Tom Stevenson

Infobox Writer
name = Tom Stevenson

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imagesize = 200px
caption = Tom Stevenson in March 2006
birthdate = Birth date and age|1951|03|08|df=yes
birthplace = Tunbridge Wells, United Kingdom
occupation = Author, Wine Writer, Wine Critic, Wine Judge
nationality = British

Tom Stevenson (born 1951) is a British author who has been writing about wine for more than 30 years. Described by his colleages as one of today’s most prolific wine authors,Cite web|last= Robinson |first= Jancis, jancisrobinson.com | url= http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/jr7103 |title= Vintage 2003 wine books | date= November 22, 2003 ] Stevenson is regarded as the world’s leading authority on Champagne.christies.com [http://www.christies.com/services/education/london.aspx?s=6 Christie’s Champagne Masterclass] ] [Swig.co.uk [http://www.swig.co.uk/product.asp?prev=producer%2Easp%3Fid%3D120%261%3D1&id=181 Wine review] ] [frenchwinesociety.org [http://www.frenchwinesociety.org/site.php?page=page&id=29 French Wine Society: Book review] ] He has written 23 books, the most important of which have been published internationally by more than 50 publishers and translated into over 25 languages. In 1986, his book "Champagne" became the first wine book to win four literary awards, establishing Stevenson’s reputation as a serious author, a fastidious researcher with a knack for divining future issues, and a critic bold enough to take on the establishment. [wine-pages.com [http://www.wine-pages.com/guests/tom/champagne-expansion.htm Champagne’s €6 billion expansion] ] [champagne-lenoble.com [http://www.champagne-lenoble.com/uk/presse/LENOBLEUKPRESSEWINEREPORT.htm Wine Report, Tom Stevenson] ]

Career

Although Stevenson first writings on wine were published in "Decanter" in the late 1970s, a magazine he still writes for, he was a more prolific contributor to "WINE Magazine" for consumers and "Wine & Spirit International" for the trade (both since merged into "Wine & Spirit") during the 1980s and 1990s. At the time he was well known for his monthly "Fizz File" column in "WINE Magazine", and for being the sole author of the award winning annual Champagne supplements for both of these magazines.

In 1998, his "Christie’s World Encyclopedia of Champagne & Sparkling Wine" became the only wine book to warrant a leader in a UK national newspaper ("The Guardian", 14 October 1998), when he published for the first time ever a 17th century document proving that the English used a second fermentation to convert still wines into sparkling at least six years before Dom Pérignon arrived at the Abbey of Hautvillers, and almost 40 years before the French claim that sparkling Champagne was invented.cite web| last = "Decanter.com"| title = "Decanter" World Wine Awards: Judges | url = http://www.decanter.com/worldwineawards/judges1.php ]

Stevenson is also regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on Alsace.Cite web|last= Kissack |first= Chris, thewinedoctor.com|title= Wine Books: Tom Stevenson |url= http://www.thewinedoctor.com/otherresources/stevenson.shtml ] cite web| last= Hall| first= Allan, "The Scotsman" |title= Champagne land values to bubble upwards |url=http://news.scotsman.com/world/Champagne-land-values-to-bubble.3624486.jp |date= December 28, 2007] wine-pages.com [http://www.wine-pages.com/guests/tom/biog.htm Wine-pages.com: Tom Stevenson] ] [rieslingreport.com PDF| [http://www.rieslingreport.com/pdf/RR04-Alsace1998.pdf Riesling Report: October 2000] |513 KB ] [alsace-wine.net [http://www.alsace-wine.net/o/reading.shtml Alsace Wine.net: Book review] ] In 1987 he was elected a "confrère oenophile" of the Conférie Saint Etienne, when he was the sole person amongst the Alsace wine producers and other experts present to identify a 50 year old wine made from Sylvaner. [ [http://www.hugel.com/pdf/Stevenson_Alsace_2006.pdf Hugel & Fils: Wine Report 2006] ] In 1994 Stevenson’s 600-page "The Wines of Alsace" won the Veuve Clicquot Book of the Year award in the USA and caused Malcolm Gluck, then wine correspondent of "The Guardian", to declare that “It is not simply the best book about Alsace wines ever written, or the most penetrating book about a French wine region ever written; it is the greatest wine book ever written, period”. [vynai.com (December 18, 2006) [http://www.vynai.com/naujienos/2006-12-18/212.html Tom Stevenson Interview] ]

