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{{short description|British author and expert on wine (born 1939)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
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{{Infobox writer
[[File:Hugh Johnson OXCAM 2003.jpg|thumb|Hugh Johnson in 2003.]]
| name = Hugh Johnson
⚫
'''Hugh Johnson''' [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]]<ref name=deca07>{{cite web|last= Lechmere |first= Adam, ''Decanter.com'' |title= Hugh Johnson honoured with OBE |url= http://www.decanter.com/news/105229.html |date= 8 January 2007 }}</ref> (born 10 March 1939) is a British author and expert on wine. He is considered the world's best-selling wine writer.<ref name=ind-hj>{{cite news|last= Sale |first=Jonathan, ''The Independent'' |title= Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Hugh Johnson, the world's bestselling wine author|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/student/career-planning/getting-job/passedfailed-an-education-in-the-life-of-hugh-johnson-the-worlds-bestselling-wine-author-770724.html |date= 17 January 2008 }}</ref><ref name=OCW-hj>winepros.com.au. {{cite web|last= Oxford Companion to Wine| title= Johnson, Hugh |url= http://www.winepros.com.au/jsp/cda/reference/oxford_entry.jsp?entry_id=1632 }}</ref> His 1961 tasting of a bottle of 1540 ''Steinwein'' from the [[German (wine)|German]] vineyard [[Würzburger Stein]] is considered to potentially be one of the oldest wines to have ever been tasted.<ref name="Miscellany">G. Harding ''"A Wine Miscellany"'' pg 22, Clarkson Potter Publishing, New York 2005 ISBN 0307346358</ref><ref name="Johnson">H. Johnson ''Vintage: The Story of Wine'' pgs 284 Simon and Schuster 1989 ISBN 0-671-68702-6</ref>
| honorific_suffix = [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]]
| image = Hugh Johnson OXCAM 2003.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Hugh Johnson in 2003
| birth_name = Hugh Eric Allan Johnson
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1939|3|10}}
| birth_place = London, England
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Writer
| subject = Wine, Gardening
| influences =
| influenced =
| awards =
| website =
}}

⚫
'''Hugh Eric Allan Johnson''' {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}}<ref name=deca07>{{cite web |last=Lechmere |first=Adam, ''Decanter.com'' |title=Hugh Johnson honoured with OBE |url=https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/sprightly-and-effervescent-hugh-johnson-honoured-with-obe-92198/ |date=8 January 2007 |access-date=13 March 2020}}</ref> (born 10 March 1939, in [[London]]) is an English journalist, author, editor, and expert on wine. He is considered the world's best-selling wine writer.<ref name=ind-hj>{{cite news|last=Sale |first=Jonathan, ''The Independent'' |title=Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Hugh Johnson, the world's bestselling wine author |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/passedfailed-an-education-in-the-life-of-hugh-johnson-the-worlds-bestselling-wine-author-770724.html |date=17 January 2008}}</ref> A wine he tasted in 1964, a 1540 ''Steinwein'' from the [[German (wine)|German]] vineyard [[Würzburger Stein]], is considered one of the oldest to have ever been tasted.<ref name="Miscellany">G. Harding: ''"A Wine Miscellany"'', p. 22, Clarkson Potter Publishing, New York 2005 {{ISBN|0307346358}}.</ref><ref name="Johnson">H. Johnson: ''Vintage: The Story of Wine'', p. 284, Simon and Schuster 1989. {{ISBN|0-671-68702-6}}.</ref>

He is also a keen gardener, who has written books and columns on gardening for many years.

==Early life==
He was born the son of Guy F. Johnson CBE and Grace Kittel, educated at [[Rugby School]] and read [[English studies|English]] at [[King's College, Cambridge]].<ref name= WW>{{cite book |title=The International Who's Who 2004 |first=Europa|last= Publications |page=824}}</ref>


