There's no point calling Jancis Robinson the doyenne of wine writers, because it's a description that makes her politely choke. It sounds too old, too venerable, she told The Irish Times a while ago. Too stuffy and dull as well, I'd suggest, for somebody who zips about in Issey Miyake and the latest eyewear, infusing wine with sassiness. But it's accurate - ever more accurate. She has been in Dublin and Belfast these past few days promoting the new edition of her most ambitious, most respected writing project ever - the Oxford Companion to Wine.
Before you say, new edition, hmmm - new cover, different shape, a handful of piddling amendments - be advised that this is a massive overhaul. There are about 500 new entries, while more than half of the previous 3,000 have been rewritten to varying degrees by Robinson and her team of contributors - upped from 80 to over 100. And, with the same diligent approach she adopted to the first edition, she either wrote or oversaw every single word. "I'm a very hands-on editor, as many a bruised publisher will tell you," she says. "A book like this is a control freak's dream."
In her autobiography, Confessions of a Wine Lover, there were strong hints that, far from being dream-like, the Oxford Companion was a nightmare project which turned Jancis into a stressed-out recluse for several years. Compared with the initial labour, the revision process was "much more fun - and much, much easier, thanks to email".
There are fascinating new entries about wine regions as strange and exotic as Bhutan, Nepal, Ethopia, the Cape Verde Islands. Advances in wine science have produced a welter of additions reflecting new preoccupations such as flavinoids, flavour precursors, glycosides, pigmented tannins, DNA. New wine-making techniques are in there, too. But it's the sheer, unclassifiable diversity of many of the new bits that makes them so intriguing. Dip into "mouthfeel", "hangover", the new fad for "cigars and wine" or fabulously expensive Bordeaux parvenu "Le Pin" while I unravel "Clinton" ("dark-skinned American hybrid . . . with pronounced foxy flavour" Aha!).
Confession of a wine-lover coming up: since this column began, I've used The Oxford Companion to Wine far more than any other book - simply because it is so comprehensive and clear. I am part, it seems, of the original target market. "We thought it would appeal to real, hard-core wine-lovers," Jancis says. "I also knew it would be useful to Master of Wine students, and I suppose we hoped some people would buy it as a gift. In fact, a great many people seem to have bought it as a gift." Within months of publication, sales of the first edition topped 100,000 - an extraordinary figure for a £30 doorstopper. Since then it has clocked up reprints and overseas editions - German, Danish, French, with Chinese and Japanese on the way.
What might world sales be at this stage? The editor looks blank. "I honestly have no idea!" That answer says a lot - for here is a woman who is far more comfortable to sit and talk about wine than blow her own commercial trumpet. In that voice, warm and rich as Cote Rotie, which has helped to make her a television star, she chats animatedly about current enthusiasms. Countries such as Spain and Argentina, where the wines keep getting better. Portugal, because she spent the summer working on a handbook of 250 of that country's best bottlings and was impressed. The Languedoc, where she and her family still enjoy an annual escape in relative peace . . . "because, although the Languedoc is full of dynamic producers, it's not full of dynamic PR people".
It's that incisiveness that makes Jancis Robinson such a stimulating commentator on the world of wine, both verbally and in print. She'll say all sorts of cosy, feel-good things and then suddenly brandish a rapier. Producers in Spain's emerging regions should dust down their armour rather than bask in the afterglow of her praise. "I've written several pieces raving about their wines, and all they do is jack up their prices. They really make me cross."
She has equally trenchant views on plastic corks. "A retrograde step. I'm amazed no designer has yet come up with a really attractive stopper that doesn't need a corkscrew - and I've been saying that for 20 years." As for wine trends, she may welcome "the much wider spread of grape varieties we're seeing now, thank goodness", but the world is still awash with characterless Cabernets and Chardonnays. "Often in my tasting notes I just write BFC. Barrel-fermented Chardonnay. They're so alike there's nothing more to say."
Forever talking about working less, while doing more , she still writes a weekly wine column for the Financial Times, still helps to choose the wines for British Airways, has further books in progress and is planning a new TV series with presenter and wine bug victim Philip Schofield - "which I'd love to do, because it would get wine on to BBC1". She's also thinking about a website initiative - undeterred but certainly bemused by the fact that a stranger in Germany has already registered the address jancisrobinson.com.
If thinking about such productivity makes you feel a tad exhausted, as it does me, you can always just curl up with a good book. Given its dimensions, I'm not convinced that the Oxford Companion to Wine is bed-friendly; but you can rest assured, so to speak, that the new edition is no heavier than the last, despite its extra detail. "I was determined it shouldn't weigh more, so I put in a special request for lighter paper," Jancis Robinson says. Imagine. Besides attending to "bore, wine", "glass, wine by the", "homoclimes" (what?) and all the rest, she thought of that.
The new edition of The Oxford Companion to Wine, edited by Jancis Robinson, is published by Oxford University Press at £40 in the UK.
Into the red
With autumn well underway, you may find yourself reaching for a glass of something red and comfortingly full-bodied, these chilly evenings - as well as a chunky sweater. Here are a few suggestions:
Santa Isabel Malbec, Mendoza, 1997 (Dunnes Stores, special price £5.19 during Chile promotion which ends today; normally £5.79). The price has gone up a bit since March when this was a Bottle of the Week, but it's still a great buy - round, flavoursome and definitely not dull.
Chateau Pech-Redon Cuvee Reservee, Coteaux du Languedoc La Clape, 1998 (Tesco, £6.99). A luscious smoothie that combines distinctive southern French flavours with New Worldly gulpability. See Bottle of the Week.
Bethany Cabernet-Merlot, Barossa Valley, 1997 (O'Briens Fine Wines outlets, Dublin, £10.45). A very well crafted wine from a Barossa family estate where quality counts. Lovely ripe plum puddingy fruit with plenty of supporting structure.
Leone de Castris Salice Salentino Riserva, 1996 (Mitchells Kildare Street and Glasthule, £11.50, or direct by the case from Select Wines of Italy, tel/fax 01 294 2858). I thought I'd tasted quite a few big, bold reds from the south of Italy - but beside this one, they're wimps. A dramatic monster, imparting lingering warmth.
Casa Lapostolle Cuvee Alexandre Merlot, 1997 (Deveneys Dundrum, Vintry Rathgar, Cooneys Harold's Cross, Jus de Vine Portmarnock, about £14.99; also Oddbins). It's splendid to see the full range from this ultra-classy new Chilean winery arriving - and the polished, powerful Alexandre Merlot, mainly from old vines, is the pick of the bunch.