Since the publication of Wine Production: Vine to Bottle (2005) and Wine Quality: Tasting and Selection (2009), there has been a great deal of change in the wine industry, and the perceptions of critics and expectations of consumers have shifted. Gourmand Award for the No. 1 Best Wine Book in the World for Professionals Since the publication of Wine Production: Vine to Bottle (2005) and Wine Quality: Tasting and Selection (2009), there has been a great deal of change in the wine industry, and the perceptions of critics and expectations of consumers have shifted. Preface Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1 Viticulture The Basics 1.1 The Grape Vine 1.2 Grape varieties 1.3 Structure of the Grape Berry 1.3.1 Stalks 1.3.2 Skins 1.3.3 Yeasts 1.3.4 Pulp 1.3 5 Pips 1.4 Crossings, hybrids, clonal and massal selection 1.5 Grafting 1.6 Phylloxera vastatrix 1.7 Rootstocks 1.8 Life of the vine Chapter 2 Climate 2.1 World climate classifications 2.2 Climatic requirements of the vine 2.2.1 Sunshine 2.2.2 Warmth 2.2.3 Cold winter 2.2.4 Rainfall 2.3 Climatic enemies of the vine 2.31 Frost 2.32 Hail 2.33 Strong winds 2.34 Excess heat 2.35 Drought 2.4 Mesoclimate and microclimate 2.4.1 Water 2.4.2 Altitude 2.4.3 Aspect 2.4.4 Woods and trees 2.5 Concept of degree days 2.6 Impact of climate 2.7 Weather 2.8 Climate change Chapter 3 Soil 3.1 Soil requirements of the vine 3.1.1 Good drainage 3.1.2 Fertility 3.1.3 Nutrients and minerals 3.2 Influence of soils upon style and quality 3.3 Soil types suitable for viticulture 3.4 Soil compatability 3.5 Terroir Chapter 4 The Vineyard 4.1 Vineyard location and site selection 4.2 Density of planting of vines 4.3 Training systems 4.31 Main types of vine training 4.3.2 Other training systems 4.4 Pruning methods and canopy management 4.41 Pruning methods 4.42 Canopy management 4.5 Irrigation 4.6 The vineyard cycle and work in the vineyard 4.7 Grape berry development Chapter 5 Pests and diseases 5.1 Important vineyard pests 5.1.1 Insects, mites and worms 5.1.2 Animals and birds 5.2 Diseases 5.2.1 Fungal diseases 5.2.2 Bacterial diseases 5.2.3 Virus diseases 5.3 Preventions and treatments Chapter 6 Environmentally sensitive vineyard practices 6.1. Conventional viticulture 6.2 Integrated pest management IPM 6.3 Organic viticulture 6.4 Biodynamic viticulture 6.4.1 Rudolf Steiner 6.4.2 Biodynamic preparations 6.4.3 Certification 6.5 Natural wine Chapter 7 The harvest 7.1 Grape ripeness and time of picking 7.2 Harvesting methods 7.2.1 Hand picking 7.2.2 Machine picking 7.3 Style and quality Chapter 8 Vinification the basics 8.1 Basic principles of vinification 8.2 Winery location and design 8.3 Winery equipment 8.3.1 Fermentation vats Chapter 9 Red wine making 9.1 Sorting, destemming and crushing 9.2 Must analysis 9.3 Must preparation 9.4 Fermentation, temperature control and extraction 9.4.1 Fermentation 9.4.2 Temperature control 9.4.3 Extraction 9.4.4 Fermentation monitoring 9.5 Maceration 9.6 Racking 9.7 Pressing 9.8 Malolactic fermentation (MLF) 9.9 Blending 9.10 Maturation Chapter 10 Dry white wine making 10.1 Crushing and pressing 10.1.1 Crushing 10.1.2 Pressing 10.2 Must preparation 10.3 Fermentation 10.4 Malolactic fermentation (MLF) 10.5 Lees ageing 10.6 Maturation Chapter 11 Detailed processes in red and white wine making 11.1 Must concentration 11.1.1 Must concentrators and reverse osmosis 11.1.2 Cryoextraction 11.2 Methods of extraction 11.2.1 Cold soaking (pre-fermentation maceration) 11.2.2 Pump overs Remontage 11.2.3. Rack and return Délestage 11.2.4 Punching down Pigeage 11.2.5 Rotary vinifiers 11.2.6 Thermo-vinfication heat extraction 11.2.7 Flash détente 11.2.8 Whole grape fermentation carbonic and semi-carbonic maceration 11.2.9 Fixing colour 11.2.10 Post-fermentation maceration 11.3 Macro, micro and hyper oxygenation 11.3.1 Hyper-oxygenation 11.3.2 Macro-oxygenation 11.3.3 Micro-oxygenation (MOX) 11.4 Removal of excess alcohol 11.5 The choice of natural or cultured yeasts 11.6 Destemming 11.7 Fermenting high density musts to dryness 11.8 Wine presses and pressing 11.8.1 Continuous press 11.8.2 Batch press 11.8.3 Horizontal plate press 11.8.4 Horizontal pneumatic press 11.8.5 Vertical basket press 11.9 Technology and the return to tradition Chapter 12 12.1 History of barrel usage 12.2 Oak and oaking 12.3 The influence of the barrel 12.3.1 Size of barrel 12.3.2 Types and origin of oak (or other wood) 12.3.3 Manufacturing techniques including toasting 12.3.4 Stave thickness 12.3.5 Amount of time spent in barrel 12.3.6 Where barrels are stored 