==Career==
==Career==
Johnson became a member of the [[Cambridge University]] Wine and Food Society while an undergraduate at [[King's College, Cambridge]] in the 1950s, reading [[English studies|English]].<ref name=OCW-hj/> On describing his introduction to wine-tasting Johnson has recalled:
Johnson became a member of the [[Cambridge University Wine Society|Cambridge University Wine and Food Society]] while an undergraduate in the 1950s. On describing his introduction to wine-tasting Johnson has recalled:
{{quote|my room-mate Adrian Cowell, committee member of the [[University Wine & Food Society]] came in after dinner with two glasses and said, "Come on, Hugh, are they the same? Or different?" Both were, I am sure, red Burgundy, but one was magic and one was ordinary. This caught my imagination. It was my [[Conversion of Paul|Damascene moment]].<ref name=ind-hj/><ref name="cam">{{cite news |title = University library plans new expansion |work = Cam |publisher = [[University of Cambridge]] Development Office |pages = 45–46 |date = No 47, Lent Term 2006 |accessdate = }}</ref>}}
{{blockquote|...my room-mate Adrian Cowell, committee member of the [[Cambridge University Wine Society|University Wine & Food Society]] came in after dinner with two glasses and said, "Come on, Hugh, are they the same? Or different?" Both were, I am sure, red Burgundy, but one was magic and one was ordinary. This caught my imagination. It was my [[Conversion of Paul|Damascene moment]].<ref name=ind-hj/><ref name="cam">{{cite news |title=University library plans new expansion |work=Cam |publisher=[[University of Cambridge]] Development Office |pages=45–46 |number=47, Lent Term 2006}}</ref>}}


Johnson has been writing about wine since 1960, was taken on as a feature writer for [[Condé Nast Publications]] upon graduation,<ref name=OCW-hj/> and started work on ''[[Vogue (magazine)|Vogue]]'' and ''[[House & Garden (magazine)|House & Garden]] '', becoming in 1962 editor of ''Wine & Food'' and in the same year wine correspondent of ''The Sunday Times'', of which in 1967 he became Travel Editor. From 1968 to 1970 he edited ''Queen'' magazine in succession to [[Jocelyn Stevens]].<ref name=wd-hj>{{cite web|last= Kissack |first= Chris, thewinedoctor.com |url= http://www.thewinedoctor.com/otherresources/johnson.shtml |title= Wine Books: Hugh Johnson }}</ref>
Johnson has been writing about wine since 1960, was taken on as a feature writer for [[Condé Nast Publications]] upon graduation, and started work on ''[[Vogue (magazine)|Vogue]]'' and ''[[House & Garden (magazine)|House & Garden]]'', becoming in 1962 editor of ''Wine & Food'' and in the same year wine correspondent of ''The Sunday Times'', of which in 1967 he became Travel Editor. From 1968 to 1970 he edited ''Queen'' magazine in succession to [[Jocelyn Stevens]].<ref name=wd-hj>{{cite web |last=Kissack |first=Chris |website=thewinedoctor.com |url=http://www.thewinedoctor.com/otherresources/johnson.shtml |title=Wine Books: Hugh Johnson}}</ref>


He has published a wide array of books, starting with the publication of ''Wine'' in 1966. The publication of ''[[The World Atlas of Wine]]'' in 1971, was considered the first serious attempt to map the world's wine regions, described by the director of the [[Institut National des Appellations d'Origine|INAO]] as "a major event in wine literature".<ref name=OCW-hj/>
He has published a wide array of books, starting with the publication of ''Wine'' in 1966. ''[[The World Atlas of Wine]]'' (1971) was considered the first serious attempt to map the world's wine regions, described by the director of the [[Institut National des Appellations d'Origine|INAO]] as "a major event in wine literature".


Since its launch in 1973 Johnson has been President of The Sunday Times Wine Club, part of Laithwaites, now the world's largest mail-order wine merchant. From 1986–2001 he was a Director of the Bordeaux First Growth Chateau Latour and in 1990 was a co-founder of The Royal Tokaji Wine Company in an attempt to rebuild the foundering Tokaji industry after Communism. In 1986 he started The Hugh Johnson Collection, which sold (until 2010) wine glasses and other artefacts related to wine,mainly in the Far East, with a shop in St James's Street, London.
Since its launch in 1973 Johnson has been President of the Sunday Times Wine Club, part of Laithwaites, now the world's largest mail-order wine merchant. From 1986 to 2001 he was a Director of the Bordeaux First Growth [[Chateau Latour]] and in 1990 was a co-founder of the Royal Tokaji Wine Company in an attempt to rebuild the foundering [[Tokaji]] industry after Communism. In 1986 he started the Hugh Johnson Collection, which sold (until 2010) wine glasses and other artefacts related to wine, mainly in the Far East, with a shop in [[St James's Street]], London.


