The World Atlas of Wine

The World Atlas of Wine by Hugh Johnson and (since 2003) Jancis Robinson has sold 4 million copies in 14 languages, easily making it the most important wine book of all time. Its success has been due to a unique and now unreatable combination of concept and timing. The World Atlas of Wine used pioneering, wine-specific cartography to give wine a sense of place. Before it was published in 1971 it was not possible to open a bottle, open a book, and see precisely where the wine came from. Johnson’s timing was impeccable, as cheap flights having opened up the market for holidays in continental Europe, expanding the market for wine once holidaymakers returned home, and creating thirst for knowledge about the wines that had never existed before. Even the French Institute National des Appellations d'Origine has described it as "a major landmark in the literature of wine".