Hugh Johnson Pocket Wine 2020 (Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book)

Great little guide. I have every one for the past 25 years. An excellent reference for wines of the world. I have met Johnson at Sherry Lehmann in NYC. We both agree about Chappellet being one of the best vineyards in Napa. When we spoke he had had dinner with Molly and Donn a few nights before. My dad roomed with Donn’s dad at Stanford. Top notch family. Top notch wine. Top notch little guide.

This little gem has always been the best pocket guidebook describing the best wines, vintages, food pairings, general pricing, and quality of hundreds of wines. It is affordable, easy to take to the wine shop, and is updated yearly, to provide information of the most recent vintages, and of new wineries, and trends.

Always the best A compact treasure of information. Always carry in the wineshop

My husband loves it. I get him one for every year. He takes the newest one to the restaurant when we go to upscale restaurant.

This is still the most convenient and comprehensive wine reference. It descirbes every wine varietal. It also give advice to appropriate wine and food pairings. It is eminently useful for any gourmand.

Needed in 24hrs..got it in less than! Perfect condition.

Don’t waste your money.

Just the right amount of information

The 2020 edition includes ratings for fewer vintages of any given wine than the 2019 edition. Almost all of the copy remains unchanged, which is good if you've never bought the Guide before, but bad if you were hoping for something fresh to read. Still an entertaining and informative read. HJ turned me into a sherry fiend, and more besides.

I love Hugh's book and this is probably my fifth edition. However, some of the ratings are missing this time. The book has a simple code for explaining whether a wine is highly rated, ready to drink etc. But some years are missing this time. For example, Calon Segur 2009, highly rated but not yet ready to drink in previous editions, is not mentioned at all this time. And it's not the only one. So a bit disappointing this year.

Take this book with you to everywhere you buy wine. It really helps in uncovering decent plonk on the shelves or menu and it doesn't simply extoll the ridiculous notion that "more expensive is better". Also really helps if you want to become a bit of a wine snob as it provides solid information on the worlds wine regions and what to expect from them.

The go to guide for wine information.Very compact in size yet extensive in content.It is produced annually and although it is tempting to miss buying it every year there is always something new in the edition produced each year.

Excellent reference book. However, it is not appropriate for the beginner: you need a basic wine knowledge to get the best out of it.