World Book Day.

Today is the 20th anniversary of World Book Day: a day designated by UNESCO to celebrate books, authors and reading.
I wanted to celebrate some of my personal favourite wine books which, over the years, I have read again and again.  There is a handful of wine books that I continually return to and use as reference books.  (My list of books dedicated to the topic of viticulture is actually bigger.)  And some I just read for fun.
A special mention, once more, has to be given to the book Wine by Hugh Johnson.  That particular book, a gift when I was 17 years old (thank you, Thud), started my interest in all things wine.  And eventually viticulture. Wine is definitely one of my favourite books of all time, written by my favourite wine writer.  Thanks, Hugh.

True Wine Lover 11.

One word: Jancis. In the world of wine, in fact in the history of the entire world, not too many people get to be known by their Christian name alone (think Napoleon and Elvis), but my True Wine Lover 11 is one such person.

The Oxford educated Jancis Mary Robinson OBE - where she read mathematics, so you can be fairly certain that she has a brain the size of a small planet - is one of the, if not the, world's leading writer of educational and encyclopedic material on wine. In fact, Jancis is probably better known to the wine-imbibing public than my beloved Hugh, but I bet Jancis loves Hugh too.

It was whilst watching the televised trials of Jancis becoming the first journalist to pass the battery of exams to become a Master of Wine in the 1980s, that a nascent oenophilia really metastasized in the teenage Vinogirl. However, despite her obviously vast all-things-wine-knowledge, the ever modest Ms. Robinson maintains that she is first and foremost a wine writer, not a wine critic.

If you don't know who Jancis is then you have been deprived the experience of truly great wine-writing and I pity you. Do yourself a favour, read something by Jancis today!