WRITING IN THE IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH of World War II, wine merchant, gentleman soldier and cricketer Ian Maxwell Campbell casts an affectionate and occasionally wistful look back at the Golden Age of wine, when Bordeaux was affordable, Burgundy’s finest vintages tended towards cannibalism and other wines could be… well, surprisingly attractive. Among the tales of convivial drinking and anecdotes involving Winston Churchill and WG Grace, the author paints a vivid picture of a pre-war (and pre-phylloxera) wine world whose horizons were about to expand beyond all imagining.‘Delightfully entertaining recollections of a lovable lover of wine… no book teaches one more about different wines, vintages and wine merchants, nor does any other book on wine make us better realize how rewarding a study and how fascinating a hobby wine is.’ André Simon

ABOUT THE ACADEMIE DU VIN LIBRARY CLASSIC EDITIONS SERIES The Classic Editions breathe new life into some of the finest wine-related titles written in the English language over the last 150 years. Although these books are very much products of their time – a time when the world of fine wine was confined mostly to the frontiers of France and the Iberian Peninsula and a First Growth Bordeaux or Grand Cru Burgundy wouldn’t be beyond the average purse – together they recapture a world of convivial, enthusiastic amateurs and larger-than-life characters whose love of fine vintages mirrored that of life itself. Many of the titles are still much in demand, as a glance on Amazon will show. The Acade´mie du Vin Library is proud to be republishing them, along with insightful introductions by our favourite wine writers of the present day.