Having written on wine since the mid 1970s, Tom Stevenson was asked by the Sunday Telegraph to devise an annual wine publication for ordinary, everyday consumers, and in 1982 he conceived the Good Wine Guide, which he edited for a further 5 years. He divides his writing between consumer publications and more technical trade magazines and has been recognised for both having been voted Wine Writer of the Year in 1986 and Wine Trade Writer of the Year in 1990. In his own inimitable style, Tom Stevenson has not only profiled 300 producers and every style of Alsace wine, but has also analysed all 118 wine villages, 51 grands crus, 84 lieux-dits, 28 clos and 4 wine-producing chateaux. He sets the scene by succinctly summarising the region's rich and colourful history.