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  STEVENSON Tom

  Wine Journalist United Kingdom

Tom Stevenson has been writing about wine for more than 30 years. He is the author of 24 critically acclaimed books and winner of 32 literary awards, including Wine Writer of the Year three times and The Wine Literary Award, America’s only lifetime achievement award for wine writers. Tom’s books have been published internationally by more than 50 publishers and in total have been translated into over 25 languages. He has specialized in Champagne since embarking on a six-year research project that culminated in the publication of Champagne (Sotheby’s Publications, 1986). In 1998, his Christie’s World Encyclopedia of Champagne & Sparkling Wine (Absolute Press) was the first book to publish a 17th-century document proving that the English invented the so-called méthode champenoise six years before Dom Pérignon even set foot in Hautvillers. This revelation ensured the book made history as the only wine book to warrant a leader in any UK national newspaper (The Guardian, 14 October 1998). Tom’s other consuming passion is Alsace, and in 1993 The Wines of Alsace (Faber & Faber) duly appeared to universal plaudits, winning two awards, including the Veuve Clicquot Best Wine Book of the Year in the USA. He has a regular column in The World of Fine Wine and has judged at wine competitions in the US, France, Germany, Greece, Australia and the UK, where he chaired the panels for Champagne and Alsace at the Decanter World Wine Awards for the first nine years, until he launched his own competition, The Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships, in 2014.

Tom is best known, however, as the author of The Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia, which Dorling Kindersley has published continuously since 1988. It is used as a standard reference for Master of Wine and Master Sommelier examinations all over the world and has sold more than 700,000 copies in 14 major languages.