The World Atlas of Wine

"The World Atlas of Wine" by Hugh Johnson and (since 2003) Jancis Robinson, MW is a reference work on the world of wine. It pioneered the use of wine-specific cartography to give wine a sense of place, and has since the first edition published in 1971 sold 4 million copies in 14 languages.Cite web|last= Robinson |first= Jancis, jancisrobinson.com | url= http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/books |title= Books ] Considered among the most significant wine publications to date, it remains one of the most popular books on wine, with the most recent sixth edition published in October 2007.cite web| last = Rosen |first= Maggie, "Decanter.com"| title = Hugh Johnson, Jancis Robinson release new 'World Atlas of Wine' | url = http://www.decanter.com/news/148005.html| date= October 5, 2007 ]

Origin

Prior to its publication in 1971, no work of wine literature contained high quality, wine-specific cartography. Some single-subject wine literature contained simple line-drawn maps, but not detailed, colour cartography with precise boundaries, and no book attempting to cover the world of wine had maps for every country. It was therefore not possible to open a bottle, open a book, and see precisely where the wine came from. This sense of place for wine is taken for granted today, but in 1971 it was revolutionary, and Johnson’s timing was impeccable. Until the Second World War, wine was the preserve of the upper classes in the UK, and virtually non-existent in the USA due to Prohibition, but servicemen returning home from the European theatre brought with them the newly acquired habit of wine drinking. [ [http://www.ehiedu.org/flash/pdfs/d837112c.pdf What is Wine?] ] With the emergence of mass tourism in the 1950s [ [http://www.search.com/reference/Tourism#Mass_tourism Mass Tourism: Vladimir Raitz] ] and the greater spending power of the 1960s, a whole new generation visited France, Italy and Spain, bringing back the continental culture of wine. America's taste for wine also began to develop in the early 1960s. The majority of these new wine drinkers were young, well-traveled, and relatively affluent and, as the Baby Boom generation came of age, so the ranks of wine drinkers increased. [ [http://www.statssheet.com/articles/article48883.html The Curious History of Wine Consumption in America] ] Never before, and never since, have there been so many new wine consumers without any knowledge of the wines they were encountering, and in 1971 "The World Atlas of Wine" was uniquely placed to satisfy that demand. With mass tourism on the increase throughout the 1970s, and Freddie Laker pioneering cheap flights further expanding travel in 1977 [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article729420.ece Cheap flights pioneer Sir Freddie Laker dies] ] , the demand for "The World Atlas of Wine" continued to grow, as there was no real competition until 1988, when "The Sotheby's World Wine Encyclopedia" (now "The Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia") was published. Such a wine publishing phenomenon cannot be repeated, and its contribution to wine literature is undeniable. Even the Institute National des Appellations d'Origine, a French governmental organisation that avoids comment on commercial ventures, was moved to describe "The World Atlas of Wine" upon publication as "a major landmark in the literature of wine". [ [http://www.intowine.com/shop/0332-4.html IntoWine: The World of Wine] ] Cite web|last= Robinson |first= Jancis, jancisrobinson.com | url= http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/20070106_1 |title= Who on earth are we? ] Cite web|last= Goode |first= Jamie, wineanorak.com |title= Reference Works |url=http://www.wineanorak.com/refb.htm ]

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