Otherwise known as the biggest little wine book in the World--this is the 21st edition of Hugh Johnson"s brilliant mini-encyclopaedia. There is a veritable banquet of up-to-the-minute information on almost everything to do with wine--the countries and wineries which produce it; the food to go with it; the words to describe it; and the vintages to look out for. References include grape varieties from Albariño to Zinfandel and food from frankfurters to fois gras. And there"s some tongue-in-cheek stuff about scoring wines. He writes about the peculiar, American, 100-point scale which is based on the US school system in which 50 = 0. The Johnson system is much simpler. The minimum score is one sniff. The score increases to a sip and on further to a bottle (this means thorough satisfaction). The logical top score is, of course, the whole vineyard. Hugh Johnson is a genial character, full of knowledge but never a know-all. His enthusiasm shines through even in this little book. There can be no more knowledgeable companion to experiment with in 1999. The next step, and a real treat for anyone interested in the subject is Johnson"s ultimate, glossy wine book The World Atlas of Wine. --Nick Tarayan