His vintage – The Story of Wine – an authoritative 500-page compendium was first published in 1989 by Octopus, and re-edited in 2004 as a fully illustrated edition published by Mitchell Beazley. It also was made into a 13-part TV series for Channel 4 and Boston P.B.S., first airing in 1989. Since 1977 he has compiled his annual ''Pocket Wine Book'', selling many million copies in up to 14 languages.
His book ''Vintage: The Story of Wine'', an authoritative 500-page compendium, was first published in 1989 by Octopus, and re-edited in 2004 as a fully illustrated edition published by Mitchell Beazley. It also was made into a 13-part TV series for Channel 4 and WGBH in Boston, first airing in 1989. Since 1977 he has compiled his annual ''Pocket Wine Book'', selling many million copies in up to 14 languages.


In a parallel career, in 1973 Johnson wrote The International Book of Trees, in 1975 became Editorial Director of The Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society (The Garden) and its columnist, 'Tradescant'. 'Trad's Diary', now in its 37th year, appears online and in Hortus magazine. In 1979 he published The Principles of Gardening and in 2010 a new rewritten edition of ''Trees'' . Trad's Diary has twice been anthologised as Hugh Johnson on Gardening (1993) and Hugh Johnson in the Garden (2009).
In 1973 Johnson wrote ''The International Book of Trees''. In 1975 he became Editorial Director of the journal of the [[Royal Horticultural Society]] (''The Garden'') and its columnist, "Tradescant". "Trad's Diary", now in its 44th year, appears online and in ''Hortus'' magazine. In 1979 he published ''The Principles of Gardening'' and in 2010 a new rewritten edition of ''Trees''. "Trad's Diary" has been anthologised three times, as ''Hugh Johnson on Gardening'' (1993), ''Hugh Johnson in the Garden'' (2009) and 'Sitting in the Shade"(2021).


He was selected ''Decanter'' Man of the Year in 1995, was promoted Officer in the French Order Nationale du Mérite in 2004 and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2007 'for services to wine-making and horticulture'.
He was selected ''Decanter'' Man of the Year in 1995, and was promoted Officer in the French Order Nationale du Mérite in 2004 and Officer of the [[Order of the British Empire]] (OBE) in 2007 "for services to wine-making and horticulture". He was awarded the [[Veitch Memorial Medal]] of the Royal Horticultural Society in 2000.<ref name= WW/>


Johnson is known as one of the wine world's most vocal opponents to awarding numerical scores to wine.<ref name=OCW-hj/> In the autobiography ''A Life Uncorked'', Johnson also expressed regret over the wine critic [[Robert M. Parker, Jr.|Robert Parker]]'s influence on the world of wine, which has in his view moved winemaking in many regions towards a more uniform, bigger and richer style.<ref name=wd-hj/> In 2005 Johnson stated, "Imperial hegemony lives in Washington and the dictator of taste in Baltimore<small>{{Ref_label|A|a|none}}</small>".<ref name=deca06>{{cite web| last = Styles | first = Oliver, ''Decanter.com'' | title = Parker: I'm targeted and misunderstood | date = 23 March 2006 | page = 8 | url = http://www.decanter.com/news/82062.html | accessdate = 1 June 2006}}</ref>
Johnson is known as one of the wine world's most vocal opponents to awarding numerical scores to wine. In the autobiography ''A Life Uncorked'', he also expressed regret over the wine critic [[Robert M. Parker, Jr.|Robert Parker]]'s influence on the world of wine, which has in his view moved winemaking in many regions towards a more uniform, bigger and richer style.<ref name=wd-hj/> In 2005 Johnson stated, "Imperial hegemony lives in Washington and the dictator of taste in Baltimore".<small>{{Ref_label|A|a|none}}</small><ref name=deca06>{{cite web |last=Styles |first=Oliver, ''Decanter.com'' |title=Parker: I'm targeted and misunderstood |date=23 March 2006 |page=8 |url=https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/parker-im-targeted-and-misunderstood-94800/ |access-date=12 March 2013}}</ref>


