The 2012 André Simon Book Awards will be announced tonight at The Goring Hotel. On the Drinks shortlist you’ll find the fantastic tome Wine Grapes by the three J’s – Jancis Robinson MW, Julia Harding MW and Dr José Vouillamoz – and Neal Martin’s Pomerol, alongside a trio of other accomplished works.

Last year, those that know me will have seen me much immersed in the glories of Bordeaux, more specifically Pomerol, thanks to Neal and his first book on that magically small region on the Right Bank.

Following a chance conversation between Mr F and Neal on the way back from Portugal in 2011, Neal invited me to act as his managing editor, and so our journey began.

The region may be small, but Neal wasn’t going to handle this in the normal way, so it wasn’t going to be a minor project. Rather, Neal had immersed himself in the dust of the archives and the impossible-to-read nature of centuries-old French legalese as well as criss-crossing the commune, spending time with the families of the main estates meeting new players and old. And to complete the picture, Neal collaborated with the award-winning Swedish photographer and fellow Bordeaux-phile, Johan Berglund.

So I joined with the lovely Hilary Lumsden, the most experienced wine book professional I know. Together we worked with Neal’s words, seeing them come to life through the skill of his friend, the talented designer, Tin Brown, as we guided the work through the joy that is the self-publishing process.

Aided and abetted by the delightfully meticulous Jamie Ambrose and the creatively perfectionist indexer that is Ann Noble, we completed our editorial quest, waving Neal off to the printers, Graphicom in Italy, to see his book’s first pages being printed.

And the result? A treasure of a book, where Tin’s designs provide the perfect platform for such an intrinsically detailed account, Johan’s images offer an insight like no other, and never one to take life too seriously, Neal cites the music that followed him as he visited the estates and their vignerons.

As to whether Pomerol will win the top gong tonight – have to say it seems unlikely bearing in mind the calibre of its rivals, but I know we all feel seriously chuffed to have made the shortlist.

Cheers!

Pomerol, by Neal Martin; £50 +P&P; available from www.pomerolbook.com, Wine Journal Publishing; ISBN: 978 0 95743021