Science, Vine and Wine in Modern France

by Harry W. Paul

• ISBN13: 9780521497459
• ISBN10: 0521497450
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-09-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Science, Vine and Wine in Modern France examines the role of science in the civilization of wine in modern France. Viticulture, the science of the vine itself, and oenology, the science of winemaking, are its subjects. Together they can boast of at least two major triumphs: the creation of the post-phylloxera vines that repopulated late-nineteenth-century vineyards devastated by the disease; and the understanding of the complex structure of wine that eventually resulted in the development of the widespread wine models of Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Champagne. This is the first analysis of the scientific battle over the best way to save the French vineyards and the first account of the growth of oenological science in France since Chaptal and Pasteur.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures	vi	(1)
Acknowledgments	vii	(1)
Map of France	viii
Introduction	1	(8)
Part I Reinventing the Vine for Quality Wine Production	9	(188)
1 Death and Resurrection in the Phylloxeric Vineyard	9	(35)
2 Scientific Programs for the Spread of the Grafted Vine	44	(21)
3 Direct-Production Hybrids: Quality Wines?	65	(34)
4 The Fall of the Hybrid Empire and the Vinifera Victory	99	(24)
Part II Laying the Foundations of Oenology	123	(74)
5 Jean-Antoine Chaptal	123	(32)
6 Louis Pasteur	155	(42)
Part III Oenology in Champagne, Burgundy, and Languedoc	197	(78)
7 Champagne: The Science of Bubbles	197	(33)
8 Burgundy: The Limits of Empirical Science	230	(30)
9 Languedoc:-Roussillon: Innovations in Traditional Oenology	260	(15)
Part IV Oenology in Bordeaux	275	(60)
10 The Pasteurian Oenology of Ulysse Gayon	275	(13)
11 The Ionic Gospel of the New Oenology	288	(39)
12 The Institute of Oenology	327	(8)
Conclusion: Mopping-up Operations or Contemporary Oenology as Normal Science	335	(14)
Select Bibliography	349	(4)
Index	353