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S M A R T V I T I C U L T U R E by Dr. Richard Smart An Extraordinary Book O ctober 2012 saw the release of one of the most significant books ever published about grapes and wine. The book, "Wine Grapes — A Complete Guide to 1,368 Vine Varieties, Including Their Origins and Flavors," is authored by Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding and José Vouillamoz, and published by Ecco (Harper Collins) in the U.S. Jancis Robinson needs no introduction in the wine world; she is a well-known British wine journalist with a plethora of wine books, articles, videos and an excellent web page to her credit. One of her books, the "Oxford Companion to Wine," (now in its fourth edition), contains more than 4,000 entries. I had the pleasure to be viticulture editor for this book and know of Robinson's scholarship and thoroughness. The "Oxford Companion" has won every major international wine book prize, and her newest triumph will, I believe, do the same. This book is very timely. Wine producers around the world are interested to explore the enormous diversity of grape varieties and to present consumers with more wines than a handful of "interna- the "Oxford Companion," so she knows about all manner of wine topics. What a job the three of them have done! The book is breathtaking in its scope! They have listed the 40 countries of origin for grape varieties, many more than most people would ever imagine. Most might pick the European "big three" of Italy with 377 varieties, France with 204 and Spain with 84. But who could name many of the other countries of origin? An unlikely inclusion is Germany with 76 varieties, many of them bred in the past 60 years. The U.S. is an equal fourth also with 76 varieties. Readers from the eastern states familiar with indigenous grape varieties will not be surprised, nor might be those tional" varieties. But attempts to understand what varieties are out there, where they are grown and what wine styles they produce have been very difficult, as the information was never before in one source. There is an interesting story behind this book. At an initial meeting between the three authors in 2008, Vouillamoz proposed a book covering the few best known varieties, to include information about his specialty, which was grapevine genetics and DNA testing, and the origin of grapevines. Vouillamoz is a Swiss botanist who had been part of the University of California team under professor Carole Meredith that made pioneering studies into the parentage and origin of important grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon. Robinson's response to this proposal was typical: "Why not a book to cover all varieties from which commercial wine is made?" It was at the very least an extraordinary proposition, but they have done just that! The second author, Julia Harding, has extensively studied wine and has worked ElectroSteam_June08 with Robinson on several revisions of 4/8/08 2:40 PM Page 1 pr actica l win ery & vin eya rd APRIL 20 13 75