Wine Faults: Causes, Effects, Cures

Book excerpt: A precise and comprehensive description of the problems encountered at times by all winemakers and wine judges, Wine Faults covers the differences between flaws and faults, how flavors develop, how taste works, and how it differs from smell in the evaluation of wine. From there it tackles the increasing problems resulting from high alcohol wines as well as volatile acidity found in high pH wines common in some warm grape-growing regions. It also deals with the vegetal qualities of cool viticultural regions usually caused by methoxypyrazines and the occasional lady beetle. Every microbial infection found in today's wineries is fully described and arrayed in full color slides. Dense as the material may seem, the book is written in a manner that the layperson, or even the quality control professional who forgot that he ever took organic chemistry, can understand.