Oz Clarke Pocket Wine Book 2008

You can't hold all the wine information you need in your head, but with this handy guide you can be sure it is all available when you need it. "Oz Clarke: Pocket Wine Book 2008" has more information, more recommendations, more facts, figures, passion and opinion than any other comparable guide to wine. Completely revised and updated for 2008, the "Pocket Wine Book" includes full cross-referencing by country. This handy guide contains everything you need to know about wine, completely revised and updated for 2008. Includes up-to-date vintage information how to match wine and food, and Oz's personal favourites for 2008.

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A good reference book - Rated
Oz Clarke tells it like it is & thankfully seems to respect his reader regardless of whether they know their Pouilly Fume from Pouilly Fuisse.

If you're planning to stock up & take a foray into the wonderful world of (decent) wine, this is as good a starting point as any. However, if you're looking to do some research for wine exams or use as a reference book, then there are other, more weighty tomes out there which do a more exact job.

But, back to the book in hand. This books has interesting Food/Wine notes & also a decent synopsis of the various countries of origin. The A-Z of wines, grapes etc is pretty good & although there are perhaps a few missing (if you're feeling particularly pernickety)isn't that half the fun?


Well worth a look.

Really good annual reference for beginners - Rated
This seems to be the 'Oz Clarke version' of the more well known 'Hugh Johnson's pocket wine book'. So is it any good? Yes.

It is the same size as it's competitor (pocket) and is primarily a wine buying guide combined with very-mini-encyclopaedia, it also has useful mini-sections on food, producers, buying tips etc. It's easy to read and user friendly. Oz puts in plain English what you need to know without ever assuming that you know your St-Julien from your St-Joseph, and without ever being condescending either.

Unlike Johnson, Oz's book is A-Z which makes it a bit more fool-proof (Johnson is organised by country, then A-Z). If you are a hardcore wine buyer, and would never dream of confusing St-Julien with St-Joseph, then Johnson is probably a bit more your thing, but for the rest of us Oz Clarke's approach is light, fun, helpful and instructive.

(The only down side of this great little book was that some wines were hard to find, being listed in subsections rather than under their own name. Otherwise, 5 stars !)