Hugh Johnson recalls his apprenticeship with the founder of The Wine & Food Society.
I was 22 when we first met; André only 84. His name was already a legend to me: I had joined the Cambridge University Wine & Food Society as an undergraduate. His presidential presence loomed behind our activities. And active we were – London’s finest wine merchants made regular visits to indoctrinate their future customers. The annual Varsity tasting match celebrated its 50th year in 2002.
Biography
Hugh Johnson began acquiring his wine knowledge as a member of the Wine and Food Society at Cambridge University. When he came down from King’s College in 1961 he became feature writer for Vogue and House & Garden, writing, among other things, wine columns for both magazines.
In 1963 Hugh became general secretary of the Wine and Food Society and succeeded the legendary gastronome André Simon as editor of Wine and Food. At the same time he became wine correspondent of The Sunday Times and started work on his first book Wine (1966), through which he established himself at the age of 27 as one of the subject’s foremost writers. His rare talent for making the most complex subjects readable has led to a remarkable sequence of books.
Link to Hugh Johnson’s 2022 Hugh Johnston’s Pocket Wine Guide 2022
As André Simon wrote, the objective of the Society is “to bring together and to serve all those who believe that a right understanding of good food and wine is an essential part of personal contentment and health; and that an intelligent approach to the pleasures and problems of the table offers far greater rewards than the mere satisfaction of appetite.”