Oz Clarke's Pocket Wine Guide 2001 [Hardcover]

Oz Clarke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 3, 2000

The 2001 edition of Oz Clarke's acclaimed guide is completely updated and laced with his famously witty and opinionated recommendations and warnings about the world's wines. This edition brings even more of Clarke's picks of the best wines in many categories and a look at the new opportunities provided by the Internet. Distinguished particularly by its ease of use, Oz Clarke's Pocket Wine Guide provides more than 1,600 entries covering every aspect of wine today. Clarke's intuitive A-to-Z format ensures that you will find the wine you are looking for, wherever it comes from. In addition, Clarke discusses how wine is made, modern wine styles, storing wines, vintages, and the world of winemaking from Germany to New Zealand.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Oz Clarke, it seems, has sobered up. Maybe it was that phantom champagne shortage of New Year's Eve 1999. Maybe it was the realization that the new millennium actually began one year later. Either way, the 2001 edition of the perennially updated purse-sized portable wine reference by the prolific and unpretentious winner of both Julia Child and James Beard awards for wine and spirits writing marks a welcome return to form. Purchasers of his 2000 edition may recall his indulgence in a bit of freeform, faux-fin-de-siècle frivolity: the chapter charting a brief history of himself via bottles consumed; the crystal ball/navel-gazing predictions of both China's emergence as a wine-growing power and the repeal of France's Appellation Controlle system. He's lighthearted and entertaining no doubt, but occasionally sounding of someone dipping into the magnum of Billecart-Salmon 1990 a year early.

But with Oz Clarke's Pocket Wine Guide 2001, the author has awakened from his lampshade-wearing night before and freshly pressed his comfortably stylish strong suit to again provide readers with one of the best all-purpose alphabetical wine references available. One hesitates to recommend annual purchasing of annual wine guides; frequently, "totally revised and updated" means some bolder print here, a vintage change from "Hold" to "Drink" there. But Clarke's 2001 edition, with it's A-to-Z encompassing of the world of wine, features newly expanded and highlighted entries for, among others, the Barossa and Napa regions, making for an informative wine shop companion. It's an opinionated one, too: he'll crustily denounce "Millennium obsession" like an enophilic Andy Rooney (although his previous edition was drenched in it) while discussing up-and-coming wineries with some personal faves, though the chapter "Modern Wine Styles" is a virtual reprint from the 2000 edition. And there are some deletions. Don't bother looking up "Denominazione di Origine Controllata"; after sleeping off Y2K, even Oz wants no hair of the DOC. --Tony Mason

About the Author

Oz Clarke, one of the world's leading wine experts, is a featured advisor to winetoday.com, the New York Times wine Web site, and he has won all the major wine writing awards. He lives in West London. Margaret Rand is an award-winning wine writer and a former editor of Wine magazine, Wine & Spirit International and Whisky magazine. She contributes to a wide range of wine publications and Internet sites and has been general editor, then wine editor of Oz Clarke's Wine Buying Guide for the last 11 editions. Margaret has also worked as an editor on several other Oz Clarke titles.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; First Edition edition (November 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151006342
• ISBN-13: 978-0151006342
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 3.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,811,341 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A little book full of information to take to the supermarket, January 8, 2001

By 

drdebs (CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oz Clarke's Pocket Wine Guide 2001 (Hardcover)

I wanted a wine book that was much more portable than the massive Wine Spectator Ultimate Buying Guide so that I could slip it into my pocket and visit the wine store or the supermarket. After reviewing this and other options (such as Hugh Johnson), I decided that Oz Clarke's book was the way to go.

I got to know Clarke from his appearances on the New York Times Wine Today site, and have to say that this book is as well-organized and informative as I was led to expect. Every inch of this small book has information on it: inside the covers are vintage charts, and each page is full of information rather than loads of illustrations. THe illustrations that are included are well-selected and useful (maps, labels from the most important makers, etc.)

This book is organized in an encylopedia format, with everything from the wine-growing region of Abruzzo to the varietal Zinfandel covered. In addition Clarke includes his top wines of the year, modern wine style, matching food and wine, serving and storing suggestions.

Moreover the book is readable--something that few wine encyclopedias are. It is no small feat to make an alphabetical listing of wine topics interesting enough that you can sit down and read it cover to cover. Highly recommended!