Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book 1997 [antikvár]

ForewordThis 20th annual edition of my micro-encyclopedia has put on weight-and I hope regained a little of the elegance of design, if not language - which my shoe-horning technique has eroded over the years. It should be easier to read. It is certainly more up to date than ever, bringing news not just of new vintages but of the continuing headlong expansion of the good-wine world.So much expansion indeed that I have instigated a new feature for the impatient: here and there you will find little national or regional selections as suggestions of wines to try. Don't run away with the idea that these are my 100-pointers. Old readers will know that I don't give points: rushing to judgement is not my scene. For the Johnson System of scoring turn to page 279.For those who pay any attention to the official pronouncements of government nannies about drinking and health, 1996 was a milestone year. In January the US Department of Agriculture issued new Dietary Guidelines for Americans which gave cautious backing to what wine-drinkers - doctors especially - have known all along: that alcohol in moderation is moderately good for you. Most of the benefit seems to be in reducing the risk of coronary heart disease. Nutritionists are still reluctant to endorse the idea that cheerfulness, good company and good digestion are healthy in themselves.Coincidentally the British government also revised its official view of the risks and benefits of moderate drinking at the same time. Ten years of research in many countries (Denmark must get an honourable mention here) has made it impossible either medically or morally to hold the prohibitionist line. It is the French government, absurdly and uncharacteristically, that remains out on a limb with its 'Loi Evin' against the advertising of alcohol. Whether wine comes out of all the current medical research as being different from any other form of alcohol is less clear -though beer certainly gives you a different-shaped tummy.There have been other things to raise wine-lovers morale, too. A splendid Bordeaux vintage in 1995 was the headline-maker, but a huge one in Australia will add just as much to the sum of human pleasure. Chile and Argentina moved perceptibly up in the quality stakes, Germany took serious first steps towards an inevitable classification of its vineyards, Italy made masses of seriously good wine wine-growing is steadily moving from tentative to 4