REVIEWS
“Smith is a writer who can charge way ahead of you (or rather, ahead of me) in scientific exposition yet keep you tagging breathlessly along, full of interest and bursting with questions. As I say, you must read this book.”
--Hugh Johnson, World of Fine Wine
“In this masterful, insightful, and practical work, Clark Smith provides shape, focus, and comprehension to a wide array of wine processes that complement art and science. A must-read for all in the industry.”
--Dr. Bruce Zoecklein, Virginia Tech University
“The basics here are a real lesson that would enlighten some of those buyers of $200 bottles of red wine that they firmly believe will age.”
--Dan Berger, Vintage Selections
"One of the most fascinating wine books I have read recently....There is plenty in the book which any reader though will be able to comprehend and I highly recommend this book to all wine lovers." —The Passionate Foodie
"Clark Smith has written the most interesting and eclectic wine book in years. Smith has a rich and swirling mind that is on display in this both technical and philosophical treaties on modern winemaking the issues that have been pushed to the fore through innovation." (Tom Wark's Fermentation 2013-12-18)
EXCERPTS
Chapter 1 “Winemaking is a branch of cuisine—the ultimate slow food—and has much in common with the making of sauces, because the soulfulness of flavor integration is a result of refining its structure.”
Chapter 3 “Oxygenation at an early stage does not shorten the wine’s life; paradoxically it increases anti-oxidative power by stimulating latent phenolic reactivity. A wine can absorb five times as much oxygen at 59˚F as it can at 50˚F, so a single degree’s difference changes everything in a cellar.”
Chapter 5 “Vine balance is the economic meeting place for winemakers and growers.”
Chapter 7 “Wines vary a thousand-fold in their anti-oxidative vigor. Because acetic acid bacteria are not inhibited by the pigment-bound SO2, phenolic vigor is all that protects young red wine.”
Chapter 10 “Well-formed structure can render Brett aromas into positive sensory elements. Brett management is the central problem in the making of serious wine. Modern enological practices cause Brett and exacerbate its effects. To master Brett management is to understand what red wine really is.”
Chapter 12 “Courageous fools who perceive the need for deeper work are continually breaking new ground from which we all benefit.”
Chapter 21 “Biodynamics sounds nuts to me. But so does the String Theory. Its existence offers a delicious opportunity for scientists to test their true mettle.”
Chapter 22 “The Natural Wine movement has proven itself incapable of articulating its beliefs. Unlike the free and open ‘70s and ‘80s, winemakers are lying low and keeping mum while Natural Wine advocates fire live ammo over their heads. To restore our tradition of candor and openness, consumers will need to be brought up to speed on recent changes in winemaking.”
Chapter 25 “Music pairing can greatly improve your chances of enjoying a wine. Wine is liquid music, for it has the capacity to embody a spectrum of emotional modalities, to exhibit harmony or dissonance, and it has the power to transport us from care and circumstance.”