing about it was its weight! Read more
Published 20 months ago by Johnson48
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