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University of California Press

Postmodern Winemaking

Rethinking the Modern Science of an Ancient Craft
by Clark Smith (Author)
Hardcover eBook
Price: $34.95 / £30.00
Publication Date: Nov 2013
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: World
Pages: 368
ISBN: 9780520282599
Trim Size: 6 x 9
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About the Book

In Postmodern Winemaking, Clark Smith shares the extensive knowledge he has accumulated in engaging, humorous, and erudite essays that convey a new vision of the winemaker's craft--one that credits the crucial roles played by both science and art in the winemaking process. Smith, a leading innovator in red wine production techniques, explains how traditional enological education has led many winemakers astray--enabling them to create competent, consistent wines while putting exceptional wines of structure and mystery beyond their grasp. Great wines, he claims, demand a personal and creative engagement with many elements of the process. His lively exploration of the facets of postmodern winemaking, together with profiles of some of its practitioners, is both entertaining and enlightening.

About the Author

Clark Smith is winemaker for Diamond Ridge Vineyards and his own WineSmith Cellars. He consults with hundreds of winemakers, is an Adjunct Professor at Fresno State University and Florida International University, and lectures widely on wine chemistry fundamentals. His Best-of-Appellation evaluations panel at AppellationAmerica.com explores the emerging wine regions of the United States and Canada, and his column “The Postmodern Winemaker” has appeared since 2009 in Wines & Vines magazine. He was awarded the 2016 Innovator of the Year at the Innovation + Quality (IQ) Forum, presented by Wine Business Monthly.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments

Introduction

PART ONE. PRINCIPLES

1 The Solution Problem
2 Creating the Conditions for Graceful Aging
3 Building Structure: The Basic Tool Kit
4 The Seven Functions of Oak
5 Vineyard Enology: The Power of Showing Up
6 The Vicinal Diphenol Cascade: Red Wine’s
Defi ning Reaction
7 Redox Redux: Measuring Wine’s Oxygen
Uptake Capacity
8 Speculations on Minerality
9 Winemaking at High pH
10 Integrated Brettanomyces Management
11 Harmony and Astringency: Nice and Rough

PART TWO. PRACTICES

12 Winemaking’s Lunatic Heroes
13 Gideon Beinstock’s Mountain Magic:
Handling Extreme Terroir
14 Randall Grahm: California Dreamer in Search of
the Miraculous
15 Bob Wample: Thinking Like a Grape

PART THREE. TECHNOLOGY

16 Pressing Matters: A Postmodern Tale
17 Some Like It Hot
18 The New Filtrations: Winemaking’s Power Tools
19 Flash Détente: Winemaking Game Changer

PART FOUR. PHILOSOPHY

20 Spoofulated or Artisanal?
21 Science and Biodynamics: The Limits of Rationalism
22 Natural Wine Nonsense
23 Yeast Inoculation: Threat or Menace?
24 New World Identity and Judging Reform
25 Liquid Music: Resonance in Wine

Appendix 1. Winemaking Basics
Appendix 2. Navigating the Postmodern Calendar
Notes
Glossary of Postmodern Terminology
Index
About the Author

Reviews

"This is a brave book, fusing data, experience and intuition in a way that scientists rarely attempt. . . . It's a significant and much-needed contribution to the literature of winemaking." 2013 BOOK OF THE YEAR
— Wine & Spirits Magazine
"The subheads in each chapter are amazingly clever and often funny. You can just read through the book, skip the super technical stuff, and learn a great deal from this winemaker turned author. Highly recommended."
— California Grapevine
"Smith is nothing if not genuine in his curiosity about the appropriate uses of science in the cellar."
— San Francisco Chronicle
"Top 10 Wine Books of 2013: 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
"Wine savvy comes easy for Clark Smith, who’s the smartest guy in most of the rooms he inhabits. . . . His 'Postmodern Winemaking: Rethinking the Modern Science of an Ancient Craft' is a thoughtful and thought-provoking look at the 'bones' of wine — structure, acidity, tannins, minerality — and how postmodern winemaking can help the industry build upon these attributes. Thus, it’s a great gift for a wine geek or a science geek or a business geek."
— Minneapolis Star Tribune
"A detailed, accessible portrait of what it takes to be a professional, successful winemaker."
— Newsday
"Smith's philosophical thinking as well as his sociological comments and his metaphorical/simile filled writing are on display."
— The Press Democrat
"I love this book: it’s brave, provocative, and fun. Smith has a writing style that’s engaging and that enlivens what would otherwise risk being indigestible wine science. This is a significant contribution to the literature on winemaking."
Jamie Goode, author of The Science of Wine and coauthor of Authentic 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

"An engaging, frequently controversial, but always thoughtful treatise that delves into the complexity of philosophical choices and new technologies that are now part of every winemaker's existence in a world where consilience of art and science is frequently needed."
Joel Peterson, founder of Ravenswood Winery

"With the inordinate amount of competition in the modern wine business, winemakers need to equip themselves with a deeper, essentially philosophical view of where complexity and greatness in wine truly resides. This book is a great contribution to that discussion."
Randall Grahm, founder of Bonny Doon Vineyard and author of Been Doon So Long