''The World Atlas of Wine'' by Hugh Johnson and (since 2003)

Jancis Robinson Jancis Mary Robinson OBE, ComMA, MW (born 22 April 1950) is a British wine critic, journalist and wine writer. She currently writes a weekly column for the ''Financial Times'', and writes for her website JancisRobinson.com, updated daily. She ...

, MW, is an

atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...

and reference work on the world of

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

, published by

Mitchell Beazley Mitchell Beazley Publishers Limited is a British book publisher which is particularly specialised in atlases, reference books, natural history books, cook books, garden books and wine books. History The London-based company Mitchell Beazley was ...

. It pioneered the use of wine-specific cartography to give wine a sense of place, and has since the first edition published in 1971 sold 4 million copies in 14 languages. Considered among the most significant wine publications to date, it remains one of the most popular books on wine, with the most recent eighth edition published in October 2019.

Origin

Prior to its publication in 1971, no work of wine literature contained high quality, wine-specific cartography as until

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, wine was the preserve of the upper classes in western Europe and virtually non-existent in the U.S. With the emergence of mass tourism in the 1950s and the greater spending power of the 1960s, a whole new generation visited France, Italy and Spain, bringing back the continental culture of wine. With the first edition of ''The World Atlas of Wine'' published in 1971, it met a need for universal wine knowledge. The book had little competition until 1988 when ''

The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia ''The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia'' is a reference work on wine written by Tom Stevenson and published since 1988 by Dorling Kindersley, selling over 600,000 copies in 14 languages.''The Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia'', 2007 edition ''The Sotheby' ...

'' was published. The

Institut National des Appellations d'Origine An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

, a French governmental organisation that avoids comment on commercial ventures, was moved to describe ''The World Atlas of Wine'' upon publication as "a major landmark in the literature of wine".IntoWine: The World Atlas of Wine
/ref> The distinctive maps for the First Edition of the Atlas were drawn by Fairey Surveys Ltd Cartographic office in Maidenhead, UK. Although many maps have been added in later editions many of the original maps of the classic wine areas are still used in the current edition.

Printing History

* First Edition (1971) * Second Edition (1977) * Third Edition (1985) * Fourth Edition (1994) * Fifth Edition (2001) * Sixth Edition (2007) * Seventh Edition (2013) * Eighth Edition (2019)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:World Atlas Of Wine 1971 non-fiction books Atlases Books about wine