12.4 Oak treatments Chapter 13 Preparing wine for bottling 13.1 Fining 13.2 Filtration 13.2.1 Traditional methods in common use 13.2.2 Sheet filtration (sometimes called plate filtration) 13.2.3 Membrane filtration and other methods of achieving biological stability 13.3 Stabilisation 13.4 Adjustment of sulfur dioxide levels 13.5 Choice of bottle closures Chapter 14 Making other types of sweet wine 14.1 Medium-sweet and sweet wines 14.1.1 Medium-sweet wines 14.1.2 Sweet wines 14.2 Rosé wines 14.3 Fortified (liqueur) wines 14.3.1 Sherry production 14.3.2 Port production 14.3.3 Other well-known fortified wines Chapter 15 Sparkling wines 15.1 Fermentation in sealed tank 15.2 Second fermentation in bottle 15.3 Traditional method 15.4 Styles Chapter 16 Wine tasting 16.1 Wine tasting and laboratory analysis 16.2 What makes a good wine taster? 16.3 Where and when to taste suitable conditions 16.4 Appropriate equipment 16.4.1 Tasting glasses 16.4.2 Water 16.4.3 Spittoons 16.4.4 Tasting sheets 16.4.5 Tasting mats 16.5 Tasting order 16.6 Temperature of wines for tasting 16.7 Tasting for specific purposes 16.8 Structured tasting technique 16.8.1 Appearance 16.8.2 Nose 16.8.3 Palate 16.8.4 Conclusions 16.9 Importance of keeping notes Chapter 17 Appearance 17.1 Clarity and brightness 17.2 Intensity 17.3 Colour 17.3.1 White wines 17.3.2 Rosé wines 17.3.3 Red wines 17.3.4 Rim/core 17.4 Other observations 17.4.1 Bubbles 17.4.2 Legs 17.4.3 Deposits Chapter 18 Nose 18.1 Condition 18.2 Intensity 18.3 Development 18.3.1 Primary aromas 18.3.2 Secondary aomas 18.3.3 Tertiary aromas 18.4 Aroma characteristics Chapter 19 Palate 19.1 Sweetness/bitterness (acidity) /saltiness/ umami 19.2 Dryness/sweetness 19.3 Acidity 19.4 Tannins 19.5 Alcohol Chapter 20 Tasting Conclusions 20.1 Assessment of quality 20.1.1 Quality level 20.1.2 Reasons for assessment of quality 20.2 Assessment of readiness for drinking/potential for ageing 20.2.1 Level of readiness for drinking 20.2.1 Reasons for assessment 20.3 The wine in context 20.3.1 Origin/variety/theme 20.3.2 Price category 20.4 Grading wine the award of points 20.4.1 Grading on a 20 point scale 20.4.2 Grading on a 100 point scale 20.5 Blind tasting 20.5.1 Why blind tasting? 20.5.2 Blind or sighted? 20.5.3 Tasting for quality 20.5.4 Practicalities 20.5.5 Examination tastings Chapter 21 Wine faults and flaws 21.1 Chloroanisoles and bromoanisoles 21.2 Fermentation in the bottle and bacterial spoilage 21.3 Protein haze 21.4 Oxidation 21.5 Excessive volatile acidity 21.6 Excessive sulphur dioxide 21.7 Reductivity 21.8 Brettanomyces 21.9 Dekkerra 21.10 Geraniol 21.11 Geosmin 21.12 Ethyl acetate 21.13 Excessive acetaldehyde 21.14 Candida acetaldehyde 21.15 Smoke taint Chapter 22 Quality Assurances and Guarantees? 22.1 Compliance with PDO and PGI legislation as an assurance of quality? 22.1.1 The European Union and third countries 22.1.2 PDO, PGI and Wine 22.1.3 The concept of Appellation Contrôlée 22.2 Tasting competitions and critical scores as an assessment of quality? 22.3 Classifications as an official assessment of quality? 22.4 ISO 9001 certification as an assurance of quality? 22.5 Established brands as a guarantee of quality? 22.6 Price as an indication of quality? Chapter 23 Natural factors and a sense of place 23.1 Conceptual styles 23.2 Typicity and regionality 23.3 The impact of climate upon quality wine production 23.4 The role of soils 23.5 Terroir 23.6 The vintage factor Chapter 24 Constraints on Quality Wine Production 24.1 Financial 24.1.1 Financial constraints upon the grower 24.1.2 Financial constraints upon the winemaker 24.2 Skills and diligence 24.3 Legal 24.4 Environmental Chapter 25 Production of quality wine 25.1 Yield in the vineyard 25.2 Density of planting 25.3 Age of vines 25.4 Winter pruning and vine balance 25.5 Stressing the vines, vine and nutrient balance 25.6 Green harvesting 25.7 Harvesting 25.7.1 Mechanical harvesting 25.7.2 Hand harvesting 25.8 Delivery of fruit 25.9 Selection of fruit 25.10 Use of pumps/gravity 25.11 Control of fermentation and choice of fermentation vessel 25.12 Use of gases 25.13 Barrels 25.14 Selection of vats or barrels 25.15 Storage Chapter 26 Selection by buyers 26.1 Supermarket dominance 26.2 Price point margin 26.3 Selecting wines for market and customer base 26.4 Styles and individuality 26.5 Continuity 26.6 The place of individual wines in the range 26.7 Exclusivity 26.8 Specification 26.9 Technical analysis Appendix WSET® SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO TASTING DIPLOMA Glossary Bibliography