Hugh Johnson

I just finished British wine-writer Hugh Johnson's memoir A Life Uncorked (you can get it from Amazon), which was a birthday present from my sister. I've been reading snatches of it for the last few months at bedtime and found it a thoroughly enjoyable read. His passion is obvious, but it's also not pretentious. He is free with his opinion, which is refreshing, not overbearing, and he has certainly opened my eyes to some wines I hadn't heard of before.

I think his writing might be a bit too much, however, if you tried to devour the whole thing in a sitting or two. I found 10-20 pages at a time perfect, especially since so much of it is new and unusual. His discussion of Bordeaux is first-rate, naturally, but then he follows the style to the New World and elsewhere. I've never read a book purely about wine before, but this one was worth it.