Hugh Johnson (wine writer)

Encyclopedia : H : HU : HUG : Hugh Johnson (wine writer)

Hugh Johnson (born 1939) is a British writer and expert on wine. He is the world's best-selling writer on wine, with total sales of about 15 million.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

Johnson was a member of the Cambridge University Wine and Food Society while an undergraduate at King's College in the 1950s. He also received an £200 annual Keasbey bursary for "good living". He describes the moment when a friend first interested him in wine-tasting:

[Adrian] came in just after dinner with two glasses and said, "Come on, Hugh. Are they the same? Or different?" ...[O]ne was magic and one was just ordinary. This caught my imagination. It was my Damascus moment.

He has criticized highly influential wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr. as a "dictator of taste". (Note that Decanter is a competitor to Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate magazine.)

Johnson has been writing about wine since 1960. He has written for many magazines and published several books, a few of which are listed below (see Works).

He is also interested in gardening, with a particular interest in trees.

Works

• Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book (published annually since 1977)
• The World Atlas of Wine (5th edition, 2001, co-authored with Jancis Robinson)
• A Life Uncorked (2006, autobiography, anecdotes and opinions)
• Vintage: The Story of Wine (1989, published by Simon & Schuster)
• Wine (1966)
• Hugh Johnson's Wine Companion
• The International Book of Trees (1973)

See also

• Robert M. Parker, Jr.
• Jancis Robinson
• Frank J. Prial
• George M. Taber
• Len Evans (wine columnist)

References