The book to read to understand the wine

A chance reading makes me rediscover this book, I was offered in 2002 and I had inadvertently stored out of sight. How could I ignore all these years this important book, and able to excite anyone wanting to learn more about wine.
It is a beautiful book, well illustrated, well written, clear, pedagogical, methodically addressing all aspects of the wine, the history of the vineyards to the most recent, the influence of terroir, grape varieties, evolution viticulture methods, winemaking, marketing, consumption, he leaves nothing in the shadows and reveals a constant concern. Although already slightly dated 2001, he has hardly aged and remains remarkably topical, which is the mark of a reference book. I note that evokes the already speculative developments cdrtains Grands Crus reach the media owners, winemakers and tasters of which some like Parker or Bettane became stars or gurus. Since the book appeared, the phenomenon is widespread and is simply amplified especially with the arrival of buyers from China and other emerging countries.
But to present it, this book is less centered on the theories on the realities of the wine. The accuracy, breadth and depth of knowledge, the view height and quality of the work of writing out the useful but superficial works as thesis film "Mondovino" by Nossiter (which reveals open secret, the fact that technology can standardize the taste of wines, and omits the essential, that it enhances and makes constant average quality, without preventing excellence and personality of the best productions).
This is the best "generalist" book about wine since I read "The taste of wine" Emile Peynaud, one of the great winemakers of the Bordeaux School (Peynaud has also explained that it was already in the 1970s the criticism to level the taste of wines, but above all that this criticism was that the producers who followed his advice were the least bad wines!)
A gift just found a wine enthusiast!