If you consider only one wine book for the wine lover on your gift list this holiday season, I strongly suggest "The World Atlas of Wine" by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson ($55, Mitchell Beazley).
Though there are many other options, this book is most important, in my humble opinion, because it is the seventh and latest edition of what I consider the most useful wine reference work in my library of wine. It is useful because it is comprehensive and authoritative, and it is useful because the authors are trusted sources on all things to do with wine.
Johnson has been writing eloquently and accurately on wine for nearly half a century. His "Pocket Wine Book" has been published annually since 1977. Jancis Robinson is a Master of Wine, author of "The Oxford Companion to Wine" and wine columnist for Financial Times.
What these two bring to "The World Atlas of Wine" is a treasure trove of knowledge distilled into a format that is easy to navigate, informative and highly entertaining given the tremendous writing prowess of these two gifted storytellers.
This new edition of "The World Atlas of Wine" is the first since 2007 and covers a good deal of territory that either didn’t exist or was barely underway when the previous edition was published.
No matter how much the wine enthusiast in your life knows about wine, there is no doubt "The World Atlas of Wine" will explore aspects of the wine world that so far have been uncharted waters.
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