Product Description

Written by two of the world's most eloquent authorities on wine, this seminal book is required reading for anyone wanting to find out more about why wine tastes the way it does. Brought fully up-to-date in this new edition, "The Art & Science of Wine" covers every step in the wine-making process, from young vine to bottled wine, giving readers the context within which to appreciate the decisions the winemaker makes along the way. How do winemakers achieve the flavour, style, and quality of their wines? "The Art & Science of Wine" answers these questions in a series of studies detailing the processes behind winemaking. The choice of grape, how it is cultivated, fermentation, maturation; each stage in wine production is explained clearly with helpful illustrations, charts, and photography throughout. Fully revised and updated to reflect the latest scientific developments, ideas, and techniques, the lively, informative text makes this a highly accessible read.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #197042 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 232 pages

Review
"Systematically covers all vineyard practices, is well and pertinently illustrated, and not the least bit stuffy or pretentious. A very useful book." Malcolm Gluck, The Guardian"

About the Author
James Halliday is a respected wine critic and vigneron with a career in the wine trade that spans over 30 years. Perhaps most widely known outside his homeland for his witty and informative writing about wine, he was one of the founders of Brokenwood Winery in New South Wales, and established Coldstream Hills in Victoria, with his wife, Suzanne. Author of over 45 books, Halliday has written thousands of articles for a number of different newspapers and magazines. He is constantly in demand as a wine judge across the world. Hugh Johnson is acclaimed as the world's favourite wine writer. His rare talent for making the most complex subjects readable, with wit and humour, has led to a remarkable sequence of books. His first book and internationally best-selling Wine was published in 1966, and subsequent titles, including The World Atlas of Wine and Wine Companion (both now in their fifth editions), Story of Wine, and How to Enjoy Your Wine, have established him as one of the subject's foremost writers.

Customer Reviews

Excellent if you are studying wine, not for the casual reade
This book is an excellent overview of the Art and Science of Wine. It is much more a text book than a book to read for enjoyment. Having owned it for over 2 years I still find the requirement to refer to it when lecturing

A wonderful book that informs and guides the reader
If the reader is looking for a book that provides detail on the techniques, climate challenges and the resulting styles of wine then I can only say that this is the one. The technical detail is aimed at the layman and provides some wonderful relatively unbiased views of the techniques used throughout the world.
To love wine is very much to love a consumable that it so very different from one area (field) to another and yet is essentially the same. In that sense this book managed to rekindle my willingness to explore New World wines - something I had personally stopped bothering with because I felt they were nothing but big bold crass statements of ripeness. I may have been unfair.
For those that sit on the other side of the fence and believe that the Old World wines are nothing but vegetal overpriced hock, then I hope the book will have the same effect.
It is a well written books, with a loose structure that may infuriate the reader at first. I really do recommend sitting down and reading like a novel. None of the details here are new (all can be found in the Cambridge Wine Companion - CWC). What is different here is that unlike the CWC the reader is guided from one subject to another rather than having to randomly find their way through - not that the CWC is anything but a brilliant wine reference bible.
The writing here is a little dry on occasion (and of course there is not enough on the Rhone - there never is), but it is none the less a book that ranks amongst the most well thumbed in my wine library.