Someone once said that 'wine is a mixture of chemistry, biology and psychology'. It has certainly fascinated people over the centuries and without a doubt been enjoyed by many. Indeed, from its serendipitous roots as an attempt to store fruit, wine has been woven into the fabric of society; from its use in religion to today's sophisticated products sampled over a meal. The Chemistry and Biology of Winemaking not only discusses the science of winemaking but also aims to provide the reader with a wider appreciation of the impact of oenology on human society. Beginning with a history of wine the book discusses a wide range of topics, with particular emphasis on the organisms involved. Starting with the role of yeast in fermentation, it goes on to discuss so-called 'killer yeasts', lactic acid bacteria and the role that genetically modified organisms may have in the future. This book is ideal for anyone interested in the process of winemaking and will be of particular use for those with an interest in the chemical and biological sciences.

Everything you could possibly want to know about wine, in one fully up-to-date A-Z volume! The Oxford Companion to Wine is a uniquely comprehensive and in-depth A-Z reference book on every aspect of wine: more than 4,000 entries covering topics from history through geography, geology, soil science, viticulture, winemaking, packaging, academia, technology, and regulations to people and places, tasting, writing, and the language of wine. The system of cross-references takes the reader from one entry to another, showing how all these topics are interconnected in the fascinating story of wine in its most traditional and modern forms. This new fifth edition, which benefits from the knowledge and experience of over one hundred new contributors, all experts in their field or geographical region, is expanded by 272 new entries, and every existing entry has been reviewed, updated, and polished. The text is more international than ever, written for wine lovers of every persuasion, including those who love wine but want to know more in order to increase their enjoyment of this endlessly fascinating liquid, and those who are intent on studying wine, professionally or privately. This is a huge treasure trove of knowledge, for the first time breaking the barrier of one million words, but the alphabetical format and the links between the entries make it easily navigable, and the language, while not shying away from complex science, is intended to open the door to every curious reader looking for answers on every question they have ever wanted to ask about wine.

The lush, sun-drenched vineyards of California evoke a romantic, agrarian image of winemaking, though in reality the industry reflects American agribusiness at its most successful. Nonetheless, as author Erica Hannickel shows, this fantasy is deeply rooted in the history of grape cultivation in America. Empire of Vines traces the development of wine culture as grape growing expanded from New York to the Midwest before gaining ascendancy in California—a progression that illustrates viticulture's centrality to the nineteenth-century American projects of national expansion and the formation of a national culture. Empire of Vines details the ways would-be gentleman farmers, ambitious speculators, horticulturalists, and writers of all kinds deployed the animating myths of American wine culture, including the classical myth of Bacchus, the cult of terroir, and the fantasy of pastoral republicanism. Promoted by figures as varied as horticulturalist Andrew Jackson Downing, novelist Charles Chesnutt, railroad baron Leland Stanford, and Cincinnati land speculator Nicholas Longworth (known as the father of American wine), these myths naturalized claims to land for grape cultivation and legitimated national expansion. Vineyards were simultaneously lush and controlled, bearing fruit at once culturally refined and naturally robust, laying claim to both earthy authenticity and social pedigree. The history of wine culture thus reveals nineteenth-century Americans' fascination with the relationship between nature and culture.