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. Teas to suit the occasion What more can anyone want than a potion that offers to boost your brain power, another that entices with the promise it will 'have you feeling like yourself again', and a third that lays claim to stress-busting properties with ingredients like Siberian ginseng and camomile? Alvita's Herbal Remeteas from the United States collects familiar and unknown ingredients from herb gardens all over the world. These are cleverly marketed with a blend of exotic geography and New Age feel-good factors. Lancaster County Migra-Wonder (feverfew, white willow bark, ginger and green tea) promises to relieve migraines, while Himalayan Sennalax (senna, cascara sagrada, aloe vera, peppermint and green tea) opens up a voyage of self-discovery. Push your brain into high gear with Manchurian Brain-Blend, which contains ginkgo biloba, Korean ginseng, ma huang and green tea. The stress-reliever of the range is Chinese Mellow Magic, which apparently works wonders with a mix of Siberian ginseng, camomile, kava kava schisandra and vitamin C. The teas are available from Hoop-La! at 23-27 Mosque Street in Central (tel: 2525-5994). From cellar to front door The Mandarin Oriental has moved into home delivery. The latest addition to the hotel's five-star repertoire is a 'from our cellar to your door' service which shaves up to 15 per cent off the regular price of a bottle of wine. Orders and inquiries on 2825-4890/4084. Well, just fancy that . . . Did you know . . . it was the French who first raised mushrooms as a crop in the 1600s, that salt helped build the Roman Empire through a network of merchants who made fortunes trading in it, or that onions are a part of the lily family and were grown in Babylon's wondrous hanging gardens? The Christian Science Monitor contains food trivia which also tells an unsuspecting world that mozzarella was originally made from water buffalo milk, that wheat was the first plant to be cultivated by humans, and that until about 1750, most of the world thought tomatoes were poisonous.