==Selected publications==
==Selected publications==
* ''Wine'' (1966)
* ''Wine'' (1966)
* ''[[The World Atlas of Wine]]'' (1971, six editions; since 2004 co-authored with [[Jancis Robinson]])
* ''[[The World Atlas of Wine]]'' (1971, eight editions; since 2004 co-authored with [[Jancis Robinson]])
* ''Trees – A Lifetime's Journey through Forests, Woods and Gardens'' (2010)
* ''Trees – A Lifetime's Journey through Forests, Woods and Gardens'' (2010)
* ''Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book'' (1977, since published annually)
* ''Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book'' (1977, since published annually)
* ''The Principles of Gardening'' (1979), Mitchell Beazley Publishers (UK)/Simon & Schuster, Inc. (US)
* ''The Principles of Gardening'' (1979), Mitchell Beazley Publishers (UK)/Simon & Schuster, Inc. (US)
* ''Hugh Johnson's Wine Companion'' (1983, six editions)
* ''Hugh Johnson's Wine Companion'' (1983, six editions)
* ''The Story of Wine'' (1989), and illustrated re-edition (2004), Mitchell Beazley/Octopus, London,UK;
* ''The Story of Wine'' (1989), and illustrated re-edition (2004), Mitchell Beazley/Octopus, London, UK, 2020 edition, Academie du Vin Library, London, UK
* ''The Art and Science of Wine, (1992, co-authored with [[James Halliday (wine)|James Halliday]])
* ''The Art and Science of Wine'' (1992, co-authored with [[James Halliday (wine)|James Halliday]])
* ''A Life Uncorked'' (2006, autobiography, anecdotes and opinions)
* ''A Life Uncorked'' (2006, autobiography, anecdotes and opinions), republished with additions as 'My Life and Wines' Academie de Vin Library 2022).
* ''Hugh Johnson's Wine Guide 2012, iPhone app'' (2010, wine guide on iPhone)
* ''Hugh Johnson's Wine Guide 2012'', iPhone app (2010)
* 'Sitting in the shade' (A third anthology of Trad's Diary, 2021)


===Television===
===Television===
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{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Hugh}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Hugh}}
[[Category:1939 births]]
[[Category:1939 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Writers from London]]
[[Category:People educated at Rugby School]]
[[Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Wine critics]]
[[Category:British wine critics]]
[[Category:Wine writers]]
[[Category:Wine writers]]
[[Category:English non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:English non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:English male writers]]
[[Category:English male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Veitch Memorial Medal recipients]]
[[Category:James Beard Foundation Award winners]]
[[Category:English garden writers]]

Revision as of 05:25, 26 May 2024

Hugh Johnson

OBE
Hugh Johnson in 2003
Hugh Johnson in 2003
BornHugh Eric Allan Johnson
(1939-03-10) 10 March 1939 (age 85)
London, England
OccupationWriter
SubjectWine, Gardening

Hugh Eric Allan Johnson OBE[1] (born 10 March 1939, in London) is an English journalist, author, editor, and expert on wine. He is considered the world's best-selling wine writer.[2] A wine he tasted in 1964, a 1540 Steinwein from the German vineyard Würzburger Stein, is considered one of the oldest to have ever been tasted.[3][4]

He is also a keen gardener, who has written books and columns on gardening for many years.

Early life

He was born the son of Guy F. Johnson CBE and Grace Kittel, educated at Rugby School and read English at King's College, Cambridge.[5]

Career

Johnson became a member of the Cambridge University Wine and Food Society while an undergraduate in the 1950s. On describing his introduction to wine-tasting Johnson has recalled:

...my room-mate Adrian Cowell, committee member of the University Wine & Food Society came in after dinner with two glasses and said, "Come on, Hugh, are they the same? Or different?" Both were, I am sure, red Burgundy, but one was magic and one was ordinary. This caught my imagination. It was my Damascene moment.[2][6]

Johnson has been writing about wine since 1960, was taken on as a feature writer for Condé Nast Publications upon graduation, and started work on Vogue and House & Garden, becoming in 1962 editor of Wine & Food and in the same year wine correspondent of The Sunday Times, of which in 1967 he became Travel Editor. From 1968 to 1970 he edited Queen magazine in succession to Jocelyn Stevens.[7]

He has published a wide array of books, starting with the publication of Wine in 1966. The World Atlas of Wine (1971) was considered the first serious attempt to map the world's wine regions, described by the director of the INAO as "a major event in wine literature".

