A Wine Growers Guide

Philip M. Wagner

From Amazon.com                                                

Back by popular demand, this guide to grape cultivation covers everything from establishing the vineyard to vine ailments. Suitable for both amateur and commercial growers, it considers viticulture conditions throughout North America.  It is published by the Wine Appreciation Guild.

Peak Oil Resources Review:

This is the cornerstone book  on wine making and viticulture.  Before one would ever deign to undertake the task of growing and tending vines for the purposes of producing wine, this book is the jumping off point if the goal is a successful vintage.   It does a wonderful job of explaining the history of American viticulture, its roots with its European counterparts, and what vines will likely suit an American grower in any particular region of the United States.  It is a delightful book which imparts a broader knowledge of the vine, the various environmental factors that ultimately affect it's fruit, and how wine is generally made. 

The immediate impression from the cover and the pictures in this book is that it is a touch on the dated side.  However, delving into the heart of the what makes a grape suitable for wine and the various factors at play in the process, makes it clear that this is an art and it is therefore timeless in its application.  Certainly there is science behind every aspect of the production of wine, but it is indeed most certainly an art. 

That viticulture is an art is apparent in the Wagner's writing style.  It is neither pretentious (as one may expect from a book on wine), nor is it written in a falsely "common" manner.  It is simply real... simply authentic.  His enthusiasm, his love for such a vocation is apparent.  One could say that Wagner's observations on the whole of the the wine-making process possesses something of a Chestertonian wit in how it is conveyed.  It is accessible and engaging in its presentation, but also very informative in it's content and delivery.  It cuts to the heart of things without being laborious.  In my estimation, Wagner was a gifted writer, the result of which was a truly enjoyable book.  As mentioned earlier, this is the jumping-off point, the book that must be read, before the first vine is planted.

Philip M. Wagner
Philip M. Wagner was the founder of Maryland's most well-known winery, Boordy Vineyards.  He was a former editor with The Baltimore Sun who pursued the art of wine-making in parallel.  He is credited with the introduction of the French-American hybrid grape varieties to the United States.