 I see in the new years Honours that Hugh Johnson has been awarded the OBE. This is of course wonderful, many congratulations, and probably years overdue, but I have to wonder if this is an appropriate Honour for the foremost commentator and writer on wine in the UK, and possibly the World? If ever there was someone worthy of a "K" for what he has done it is Hugh. Last Year the French honoured Robert Parker with the foremost French Honour, the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur, so why is it that we treat Hugh with such a relatively junior gong? I wonder if whoever put Hugh forward has any idea of what Hugh has achieved, and continues to contribute to the world of wine, let alone his contributions to the world of trees, for which he is also honoured, but which I am totally unqualified to comment upon. In Wine, he wrote the seminal ground-breaking and seriously detailed ‘World Atlas Of Wine’ which is and continues to be a best seller world wide. Every year the pocket book is bought by millions, and his other tremendous books on the subject are "must have" for the library of any serious wine lover.
His articles and writings have always bought and continue to bring balance and sense to a complex subject where other commentators can only get their enthusiasm across to the reader by hype, exaggeration and scores. But apart from all that, one must evaluate the effect he has had on the world of wine. From producer to consumer his influence and impact has been immense. If you speak to many of the worlds great wine makers, in the USA, the likes of Draper, and Mondavi, in Australia, Halliday, Croser, or the late great Evans, to say nothing of the great and good of Burgundy and Bordeaux, there is no where on earth where wine is produced where he is not revered and esteemed. He is not as some, a follower of trends, he enthuses about what he knows is brilliant- look what he does to bring the wonderful riesling to peoples attention, look what he says about gentleness in fine Bordeaux, as opposed to power! In his quiet, extremely modest way I believe he has done more to bring the thrill and interest of wine to more people than anyone. It is no coincidence that since Hugh first published the World Atlas, consumption of wine world wide has boomed. We British are not very good at recognizing and honouring some things that stare us in the face, particularly when there is quiet modesty involved. Well done Hugh, I am probably not the best apologist for the rather odd honours system we seem to have ended up with, but I hope you realise that there are many wine lovers out there who think you deserve so much more.
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