Customer Reviews

The World Atlas of Wine

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Putting the brilliant wine writers Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson together to update the 4th edition of Hugh Johnson's classic work was an inspired choice. Each is superb on her or his own. Together, they are stunning in this, their first collaboration!

Whether you want to give a wonderful gift or simply to have a great wine reference, this book is an outstanding choice. The World Atlas of Wine will deepen your pleasure in wines you enjoy, and guide you to wonderful visits to outstanding vineyards and wineries during your travels. Hopefully, your tasting experiences will benefit as a result!

If you do not know the predecessor works, let me describe the book's layout. It begins with brief sections on the history of wine; basic facts about the influence of soil, temperature, varietals, wines, wine-making, storage, serving, and tasting; and has helpful information about how to read labels and interpret technical terms.

The heart of the book comes in individual essays about wine-growing regions around the world. These are very complete. France has 58 sections, Italy has 18, Germany shares 14, the United States is covered by 12, Spain is represented by 8, Australia has 7, Portugal has 6. Many other countries are covered as well, including parts of the former Soviet Union, the Balkans, North Africa, South America, and smaller countries in Europe.

Each individual wine-growing region is organized around an updated map. For this 5th edition, 148 maps were redrawn from the 4th, and 30 new maps were added. These maps show where the major wineries are, different vineyards, qualities of grapes, altitudes, major roads, and locations is cities within the area. In some cases, these maps are also supplemented by detailed examples of soil differences and temperature gradients. Each region has at least one beautiful color photograph to give you a sense of the geography. Within the accompanying essay is a detailed discussion of how the locale affects the taste and qualities of the wines that are produced there.

Anyone will find themselves learning a lot from this atlas. Even if you were familiar with a region ten years ago, chances are that it has changed. The atlas will bring you up-to-date. In addition, you can learn about new regions and wineries whose wines may interest you.

A nice feature of the book is a bound ribbon for marking your place.

Considering the remarkable quality of the contents and reproduction of the maps and images, this book is extremely fairly priced.

The predecessor four editions have sold 3.5 million copies over the last 30 years. I think we can safely assume that this volume will sell in the millions as well. If you already own the 4th edition, you would be well advised to buy this one also.

Where else can understanding local conditions help you appreciate more about what is going on? How can you gain that experience and knowledge?

Let curiosity pull you forth from old habits . . . into better ones!

If you subscribe to the notion that information is the key to a deep understanding of a subject, then this is where anyone who has ever enjoyed a glass of wine should be.

I've got a large collection on wine-related books and I find that the World Atlas of Wine is the one I turn to the most. I won't go so far as to say it renders the other's irrelevant -- the Wine Bible is also quite good, and several books on have that are more narrowly focused on specific countries or regions are essential to me -- but this is the one that explains the most about more subjects.

It should not be surprising: Hugh Johnson has produced four editions of the book before this one, and the addition of the wonderful Jancis Robinson just solidifies the Atlas' place atop of the heap of wine literature. This great looking and easy-to-read book is pleasing in so many ways: its delightful photos and large format make it a great coffee table book; the detailed maps and region-by-region explanations make it a good travel companion; and the text's lively anecdotes and density of information virtually make the volume a thrilling page-turner. It is at once accessible enough for beginners and informative enough for experts.

No, it is not perfect. As with any comprehensive wine book, some will complain that certain remote (and perhaps up-and-coming) wine producing regions have been left out or glossed over. And despite improvements from previous editions (thanks to Ms. Robinson, I believe), there is still some of the crusty and old-fashioned wine lingo that often intimidates the uninitiated.

So with what amount to only minor caveats, I wholeheartedly recommend the World Atlas of Wine. Get it and you will never feel the same about the wine you drink again.

The "World Atlas of Wine" lives up to its title as a definitive guide to the world's wine growing regions. The maps range in scale from all of Bordeaux down to individual communes such as St-Estephe and Pauillac, with major co-ops and estates clearly indicated. The maps are so detailed they could be used in lieu of Michelin to drive from La Chapelle in Hermitage to Vieux Telegraphe in Chateauneuf du Pape. With the text, I could probably lead a guided tour. Although France is given pride of place, California, Spain, Italy, South America and Australia are also well covered.

But the book's far more than just a set of geo-political maps of wine regions. It's also full of geological information about soil, consumption, production, etc. It really is an atlas. And the writing is quite a bit less dry and "objective" than your usual "atlas"; Johnson and Robinson are both fantastic wine writers. I also found the reproduced labels most instructive.

Every other book on wines has left me wishing for better maps, including the Oxford Companion to Wine edited by Jancis Robinson. Now I read them with the "World Atlas of Wine" at my side. I only wish I could order the maps as posters.

