- Hardcover: 416 pages
- Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson; 1st edition edition (13 Oct 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0297843788
- ISBN-13: 978-0297843788
- Product Dimensions: 24.6 x 19.4 x 4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 399,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'Johnson's erudition and love of language are apparent on every page... reading Johnson is a delight... Johnson's take on the wine world is intelligent, questioning and thoughtful.' (Tim Atkin OFF LICENCE NEWS )
'a masterpiece, richly composed' (David Sexton EVENING STANDARD )
'Johnson is still the only modern wine writer who makes memorable statements and writes quotable lines.' (DECANTER )
'This is partly a book of personal anecdotes about wine, and partly a travelogue of the wine world... This will sit neatly on the bookshelf beside Johnson's other major wine books, and certainly helps to put them in context.' (WINE INTERNATIONAL )
'With more than 40 years' experience, there is not much Hugh Johnson doesn't know about wine. The author charts the journey of wine from grape to cellar in this very readable personal history.' (SAINSBURY'S MAGAZINE )
'the urbane Johnson's wry elegant prose speaks of a more gracious, timeless world in which discrimination and imagination are free to roam. I suspect that Johnson's informative tome will be required reading in 50 years time for a broad brush perspective on wine in the late 20th century.' (Anthony Rose THE INDEPENDENT )
'Scholarly and discursive.' (Victoria Moore THE GUARDIAN )
'These memoirs have been well worth the wait. What sets him apart is his literary style. He can write - really write. He enthuses but doesn't gush, is opinionated but not dogmatic, and is a master of the succinct put-down... a celebration of wine and a life spent considering it.' (Joanna Simon SUNDAY TIMES )
'...his most charming and engaging book on wine... should be sipped with undiluted escapist pleasure... gloriously moreish ... he is at the peak of his powers, and paragraph after paragraph unfolds with such deft economy, such adept marshalling of detail, such intelligent use of elision, such polished narrative brio and ... such a keenly expressed sense of wonder that one's interest never flags... the choice recollections of one of the most fortunate and thoughtful wine drinkers in history.' (FINE WINE MAGAZINE )
'Every page contains what might be called numerous 'felicities' which add up to an incomparable lesson...' (Nicholas Faith HARPERS WINE & SPIRIT )
'... using his cellar as a reference point, Johnson muses about subjects as varied as decanting, the First Growths, wine scores, terroir and his own efforts at wine making. As ever, his prose style is a joy.' (Tim Atkin THE OBSERVER )
'...an eagle's eye view of the 40 most hectic years in the history of wine; some of the most intricate, allusive and mulitlayered tasting notes ever written; a clutch of deft gastronomic epigrams and a gale of common sense about good and great wines.' (Andrew Jefford EVENING STANDARD )
'Hugh Johnson has lived through the explosion of interest in wine connoisseurship and been one of its most influential proponents. This book charts his personal progress through the field. Part memoir, part travel-writing, and deeply imbued with the love of the vine.' (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )
'his best book yet... elegant, easy-to-read style... a brilliant introduction to the world of wine... place yourself in the trusty hands of one of the world's great experts, still at the top of his game after some 40 years.' (Jamie Goode DAILY EXPRESS )
'a beautifully written, passionate paean to the poetry of the bottle. And it manages to effortlessly combine memoirs of a 50-year career with often scathing critiques of today's world of wine.' (GOURMET TRAVELLER )
'enlightened, fascinating and funny... delightfully opinionated... every chapter is riveting... this is a book to sip and savour.' (Charlotte Lessing THE LADY )
'a masterpiece, richly composed' (David Sexton EVENING STANDARD )
'Johnson is still the only modern wine writer who makes memorable statements and writes quotable lines.' (DECANTER )
'This is partly a book of personal anecdotes about wine, and partly a travelogue of the wine world... This will sit neatly on the bookshelf beside Johnson's other major wine books, and certainly helps to put them in context.' (WINE INTERNATIONAL )
'With more than 40 years' experience, there is not much Hugh Johnson doesn't know about wine. The author charts the journey of wine from grape to cellar in this very readable personal history.' (SAINSBURY'S MAGAZINE )
