Jancis Robinson's Wine Course: A Guide to the World of Wine

by Jancis Robinson

The enormous variety of wines available today can be baffling even to an experienced buyer. Anyone who enters a wine store is immediately confronted by rows and rows of racks filled with a myriad of choices. Where do you begin when all you want is a reasonably priced quality wine to serve with dinner? Jancis Robinson can make anyone an expert, or at least an informed buyer, in short order. In this comprehensive guide to the wine-producing countries of the world, she captures the flavor of each region's wines and presents her personal recommendations on the best names from around the world, with thirty-two completely new pages covering the latest developments in South America, South Africa, and Eastern Europe. Robinson also describes the distinctive characteristics of hundreds of different grape varieties and studies the traditional and innovative methods employed in the creation of great wines. A fully updated vintage guide makes selection even easier. Dedicated to ensuring that you get the most out of every glass, Jancis Robinson's Wine Course explains how to taste and store wine, what to serve on special occasions at home, and how to order the best value from a restaurant wine list. Full of infectious enthusiasm and heaps of personal tips, this book will soon have you reaching for the corkscrew.

Genres: Wine, Reference, Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1996

About the author

Jancis Mary Robinson OBE, MW is a British wine critic, journalist and editor of wine literature. She currently writes a weekly column for the Financial Times, and writes for her website jancisrobinson.com. She also provides advice for Queen Elizabeth II's wine cellar.

Robinson studied mathematics and philosophy at Oxford University and worked for a travel company after leaving university. Robinson started her wine writing career on December 1, 1975 when she became assistant editor for the trade magazine Wine & Spirit. In 1984 she became the first person outside the wine trade to become a Master of Wine. She also served as British Airways's wine consultant.

As a wine writer, she has become one of the world's leading writers of educational and encyclopedic material on wine. The Oxford Companion to Wine, edited by Robinson, is generally considered to be the most complete wine encyclopedia. In addition, The World Atlas of Wine by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson is one of the leading wine atlases. In 1995, Jancis Robinson appeared in a 10-episode wine course on BBC 2 television. This series has later been reissued on DVD. A book titled Jancis Robinson's Wine Course was written to accompany the series and has gone through several editions.

She has an honorary doctorate from the Open University, and was made an OBE in 2003, among numerous other awards for her writing. Her accolades include multiple Glenfiddich Awards and André Simon Memorial Awards, and Decanter's "1999 (Wo)Man of the Year".

Reviews

[Brian Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very good introduction, and a keeper as a reference book. I really enjoyed her non-stuffy approach and writing style. Given it was written in 1995 some of the information is now dated (e.g. sealing with screw caps is no longer "not done" by major producers). In particular, some wine regions have more fully emerged since it was published (e.g. Argentina, Canada).

[Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jancis Robinson is my wine guru because not only is she one of the world's greatest experts (she manages the Queen's cellar!), she's delightfully unpretentious and down to earth. I've learned so much from her books and website, and she never lets people forget that the focus is on finding what wines bring them personal joy. She's just a lovely, brilliant, warm, goddess.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really thorough guide to everything wine. I wonder if there is a second edition? Wine changes, that’s all.

[Ricardo Marcos · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my opinion, this is a very good reference book for the description of the varieties and regions. It is not as detailed as the "Concise World Atlas of Wine" and I like the fact that it is in a 'course' format, allowing the reader to learn in progressive steps.

[Rachel]

I come back to this book time and time again, for reference.