The Great Wine Book By Jancis Robinson
The Great Wine Book
A Critical Exploration of the World’s Grandest Estates and Their Winemaking Mastery
A Critical Exploration of the World’s Grandest Estates and Their Winemaking Mastery
Bibliographic Specifications
• Title: The Great Wine Book
• Author: Jancis Robinson MW
• Publisher: Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd, London
• Publication Date: 1982
• ISBN-10: 0283990325
• ISBN-13: 9780283990328
• Edition Details: First Softcover Release / Early Edition.
• Binding: Original publisher's premium illustrated heavy-gauge card wrappers (paperback format).
• Physical Format: Quarto (4to), 240 pages. Richly enhanced with hundreds of full-colour photographs, detailed vineyard topographical maps, production data charts, and official estate label reproductions printed on heavy semi-gloss stock.
• Language: English
• Title: The Great Wine Book
• Author: Jancis Robinson MW
• Publisher: Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd, London
• Publication Date: 1982
• ISBN-10: 0283990325
• ISBN-13: 9780283990328
• Edition Details: First Softcover Release / Early Edition.
• Binding: Original publisher's premium illustrated heavy-gauge card wrappers (paperback format).
• Physical Format: Quarto (4to), 240 pages. Richly enhanced with hundreds of full-colour photographs, detailed vineyard topographical maps, production data charts, and official estate label reproductions printed on heavy semi-gloss stock.
• Language: English
Official Condition Report
• The Book: Very Good (VG)
o Exterior / Wraps: The original illustrated card wrappers are in very good condition, holding excellent structural flatnesses and crisp lines. The corners and margins display only slight, highly limited edge-friction and minor shelf-rubbing consistent with careful vintage storage. The spine remains completely solid, uncracked, and undamaged, showing no vertical reading breaks or lean.
o Interior: Exceptionally clean and tight. The 240 pages and photographic layouts are bright white, crisp, and entirely free of foxing, thumb-soil, or age-spotting. There are no dealer pencil markups, previous owner gift signatures, bookstore stamps, library ink stamps, or text highlights. The card-wrap binding structure holds perfectly firm.
• The Dust Jacket: Not Applicable (As Issued)
• The Book: Very Good (VG)
o Exterior / Wraps: The original illustrated card wrappers are in very good condition, holding excellent structural flatnesses and crisp lines. The corners and margins display only slight, highly limited edge-friction and minor shelf-rubbing consistent with careful vintage storage. The spine remains completely solid, uncracked, and undamaged, showing no vertical reading breaks or lean.
o Interior: Exceptionally clean and tight. The 240 pages and photographic layouts are bright white, crisp, and entirely free of foxing, thumb-soil, or age-spotting. There are no dealer pencil markups, previous owner gift signatures, bookstore stamps, library ink stamps, or text highlights. The card-wrap binding structure holds perfectly firm.
• The Dust Jacket: Not Applicable (As Issued)
Synopsis & Historical Value
Originally published in 1982 by Sidgwick & Jackson, The Great Wine Book stands as an illuminating, historically vital masterwork from the early career of legendary wine authority Jancis Robinson. Breaking away from dry, purely catalogued directories, Robinson delivers a deeply critical, narrative-driven exploration focusing exclusively on the world's most elite and historically significant winemaking estates.
Originally published in 1982 by Sidgwick & Jackson, The Great Wine Book stands as an illuminating, historically vital masterwork from the early career of legendary wine authority Jancis Robinson. Breaking away from dry, purely catalogued directories, Robinson delivers a deeply critical, narrative-driven exploration focusing exclusively on the world's most elite and historically significant winemaking estates.
The volume provides meticulous, firsthand profiles of legendary properties across Bordeaux, Burgundy, Germany, California, and Australia—including absolute benchmarks like Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Château Margaux, and Robert Mondavi. Robinson dissects the precise alchemy that elevates these specific estates above their peers, examining the complex interplay of unique terroir, ancestral vineyard management, cellar innovations, and the distinct personalities running the estates. Beautifully illustrated with maps, technical profiles, and color photos, this out-of-print classic is an exceptional window into the early 1980s global wine landscape. It remains a highly prized collectible for wine historians, modern oenophiles, and collectors of definitive wine literature.
Author Profile: Jancis Robinson
Jancis Robinson OBE, ComG, MW is an internationally renowned British wine critic, journalist, and highly prolific author widely considered one of the most influential and respected voices in the history of wine literature. In 1984, she achieved the historic distinction of becoming the first person outside the wine trade to pass the notoriously rigorous Master of Wine examinations. She has served as the long-term wine columnist for the Financial Times, authored standard global references including The Oxford Companion to Wine and The World Atlas of Wine (alongside Hugh Johnson), and formally advised the royal wine cellars of Queen Elizabeth II. Celebrated for her fierce independence, analytical precision, and witty, highly accessible prose, Robinson has received numerous international accolades, permanently reshaping the standards of global wine critique and viticultural education.
Jancis Robinson OBE, ComG, MW is an internationally renowned British wine critic, journalist, and highly prolific author widely considered one of the most influential and respected voices in the history of wine literature. In 1984, she achieved the historic distinction of becoming the first person outside the wine trade to pass the notoriously rigorous Master of Wine examinations. She has served as the long-term wine columnist for the Financial Times, authored standard global references including The Oxford Companion to Wine and The World Atlas of Wine (alongside Hugh Johnson), and formally advised the royal wine cellars of Queen Elizabeth II. Celebrated for her fierce independence, analytical precision, and witty, highly accessible prose, Robinson has received numerous international accolades, permanently reshaping the standards of global wine critique and viticultural education.
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