'the urbane Johnson's wry elegant prose speaks of a more gracious, timeless world in which discrimination and imagination are free to roam. I suspect that Johnson's informative tome will be required reading in 50 years time for a broad brush perspective on wine in the late 20th century.' (Anthony Rose THE INDEPENDENT )
'Scholarly and discursive.' (Victoria Moore THE GUARDIAN )
'These memoirs have been well worth the wait. What sets him apart is his literary style. He can write - really write. He enthuses but doesn't gush, is opinionated but not dogmatic, and is a master of the succinct put-down... a celebration of wine and a life spent considering it.' (Joanna Simon SUNDAY TIMES )
'...his most charming and engaging book on wine... should be sipped with undiluted escapist pleasure... gloriously moreish ... he is at the peak of his powers, and paragraph after paragraph unfolds with such deft economy, such adept marshalling of detail, such intelligent use of elision, such polished narrative brio and ... such a keenly expressed sense of wonder that one's interest never flags... the choice recollections of one of the most fortunate and thoughtful wine drinkers in history.' (FINE WINE MAGAZINE )
'Every page contains what might be called numerous 'felicities' which add up to an incomparable lesson...' (Nicholas Faith HARPERS WINE & SPIRIT )
'... using his cellar as a reference point, Johnson muses about subjects as varied as decanting, the First Growths, wine scores, terroir and his own efforts at wine making. As ever, his prose style is a joy.' (Tim Atkin THE OBSERVER )
'...an eagle's eye view of the 40 most hectic years in the history of wine; some of the most intricate, allusive and mulitlayered tasting notes ever written; a clutch of deft gastronomic epigrams and a gale of common sense about good and great wines.' (Andrew Jefford EVENING STANDARD )
'Hugh Johnson has lived through the explosion of interest in wine connoisseurship and been one of its most influential proponents. This book charts his personal progress through the field. Part memoir, part travel-writing, and deeply imbued with the love of the vine.' (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )
'his best book yet... elegant, easy-to-read style... a brilliant introduction to the world of wine... place yourself in the trusty hands of one of the world's great experts, still at the top of his game after some 40 years.' (Jamie Goode DAILY EXPRESS )
'a beautifully written, passionate paean to the poetry of the bottle. And it manages to effortlessly combine memoirs of a 50-year career with often scathing critiques of today's world of wine.' (GOURMET TRAVELLER )
'enlightened, fascinating and funny... delightfully opinionated... every chapter is riveting... this is a book to sip and savour.' (Charlotte Lessing THE LADY )
DECANTER
'Johnson is still the only modern wine writer who makes memorable statements and writes quotable lines.'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bon Mots from the (English) Ancien Regime,
By
This review is from: Wine: A Life Uncorked (Hardcover)
If you are expecting an autobiography of Hugh Johnson, you'll be disappointed - this is his jottings/ramblings on wine and anything biographical is almost coincidental. It is not his life story. It is, of course, beautifully written and from this aspect streets ahead of his competitors. This is not a book full of gobs of blockbuster fruit flavours, but of understated, evocative prose. But at times it does teeter on the brink of becoming pompous - all those black tie dinners with the wine aristocracy drinking impossibly ancient bottles, and endless comments on the very old bottles he has in his almost medieval cellar at his mansionly home. On the subject of Robert Parker he is also pretty outspoken, and perhaps needlessly so, and it begins to smack a little of jealous snobbery. If the wine world is full of sheep, perhaps not all the blame should be heaped upon the anointed leader. But just as the book becomes a bit too crusty, he gets back to the real business, and there is nobody who writes better about wines and travels amidst the vineyards.
0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Hugh Johnson,
By Tanyrallt (Wales) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Wine: A Life Uncorked (Paperback)
As close to an autobiography as you'll get from Johnson. Born into money and privilege, his adventures in wine-making are of interest, but otherwise it's mostly mild conceit.
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