André Jullien (1766 atChalon-sur-Saône,Saône-et-Loire – 1832 ofcholera inParis) was a Frenchvintner and pioneeringwine writer.[1] Wine historianHugh Johnson describes Jullien's work as "the foundation-stone of modern writing about wine".[2]
At the age of around 30, Jullien moved to Paris and entered thewholesale wine trade. As anégociant he made several improvements to the practices of the wine trade; he invented an air tube to better being able to tap wine and a powder for clarification of wine. For this, he was awarded gold medals at various exhibitions and was supported by the ministerJean-Antoine Chaptal.
Jullien initiated the ambitious project of describing all knownwine regions and their wines, and in this he made a pioneering effort, as the professional wine literature was almost solely concerned with how to grow vines and make wine, and not with describing and comparing different wine regions. This took him on many a distant journey and the result was hisTopographie de tous les vignobles connus,[3] which was published in a first edition in 1816, and a second in 1822. An important feature of this work was hisclassification of all wines into five classes. An abridged edition translated into English was published in 1824 as "a manual and guide to all importers and purchasers in the choice of wines". The third and fourth French editions in 1832 incorporated many changes and were further expanded. This edition was awarded theFrench Academy of Sciences'Montyon prize for statistics in 1832.[4] The final two editions were signed "corrected and augmented by C.E. Jullien" who was likely Jullien's son.[2]
He also published a manual forsommeliers under the titleManuel du sommelier[5] in 1822 and the technical publicationAppareils perfectionnés propres à transvaser les vins et autres liqueurs avec ou sans communication avec l'air extérieur in 1832.
In his 1816 work,Topographie de tous les vignobles connus, Jullien created the most comprehensive cataloging of the world's wine region ever done up to that point. In addition to describing the well known European wine region, Jullien also describedCossackwinemaking techniques used inEkaterinoslav, wine styles ofHindu Kush andAstrakhan, and surveyed the vineyards of several islands in theAtlantic andIndian Oceans. On the islands ofMadeira, he compared the dry wines made fromSercial to the great wines of theRhine-a description that would support theapocryphal belief that the Madeira grape descended from theGerman winegrape varietyRiesling. In Madeira, he also described unusualaging methods employed on the island, such as the tradition of buryingoak barrels of wine in a pit for 6 months underneath layers of horsemanure.[2]
His writings onBordeaux include one of the earliest classifications of the region's estate withHaut-Brion,Margaux,Latour andLafite listed among the finest wine of the area. Nearly 40 years later, the official1855 classification would closely mirror Jullien's rankings including all of thefirst growths.[6] Traveling with the English wine writerCyrus Redding in Germany, Jullien described the quality of German wines produced during thecomet vintage of 1811.[2]
