Understanding Wine Technology by David Bird
90 out of 100

Published Friday, June 5, 2009

Overview

I ran into David a couple of months ago and it reminded me of his book Understanding Wine Technology. It was a book I had read several years ago as part of my recommended reading for the WSET Diploma in wine.

Re-reading it has reminded me what an excellent book it is. First published in 2000, it is no spring chicken but has aged well, with virtually no out of date content.

The meat of Understanding Wine Technology is looking at the methods of taking grapes and producing wine and covers presses, must adjustment, fermentation filtering, fining bottling and all the equipment used to achieve these processes.

While David is a Chemist and a Master of Wine, he has managed to show chemical reactions and even equations in a fairly straight forward way which is readable, or skipable if it is not your sort of thing.

Even though I have read this book before and consider myself fairly knowledgeable, re-reading has corrected some of my thinking regarding the stability of sweet wines. I found it enjoyable to read and at 226 pages a fairly quick read.

Now that I have reacquainted myself I see myself referring more often to this excellent book on wine making and the different equipments and options wine makers have.

I consider this an excellent book and essential reading for any serious student of wine. It is certainly a bit dry for those who simply enjoy wines but if you want to get a deep understanding of the ideas behind winemaking it is a must read. rate this book 90 out of 100.