Product Description

The original and the best - over 8 million copies of Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine guide has been sold worldwide.
This is the 31st edition, and it has been revised, updated and expanded.

- It features a special supplement on Italian wines
- Includes a new feature reviewing the big brands
- Wines to drink in 2008 - and vintages to keep
- Up-to-the-minute information on more than 6,000 wines and growers, with fully revised regional reviews
- Quick reference vintage charts

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6003 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Evening Standard
Simply the best concise wine reference and a model of how to marshal quantities of fact and evaluation into a compact volume. Every interested wine drinker needs the latest edition every year.

The New York Times
No guide is friendlier...a micro-encylopedia for novices and experts.

Synopsis
This year's edition boasts up-to-date news on more than 6,000 wines, growers, and regions from world experts, with invaluable vintage information, peerless food and wine matching tips, as well as a personal review of the last three decades from the world's best-known wine writer. Maintaining the same authoritative tone and clarity of presentation that has come to characterise this classic, it also includes a special new full-colour feature on Italian wine. Hugh Johnson and his galaxy of expert contributors have refreshed the text more than ever to ensure that this book remains "the definitive annual guide to wine", offering the "most accessible and valuable advice available".

Customer Reviews

Very disappointing - unclear and too condensed
I really can't believe this book is number 1 for the wine category - I bought it because of the great reviews on here, but it sits on the shelf collecting dust.

This book isn't really a book to read - more a dictionary. It is very poorly designed and has way too many abbreviations. It is also a little misguiding with its cover note of 'Hugh selects over 200 personal favourites' - this basically means he underlines 200 wines mentioned throughout the book. It really tells you nothing about the actual wine itself.

Very unclear as a book as it is simply condensing all it can into the smallest possible space. The Juice by Matt Skinner or a full expanded wine encyclopedia are much better options.

Almost-happy newcomer
I'm a relative newcomer to wine guides and this is the first time I've bought the annual Hugh Johnson version.
In a realm that can seem obscure and sometimes pretentious, Hugh's pocket book is a gem: it is clear, sensible, and down to earth. It would be helpful to see some kind of rough price-indicator next to the wines though to let us know whether we should try and track them down or just move on and look elsewhere. A simple 'above' or 'below' £x a bottle might do.

I do have a gripe though and that is with the editing/proof reading. The typos are frequent and irritating. One example would be the wines that are "recommended as first choice for drinking in 2005" (surely 2008?), p.11, the 0-20 rating system that goes up to 21.5, and cross-references to other page numbers that are frequently incorrect. It makes the book look like a rushed patch-up of previous years.

However, there is some good advice so if you want a decent wine guide, try it.
(P.S. It's worth stating that this is primarily a guide for buying wine, especially upper-end wine, rather than a book about wine as such).

Still the best wine book, but some silly typos
N. Stewart's comments are spot on. This is the best source of wine information in terms of fact per pound (pound weight or pound money), containing more useful facts than most large glossy coffee-table style wine books. Coverage is best on the old world wine regions, especially Bordeaux, giving helpful info on recommended producers, which vintages are good and which are ready to drink. I think it's worth buying a new copy every 2 or 3 years.
Unfortunately there are several very blatant typographical errors in the 2008 edition, such as 'You have to had vines' in the new essay on Italian wines at the end, and several references to a Medoc classification table allegedly on page 96 but in fact non-existent.