Wine Behind the Label

When looking for wine many of us head to our nearest shop only to be faced with an overwhelming wall of bottles. What next? Should you go by the grape, vintage, country, label, or perhaps just opt for something you already know? Unless there's someone knowledgeable on hand to help, choosing wine can be a fairly daunting experience.

This is when a wine guide comes to the rescue. Now in it's fifth edition Wine behind the label has in a short time established itself as the leading guide to quality wine around the world. Wines are categorised by continent and then broken down into countries and regions, complete with maps.

Each wine is reviewed with detailed tasting notes, background on the producer, a star rating and a price code. But to have even made it into the book the wine has to have stood out. This edition includes 400 new producers, making up a total of 3,000 estates and more than 14,000 wines. There are full details of stockists, a grape glossary and an explanation of wine terms.

Williamson and Moore have gained respect and recognition through their complete independence, having no commercial links with wine producers. The pair have been involved in assessing wine for the past twenty years, actively seeking out new producers and travelling extensively to visit them.

This edition of Wine behind the label won this year's Glenfiddich Drink Book Award.