Since its launch in 1973 Johnson has been President of the Sunday Times Wine Club, part of Laithwaites, now the world's largest mail-order wine merchant. From 1986 to 2001 he was a Director of the Bordeaux First Growth Chateau Latour and in 1990 was a co-founder of the Royal Tokaji Wine Company in an attempt to rebuild the foundering Tokaji industry after Communism. In 1986 he started the Hugh Johnson Collection, which sold (until 2010) wine glasses and other artefacts related to wine, mainly in the Far East, with a shop in St James's Street, London.

His book Vintage: The Story of Wine, an authoritative 500-page compendium, was first published in 1989 by Octopus, and re-edited in 2004 as a fully illustrated edition published by Mitchell Beazley. It also was made into a 13-part TV series for Channel 4 and WGBH in Boston, first airing in 1989. Since 1977 he has compiled his annual Pocket Wine Book, selling many million copies in up to 14 languages.

In 1973 Johnson wrote The International Book of Trees. In 1975 he became Editorial Director of the journal of the Royal Horticultural Society (The Garden) and its columnist, "Tradescant". "Trad's Diary", now in its 44th year, appears online and in Hortus magazine. In 1979 he published The Principles of Gardening and in 2010 a new rewritten edition of Trees. "Trad's Diary" has been anthologised three times, as Hugh Johnson on Gardening (1993), Hugh Johnson in the Garden (2009) and 'Sitting in the Shade"(2021).

He was selected Decanter Man of the Year in 1995, and was promoted Officer in the French Order Nationale du Mérite in 2004 and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2007 "for services to wine-making and horticulture". He was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal of the Royal Horticultural Society in 2000.[5]

Johnson is known as one of the wine world's most vocal opponents to awarding numerical scores to wine. In the autobiography A Life Uncorked, he also expressed regret over the wine critic Robert Parker's influence on the world of wine, which has in his view moved winemaking in many regions towards a more uniform, bigger and richer style.[7] In 2005 Johnson stated, "Imperial hegemony lives in Washington and the dictator of taste in Baltimore".[a][8]

Selected publications

  • Wine (1966)
  • The World Atlas of Wine (1971, eight editions; since 2004 co-authored with Jancis Robinson)
  • Trees – A Lifetime's Journey through Forests, Woods and Gardens (2010)
  • Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book (1977, since published annually)
  • The Principles of Gardening (1979), Mitchell Beazley Publishers (UK)/Simon & Schuster, Inc. (US)
  • Hugh Johnson's Wine Companion (1983, six editions)
  • The Story of Wine (1989), and illustrated re-edition (2004), Mitchell Beazley/Octopus, London, UK, 2020 edition, Academie du Vin Library, London, UK
  • The Art and Science of Wine (1992, co-authored with James Halliday)
  • A Life Uncorked (2006, autobiography, anecdotes and opinions), republished with additions as 'My Life and Wines' Academie de Vin Library 2022).
  • Hugh Johnson's Wine Guide 2012, iPhone app (2010)
  • 'Sitting in the shade' (A third anthology of Trad's Diary, 2021)

Television

  • Vintage: A History of Wine (1989)

See also

References

a.  ^ Robert Parker resides in Monkton, a small town in Baltimore County, Maryland.

Footnotes
  1. ^ Lechmere, Adam, Decanter.com (8 January 2007). "Hugh Johnson honoured with OBE". Retrieved 13 March 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ a b Sale, Jonathan, The Independent (17 January 2008). "Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Hugh Johnson, the world's bestselling wine author".{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ G. Harding: "A Wine Miscellany", p. 22, Clarkson Potter Publishing, New York 2005 ISBN 0307346358.
  4. ^ H. Johnson: Vintage: The Story of Wine, p. 284, Simon and Schuster 1989. ISBN 0-671-68702-6.
  5. ^ a b Publications, Europa. The International Who's Who 2004. p. 824.
  6. ^ "University library plans new expansion". Cam. No. 47, Lent Term 2006. University of Cambridge Development Office. pp. 45–46.
  7. ^ a b Kissack, Chris. "Wine Books: Hugh Johnson". thewinedoctor.com.
  8. ^ Styles, Oliver, Decanter.com (23 March 2006). "Parker: I'm targeted and misunderstood". p. 8. Retrieved 12 March 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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