New Year predictions and old year summations are apt to be as lightweight as £3.99 plonk, unless they're delivered by "one who knows", a wine Janus with long-distance vision sharp enough to give a magisterial overview. Who better to snare than Hugh Johnson, in Dublin briefly before Christmas to celebrate a career of 30 years, and about as many books, joyfully embracing the entire world of wine.
"Which continent next? Which planet next? There's just no end to it." The familiar, benign expression, eyes smilingly crinkled and bushy eyebrows permanently raised for a stream of rhetorical questions to which he holds compelling answers. He has recently returned from China, where vineyards are being planted at a furious rate, notwithstanding winters so bitter that the vines have to be buried. He is also a regular visitor to Japan. "They're making marvellous wine there now, but there's very little of it and it's extremely expensive."
More relevant to us here and now - with depleted post-Christmas funds - is his report of a 1997 trip to Argentina. "I really was intrigued by Argentina. I can see great things happening there. It's more exciting than Chile, I think. The wines are more together, more complete - and with their own distinctive character." In his league-table of wineries, Catena is superb; Norton on the way up; Etchart full of potential, and the white wines are beginning to equal the reds as vineyards are planted higher and higher in the Andes.
So he is on the move, assessing wineries in distant places at first hand. This in itself is a mild surprise, for Hugh Johnson has the demeanour of a man who might organise his life between substantial lunches in St James's, dinners at home with peerless bottles from his cellar, and a spot of gardening (a passion almost equal to wine). "The archetypal gentleman of wine," Jancis Robinson calls him - and so he seems, exuding old-fashioned courtesy and unhurried charm.
So much for appearances. This gentleman of wine has more fingers in wine-flavoured pies than you or I have had Christmas dinners. Creaming the top off the CV, you might find the following: director of Chateau Latour; driving force, for decades, behind the Sunday Times Wine Club (organising not just wine selections but annual adventures in schooners and the like); instigator of the Hugh Johnson Collection of wine artefacts and, more recently, wines (with a shop in St James's); and let's not forget the books, written with scholarship and flair, between them yielding the sort of turnover plenty of wine producers would envy. (The Pocket Wine Guide, now in its 21st edition, sells 450,000 copies a year, in numerous languages.)
The engaging thing about Hugh Johnson is that he is an enthusiast at all levels, open to the merits of every conceivable kind of wine. Off we swoop, from Bandol in the south of France - "a great, great passion"; then to Corsica ("fantastic") and Italy, where he would like to see the wishy-washy white grape, Trebbiano, banned so that Malvasia and Vermentino could star. Mention of unusual but delicious white grapes leads on to Marsanne, which in turn leads to Australia - a country he was the first British wine writer to champion, back in 1974. The craze for Sangiovese, which is popping up in pockets in half a dozen countries, he predicts will prove to be "a bit of a damp squib" - but the vogue for Syrah and Merlot will continue, with Malbec from Argentina gaining ground. "There are so many great things to be tasted if you're open-minded." That sounds like the basis for the best New Year's resolution I've heard so far.
Wine lovers who were given book tokens for Christmas may like to swap them for Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book 1998 (£8.99), the fully revised fourth edition of Hugh Johnson's Wine Companion (£30), Hugh Johnson's World Atlas of Wine (£30) or the Wine Atlas of France, compiled by him with Hubrecht Duijker (£30).
Johnson-Inspired Jolly Good Buys
White: Vermentino di Gallura, Piero Mancini, 1995, (Vintry, Lord Mayor's, Swords, Wine Cellar, Raheny, Egans, Drogheda, Callans, Dundalk and other outlets, usually about £7.49). A lively, aromatic Sardinian to highlight Hugh Johnson's new passion for Vermentino. There aren't many around, but look out.
Catena Agrelo Vineyard Chardonnay 1995 (Searsons, £12.95). From the Argentinian winery Johnson rates most highly, a blockbuster Chardonnay - full-bodied and oozing buttery, smoky richness, but so harmonious that it doesn't seem over the top. Seriously good stuff.
Red: Chevaliere Reserve Syrah, DLC, 1995 (many SuperValus, Roches Stores and wide variety of independent off-licences, £5.99- £6.29; also Direct Wine Shipments Belfast).
Michel Laroche of Chablis is realising the potential of the Languedoc in an impressive range of wines for everyday drinking from Domaine La Chevaliere. The top reds - blends of various grapes - won't be around our shops for another few weeks: more news soon. In the meantime, as the Syrah craze is tipped to continue, enjoy this seductive, lightly peppery example.
Norton Merlot 1995 (James Nicholson, Gibneys, McCabes, Mill Wine Cellar Maynooth, Noble Grape Navan, also Oddbins, usually £6.40-£6.79). Back to Argentina for further proof of how appealing these emerging wines can be. This round, full-flavoured Merlot (that craze is set to run through next year, too) comes from an estate highly rated by H.J. - radically overhauled by heavy investment from its Austrian owners.
Dessert: Tokaji Aszu 5 Puttonyos (blue label), Royal Tokaji Wine Company, 1993 (Findlaters, Mitchells and some other outlets, 50cl bottle about £17.50). The fruits of Hugh Johnson's pet project - a revival of the delectable dessert wine for which Hungary was famous for centuries. Honeyed, apricot sweetness cut by biting acidity. "It does at the end of a meal what champagne does at the beginning," he promises. "You can drink glass after glass and it leaves you feeling fresh." Definitely worth trying.
Sparkling: Champagne Pol Roger Extra Dry White Foil, NV (Superquinn, Roches, some SuperValus, O'Briens, Verlings, Vintage, McCabes, Redmonds, McCambridges, Galway, and other outlets, usually £27-£29; Oddbins, buy six at £24.99 and get one free). Is this what puts the permanent sparkle in Mr Johnson's eye? "It's been mother's milk to me ever since I was a student - definitely my favourite non-vintage champagne. I've drunk an awful lot of it." Stock up for New Year's Eve. (See below.)