I have Stephen Skelton’s Viticulture and it’s great, but I am looking for something with more detail. I see Richard Smart’s Sunlight Into Wine mentioned in another thread, and I’m planning on getting that to learn more about canopy management, but it seems that it’s pretty focused on that topic. Is there a broader, general book about viticulture as it relates to winemaking that anyone can suggest?
To give you an idea of what I’m looking for, I’ve been studying wine chemistry from David Bird’s book (also great), but I decided to pick up Yair Margalit’s Concepts in Wine Chemistry for more detail. The latter probably has more information than I will need, but that’s what I’m looking for: something equally authoritative and detailed related to viticulture.
So, looking at that book, I see that it was published in 1974. Has that little changed in almost 40 years? I see comments that it’s a bit outdated and is very CA-centric, but I don’t know who those people are or their specific reasons for saying so. Is there no other, more recent book that is nearly as thorough? Or, does it really not matter? I am hoping to get as broad a picture as possible, and sacrificing a bit of depth for that would be fine, as long as I would still be getting more depth than I have from Skelton. I’m open to hearing that it doesn’t really matter, or that there is no better option, but I want to at least ask to appease my curiosity.
Is anyone familiar with Keller’s The Science of Grapevines? It looks like it might be more focused on the vines themselves and less on how to actually manage a vineyard, but I’m not sure.
Very little viticulture. Only last chapter “Environmnental constrains and stress physiology” indirectly addresses viticulture.
Still very interesting book.
E
Since I see your from MA you might consider “Wine Grape Production for Eastern North America” edited by Tony Wolf. It’s available through the Natural Resource, Agriculture, and Engineering Service(NRAES) Cooperative Extension website. The chapters covering this 336 page book are Vineyard Costs, Site Selection, Grape & Rootstock Varieties, Vineyard Design & Establishment, Pruning & Training, Canopy Management, Crop Yield Estimation & Management, Nutrient Management, Irrigation, Spray Drift Mitigation, Disease Management, Major Insect & Mite Pests, Weed Management, Wildlife Deterrence, Grape Contracts & Vineyard Leases, & Grape Quality - When to Pick. Another possibility would be Ron Jackson’s “Wine Science”(3rd Edition) as it has about 200-300 pages of viticulture related topics like Grapevine Structure & Function, Vineyard Practice, Site Selection & Climate, and Chemical Constituents of Grapes & Wine. Finally, You might look through some of Michigan State University Extension handbooks on Grapes and Viticulture … http://www.grapes.msu.edu/publications.htm …Cheers, Gary
The science of grapevine is an excellent book. However, if you are looking into eastern viticulture buy anything by Tony Wolf. I would consider him to be the best source of information for that area.
Emilio and Dusty: thanks. To be more clear, what I want would primarily address growing the grapes rather than focusing mainly on biology of the vine. So, it sounds like Keller’s book is not what I want, although I’m sure it’s an excellent book.
Gary (and anyone else): I’m not looking to plant grapevines in this area. I am looking to learn more about doing so (for my studies) in any area, particularly existing major wine producing regions where vinifera is predominant.
Thanks, Linda, that looks like exactly what I’m looking for. It definitely will have more information than I need, but that should make it the perfect reference.
To follow up, I looked at details and reviews on several options, and the Coombe and Dry 2-volume set that Linda suggested is absolutely perfect. Thanks again, Linda! This set is very accessible, with plenty of detail, better diagrams and pictures than I’ve seen elsewhere (there always could be more, but I know the cost of producing books is a factor). It will be a fantastic reference, enabling me to use Skelton’s book as basically an outline and get a lot more detail out of this. They’re going to be great for someone with no hands-on experience (me) to be able to get a handle on how these things really work rather than just memorizing and regurgitating some vague statements in a book.
By the way, the UC Davis bookstore has a much better price on these than Amazon. I’m glad I noticed that in one of the Amazon comments. They shipped them out very quickly, too.