The world's favourite wine adviser, Hugh Johnson, has just published the 21st-anniversary edition of every wine-lover's essential guide, the Pocket Wine Book.
Featuring more than 6,000 wines, regions and growers, this year's edition also includes an introduction which outlines some of the major changes that have taken place in the wine world since 1977, when the first issue went on sale.
Among these, Johnson notes, is that the Far East has heard the news that red wine is good for you. 'With surprising haste, the dedicated cognac-drinkers of China and Japan are switching to Bordeaux and Burgundy,' he says.
Johnson has focused on providing the kind of practical information that sells 400,000 of his guides around the world every year.
The books are designed, in his own words, to 'take the panic out of buying' wines. There is an excellent section on wine and food, which aims to side-step 'menu-stress'.
If you are serving asparagus, for instance, go for sauvignon blanc, which echoes the flavour. Pick vodka or a full-bodied Champagne if caviar is on the menu, and a light red such as Beaujolais Villages for steamed dim sum.
Johnson promises emphasis, evaluation and thousands of detail changes compared to his previous edition. Prices vary from $153 at Oliver's to more than $170 at Bookazine.