Plenty of people enjoy wine solely for its taste--and they're entitled to. But they're missing an awful lot. Wine isn't merely a drink but a whole world of people, places, history and culture, and those are things most wine drinkers remember far longer than taste. For them, this new edition--the fifth--of Hugh Johnson's wine atlas (first published in the 1970s) will be a treasure. It now has a co-author in Jancis Robinson, who is Britain's high priestess of wine. Maybe that description is a little intimidating; what I mean is that she know a tremendous amount about wine, and what I want most of all to convey is that she shares her knowledge and enjoys sharing it. She'd rather inform than impress; she wants you to have as good a time as she does. And she and Johnson have given you, in this book, a passport for that purpose.

This book gives you noting less than the whole world of wine on the printed page. There are maps, of course, maps beyond counting of the fabled wine regions of France and of the stunning wine regions of Italy, surely the most beautiful of wine countries as well as the sources of many of the greatest bargains. Wine's New World is well represented too: the U.S., which is no surprise (and Canada, which to many people is) as well as Chile and Argentina, Australia and New Zealand, and South Africa. Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and the former Soviet Republics are covered--they're making comebacks after years of awful "socialist wine-making" under Communism. And the list goes on. Even Japan and England are here--they do, after all, make more than sake and beer.

There's a wealth of background information, too, on everything from vines to the mystique of what the French call "terroir," storing and serving, matching wine with food, the many grapes that make so many wines (in Italy, for example, the Sangiovese grapes is the core of half a dozen winess in Tuscany alone), and of course how wine is actually made. And all of it is readable and enjoyable, making this a complete wine course at a bargain price. Put a log on the fire, grab a glass, pull a cork and settle down with this book. Choose an especially comfortable chair--odds are it'll be a long time before you're ready to get up.

--Bill Marsano
(The reviewer has won a James Beard medal for wine and spirits writing.)

Everything you need to know to get you started, to develop you, to polish you, and then to guide you to where the best wines of the world are produced. Crisply, sensibly, eruditely written. The perfect wine book; the only book I religiously update when new editions are released. Hugh Johnson is simply the best.

Over the last 30 years, I have acquired, read, reread, and meditated on many dozens of books on the subject of fine wine. This is my all-time favorite, because it illustrates so clearly the relationship between the geography of the world's most important fine wine producing districts and the resulting wines. Even in these days of high tech, much of the character and quality of wine is still determined by just where the fruit is grown. Johnson's Atlas depicts the classic regions in satisfying detail. Bravo!

This book was originally recommended to me by the instructor in a wine-tasting class that I took. It's a great reference. The introduction contains everything you'd want to know about how wine made - from the types of grapes to soil information to the anatomy of a winery and everything in between. The meat of the book gives incredible information about the various wine-making regions of the world (including newer, smaller areas). In each area (or sub-area, for the larger places), Johnson gives a map of the region, gives a detailed description, and identifies some of the major labels. Great book - I definitely want to keep this on my shelf!

As a wine professional in San Francisco I recommend this book to anyone who has considered taking their beginning wine appreciation to the next level. It is a visually engaging and accurate resource, there are dozens of comprehensive maps, and relevent information on virtually all of the world's wine regions. If one is looking for something more intuitive and accessible than the Oxford Companion, this is a great choice.

If ever there was a must-have tome on wine, this would be it. It's equally at home on the reference shelf or the coffee table with its specific descriptions of both the classic regions and the emerging areas as well as its stunning photography and beautiful presentation throughout. I've owned the book for two years, and I find I'm often turning to it after enjoying a nice wine to find out more about where it was made. Why do we visit wineries? For me, it's to attach a memory or place to the product we drink. This book won't take you there physically, but really it's the next best thing presenting photographs and maps of the areas, information on what makes each area unique, as well as some of the geographic, economic, and social drivers that are making it evolve. Other reviewers have said that the book isn't as comprehensive as they would like, but it's not meant to present a thorough analysis of each wine, but rather to present notable regions on aggregate. I must admit that in some cases the representative wines given for a region wouldn't have been my choice, but I guess that's a matter of personal taste. This being the fifth revised edition of the book speaks to its enduring influence in the space, and even with the thousands of other competing products out there, I expect this reference to continue its reputation as the best there is.

This is a fantastic book. It is more than simply THE best wine reference guide. It is history, geography, an encyclopedia, an atlas - a work of art. Believe it or not, it was also a college text book. I was lucky enough to have attended a class, 'the Geography of Viticulture', where it was the main text, (wine tasting included with the tuition fee!)

No matter what your level of interest in the subject you will find something of value here. Naturally as geography students we were learning about the various wine producing areas around the world and how location, climate, soil, and seasons influence wine growing. Now many years later, as a consumer of the product, the book is just as useful to me in teaching about the importance of grape varieties and how to taste, choose and serve wine.

A big thrill for me was driving through one of the wine producing regions highlighted in the atlas. Although I would not recommend you use the maps to plan your route, unless you don't mind getting just a little bit lost driving around beautiful and idyllic countryside (typical of most wine producing areas); the book is still of immense use in teaching about the area you are driving through. A nice touch are the many picture reproductions of the various winery labels. My family enjoyed ticking off the labels in the book as we drove by the wineries. Two more uses for the atlas - travel guide and family entertainment. Cheers