Wine
book reviews
The Grapevine:
from the science to the practice of growing vines for wine
By Patrick
Iland, Peter Dry, Tony Proffitt, Steve Tyerman
This
textbook on the science of the grapevine is a must have for students
of wine, as well as interested wine geeks
Back in 2005,
when I wrote my first book, Wine Science, there was a real shortage
of good books on viticulture. So I was thrilled when this textbook
appeared at the beginning of this year, and I've been dipping in and
out of it since. Now time to review it.
It's authored by
four Australian viticultarists, all with PhDs: Patrick Iland, a
former lecturer; Peter Dr, a retired associate professor and now a
consultant; Tony Proffitt, another ex-lecturer now working as
aviticultural consultant; and Steve Tyerman, a professor at the
University of Adelaide. The calibre of the authors lends instant
credibility.
The book is
self-published by Iland, but is nicely produced in full colour, well
laid out, and illustrated very well - I particularly like some of
the schematics. It is data-based and fully referenced, but not hard
to read. The layout of the book makes it easy to find information,
and there's a functional index (although it doesn't look like it has
been made by an experienced indexer).
It begins with
the structure and function of the vine, then looks at how the vine
grows. There's extensive coverage on the development of flowers and
fruitset, and this then leads to a discussion of photosynthesis and
the development of the berry. A topic given quite a bit of space is
vine water relations, a subject especially relevant to Australia,
where irrigation is so important. There's also discussion of climate
and its effects on the vine.
The focus on
experimental results and proper research is the strength of the
book, but also perhaps a slight weakness. As a wine geek, I'd love
more on some of the topics that really get the world of fine wine
worked up, such as minerality, terroir, why old vines make better
wines, biodynamics and so on. But this isn't possible if you are
sticking to the science, simply because these topics haven't been
researched properly. For example, there's a short discussion on
biodynamics, but it simply lists the studies that have so far been
carried out, from which very little can be concluded. You have to
respect the authors for not going beyond the data.
Overall, though,
this is a brilliant book. If you are studying for your MW, or
working with vines, you really should buy it, even though it is not
cheap. I have already learned a great deal from it.
To Buy:
A$165 From the publisher
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