Stevenson is also the author of several more wide-ranging publications, including "The Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia", which is required reading for both Master of Wine and Master Sommelier examinations, and has been published and revised continuously since 1988. In this book, Stevenson has shown that he has the gift of taking vast quantities of knowledge and experience and translating them into lucid, sparkling prose, easily graspable by the novice, yet still interesting and instructive to the connoisseur.Cite web|last= Goode |first= Jamie, wineanorak.com|title= My top 10 wine books |url= http://www.wineanorak.com/bookshop/top10.htm ] With "The Oxford Companion to Wine", "The Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia" is regarded as one of the essential wine reference books in English.Cite web|last= Atkin|first= Tim, "The Observer" |title= The word on the vine |url= http://books.guardian.co.uk/booksoftheyear2005/story/0,,1664354,00.html |date= December 11, 2005 ]

In addition to the books authored by Stevenson, he conceived and continues to edit "Wine Report", among the most significant, entirely new wine book to emerge in recent times. "Wine Report" has been the recipient of “Best in World” prizes three times at the Gourmand International Awards, and in 2006 it became the only wine book to be inducted into Gourmand’s Hall of Fame, a feat matched by no other wine book (since 2007 it has been joined by "The World Atlas of Wine" and "Bordeaux et ses Vins").

Over and above these awards, Stevenson has personally won 31 literary prizes, including "Wine writer of the year" three times [amazon.com [http://www.amazon.com/Wine-Report-2008/dp/0756631653 Back page text of Tom Stevenson's Wine Report 2008] ] and the coveted Wine Literary Award, America’s only lifetime achievement award for wine writing. [DK: Wine [http://us.dk.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780756631659,00.html Report 2008] ]

Stevenson has been chairman of Champagne and Alsace panels at the "Decanter" World Wine Awards" since its inception, and has judged at other major competitions in France, Germany, Greece, Australia and the USA. He presents the Christie’s Champagne Masterclass in London ever year (taking it to Singapore one year) and for a cyberspace presence, he squats on [http://www.wine-pages.com/index.shtml Tom Cannavan’s Wine-pages] , where his contributions are sporadic, once notably giving away an entire edition of his Champagne & Sparkling Wine Guide simply because it was late coming out,Cite web|last= Robinson |first= Jancis, jancisrobinson.com | url= http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/jr7075 |title= Free fizz guide | date= August 21, 2003 ] and where his [http://www.wine-pages.com/guests/tom/taste.htm Aromas and Flavors] resource, where he lists the active chemical compounds responsible for common aromas in wine, has been described as the most helpful tool for delineating wine's attributes since Dr. Anne Noble's Aroma Wheel was devised at UC Davis in 1990. [avenuevine.com [http://www.avenuevine.com/archives/cat_editorials.html Swirl, sniff, sip, search and blog; L.A. Times] ]

ee also

*List of wine personalities

Selected publications

*cite book| first = Tom | last = Stevenson | title = The Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia | edition = 4th Edition Revised, 2007 | id = ISBN 978-1405326568
*cite book| first = Tom | last = Stevenson | title = Christie’s World Encyclopedia of Champagne & Sparkling Wine | edition = Revised Edition, 2002 | id = ISBN 978-1899791897
*cite book| first = Tom | last = Stevenson | title = The Wines of Alsace | id = ISBN 0571149537
*cite book| first = Tom | last = Stevenson | title = "Champagne" | id = ISBN 9061941660
*cite book| first = Tom | last = Stevenson | title = 101 Essential Tips: Wine | id = ISBN 978-0789496850

References

External links

* [http://www.wine-pages.com/guests/tom/intro.htm Tom Stevenson, Columnist, Tom Cannavan's wine-pages.com]