Winemaker’s Bookshelf


No pictures, but this book has fascinating factual tidbits on just about every page.


F


or the trivia seekers here’s a great newbook. The publisherswill sell you a hard copy for $77 or you can


download it for free as a searchable pdf. I like the feel of a real book better than squinting at a screen but if I save $77, get the advantage of an immediate search for keywords, and it takesNO space onmy overcrowded book shelves, I could be persuaded to forgo a hard copy. Here’s the link:


www.adelaide.edu.au/press/titles/wineg rapes/ It has the catchy titleWhich


WinegrapeVarieties areGrown Where?AglobalEmpirical Picture. AuthorKymAnderson, ISBN978-1- 922064-68-4.University ofAdelaide Press, 2013. This is sort of a coffee table book. It


has no pictures, but you can pick it up and retrieve a fewinteresting facts no matterwhich page you open. It has hundreds of pages of tableswhich list which grape varieties are grown in the wine regions of theworld. The data are based on censuses (censi?) of 2000 and 2010with small amounts of data from 1990. Fromthese data the authors have calculated similarities and differences betweenwine regions and identified trends such as the expansion or contract ion of grape area in different countries and the changing choice of grape varieties. Where there are regional names for


the same variety and if the grape has been identified byDNAanalysis, the synonyms are listed. If you are a masochist, the data is available as a three dimensionalExcel spreadsheet with 1.3 billion cells. In spite ofNewWorld vineyard


developments, over half of theworld’s winegrape vineyard area and production is still containedwithin Spain, France, and Italy. TheUnited States is a distant fourth rankwith less than five percent. Atrend that Iwouldn’t have guessed


is that during the first decade of this century there has been a trend toward a smaller number of varietieswithin the


British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Spring 2014 29


By Gary Strachan Whither the grape vine?


world’s plantings. In 2000, 21 varieties accounted for half of theworld’s vineyard area. In 2010, the number dropped to 15 varieties, especially in theNewWorldwhere only seven varieties account for over half of all plantings.Of those


seven, only three are grown inBritish Columbia. Good use ismade of bar graphs and


pie charts to assist interpretation of large amounts of data. I especially like the one page summary created for each country. Themost-planted varieties for each country are compared first as a percentage of the production in that country and then as a contribution of each grape toworld production. There are two indiceswhich enable


the large data base to be interpreted. The first is theVarietal Intensity Index. It is calculated by dividing a variety’s share of a region’swinegrape area divided by that variety’s share of the globalwinegrape bearing area. It represents the importance of a grape variety in a region relative to that variety throughout the world. The other index is the Index of Varietal Similarity. It is used tomeasure the”extent towhich the varietalmix of one region or countrymatches that of another region or country, or theworld. It can also be used to compare the varietalmix of a region or country over time.” JancisRobinson has a newly released


book that is the perfect complement to this book. Itsmain title isWineGrapes, with a subtitle,Acomplete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their


origins and flavors.


(Robinson, Harding, and Vouillamoz.


2013. ePub Edition: ISBN 978-0-062- 32551-8,


hardcopy 978-0- 141-96882-7).


This is a fascinatingwork for anyone interested in the performance of the grape varieties grown throughout the world. It lists the origins, relatedness, where it is nowgrown,wine character and typical vineyard performance, often accompanied by amajorwine producer for that variety.WhereDNAanalysis data is available, the origin and relatedness of each variety is also listed. I especially like the fact the description


for each variety has remarks about early or late bud break and susceptibility to spring frosts.Newvineyards are now being established inmarginal areaswith no viticultural history.Choice of a cold hardy varietymay still be risky if the variety breaks bud before the risk of spring frost has passed. The final hundred pages of this 1,400-


page reference contain beautiful and anatomically correct illustrations chosen fromthe 1901 and 1910 ampelography of PierreViala andVictorVermorel. The Ampelographiewas originally published in seven volumes and covered 5200 wine and table grape varieties or clones. Needless to say, the original edition is a rare, collectors’ item, but itwas republished in 1991. Neither of these books is an easy read,


but each of themis a valuable reference. —Gary Strachan is listed on LinkedIn.


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