Practical Field Guide to Grapegrowing and Vine Physiology

Written as both an examination of applied theory of grapegrowing and a handy manual for the working viticulturist, the Practical Field Guide to Grapegrowing and Vine Physiology serves as a necessary complement to all the processes of modern viticulture in the variety of climates where grapes are grown.

Organized by growing cycles, the Field Guide gives detailed prescriptions for managing each season’s unique processes, such as

Winter

·       vine dormancy

·       root growth

·       canopy training

·       different root stocks

·       identifying various pathogens and bacteria

 

Spring

·       bud burst

·       flower cluster development

·       canopy construction

 

Summer

·       berry growth through veraison

·       respiration rate

·       water and nitrogen usage

·       phenolic metabolism

·       vigor control

·       irrigation and dry farming

 

Autumn

·       yield estimates

·       harvest

·       mechanical vs. hand harvesting

·       post-harvest vine management 

 

Also included are detailed studies on proper grapevine adaption to specific sites, and different agricultural systems, such as industrial, organic, sustainable and biodynamic.

“(The Field Guide’s) greatest value originates in its authors, each of whom deals with vineyard management in all seasons and a great range of terroirs and the physiological interpretation for each.”-- Mario Fregoni, Professor Emeritus of Viticulture, University of Piacenza and Honorary President of I.O.V. (International Organization du Vin)

 

Daniel Schuster’s nearly 50 years in the cellars and vineyards of some of world’s most renowned wineries, including his own, Daniel Schuster Wines of New Zealand, have made him one of the world most respected living viticulturalists. He is featured in a permanent exhibition at the National Museum of American History in the Smithsonian Institution of Washington D.C. for his contribution to the evolution of the modern Californian wine industry. Schuster is the co-author of Grape Growing and Wine Making for Cool Climates.

After a decade of distinguished vineyard management work in the Italian corporate wine world, in 1999 Laura Bernini became a freelance viticultural agronomist working in Tuscany and Umbria.

Andrea Paoletti was the longtime manager of Antinori Chianti Classico companies, before becoming a freelance consultant, working in established vineyard locations in the US, Hungary and Italy, to resurgent ones in Turkey, Montenegro and Georgia.