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"Viticulture" is an introduction to the professional world of growing grapes for wine production and is aimed at the serious student in the wine trade, WSET Diploma student or Master of Wine candidate. It is also aimed at anybody considering owning or planting a vineyard who wants a basic primer to the subject. It is written in an easy-to-read style, arranged in fourteen relatively short chapters and illustrated with over 100 photographs and charts. It covers every aspect of viticulture, starting with a chapter on vine physiology, continuing via varieties and rootstocks, vineyard establishment, and the annual cycle in the vineyard and ending with pests, diseases and vine nutrition. The book is all you need to know about grapegrowing in 167 pages and since it was first published in 2007 has sold over 10,000 copies all around the world. The 2nd Edition, published in late 2019, has been updated to take account of modern developments in vine growing.

Viticulture is an introduction to the world of growing grapes for wine production and aimed at the serious student in the wine trade, WSET Diploma student or Master of Wine candidate. It is also aimed at anybody considering owning or planting a vineyard who wants a basic primer to the subject. All you need to know about grapegrowing in 150 pages.

Wine Growing in Great Britain is an A to Z of growing grapes for wine production in the British Isles and other cool climate regions. For anyone contemplating planting and establishing a vineyard and for those already growing vines on a small scale who perhaps wish to expand their vineyards and improve their winegrowing skills, it will be an invaluable guide. It will also be of interest to students of viticulture and wine studies. The book covers not only the viticultural tasks involved in setting up, establishing and managing a vineyard, but also, uniquely, covers the financial aspects of cool climate wine growing: the costs of land, vineyard establishment and management, and the income from both grape and wine sales. The second edition, published in 2020, has been expanded and updated contains much unique data on yields and the performance of vineyards in Britain's different regions. Chapter 1 is a brief introduction to winegrowing in Great Britain, looking at the changes that have taken place over the last sixty years. Chapter 2 starts with the financial viability of a winegrowing enterprise, giving the likely costs of: buying suitable land, establishing a vineyard, managing that vineyard and the costs of making both still and sparkling wines. It then covers the possible income from the vineyard, covering the value of the grapes and the likely income from wine sales. Chapter 3 looks at the question of site selection, giving guidance on where the best places to plant a vineyard are and the reasons why site selection is the most important decision in the whole process. Chapter 4 covers the all-important aspect of varietal choice with full descriptions of thirty varieties - all those currently being grown in Great Britain in excess of 1.50-ha - together with a section on new vine varieties, clones of Chardonnay, Pinot noir and Meunier for sparkling wine and rootstocks suitable for Great Britain. Chapters 5-10 cover pruning and trellising systems, the planning and preparation of the site, vineyard nutrition, planting techniques, trellising systems, and the machinery and equipment required to manage a vineyard successfully. Chapters 11-16 cover the management of the vineyard from planting through to full cropping, frost protection, weed control, protected vinegrowing, and pest and disease control. Chapter 17 is devoted to the important topic of Trunk Diseases and Chapter 18 to Organic and biodynamic viticulture. Finally, Chapter 19 is on 'Getting started'. There then follow eight appendices: - Useful addresses - Vineyard pre-planting check list - Vineyard running costs - Vineyard machinery costs - The Agricultural Flat Rate Scheme - The story of Wrotham Pinot - The complete history of sparkling wine production in Great Britain - so far - Jack Ward, Horam Manor and the Merrydown Wine Company

It is 1615. Shakespeare is still alive and the country is at peace. James 1 of England (James VI of Scotland) has been on the throne since the childless Elisabeth I died in 1603. He claimed the throne by virtue of the fact that he was direct in line of descent from Henry VII, his great-grandfather. The English Navy, which had been founded as a standing force by Henry VIII and had defended the country from several Spanish Armadas during the Elisabethan era, had been neglected. It needed rebuilding and this meant new ships and plenty of stout English (and Welsh) oak. Luckily for James, one of his closest advisors was an admiral, Sir Robert Mansell, who having given up his naval career and become an industrialist and entrepreneur (as well as a Member of Parliament), saw an opportunity to secure his new-found business of coal mining and glass-making. Mansell applied to the King to grant him a patent forbidding the use of timber for smelting (mainly iron and glass) and on 23 May 1615 the papers were signed. Thus, with the stroke of his quill, the king started the industrial revolution that turned the British Isles from an agrarian economy, based upon wool, water power and wind power, to one where coal and steam brought about unimaginable developments in trade and industry. It was following the signing of the 1615 patent that glassmaking in Britain went from a peripatetic, nomadic business which chased the fuel from clearing to clearing in the dwindling forests, to one where the fuel travelled to the kilns. By virtue of the fact that kilns didn't have to move as the wood ran out, they could be bigger and better, brick-built with chimneys and flues, which made the glass stronger and more durable. It was into this exciting, changing world of glassmaking that Sir Kenelm Digby developed his strong verre Anglais bottles which enabled the production of (lightly) sparkling bottle-fermented ciders and wines.The Knight who invented Champagne is the story of King James I, Admiral Sir Robert Mansell and Sir Kenelm Digby and the part they played between 1615 and 1630 in revolutionising the production of glass. The changes they helped bring about led to the development and production of stronger glass that could be used for making bottles that would withstand the pressure caused by a secondary-fermentation in the bottle. By 1662 we know that it was common practice by cidermakers, vintners and coopers to add raisins and sugar to wine and cider at bottling to start a secondary fermentation in the bottle. All of this happened several years before Dom Perignon, often credited with 'inventing Champagne', took up his position as cellarer at the Abbaye Saint-Pierre d'Hautvillers.

Vine varieties, clones and rootstocks for vineyards in Great Britain is acomprehensive guide for anyone contemplating planting and establishing avineyard in Great Britain or other cool climates. It contains up-to-date data on the winegrowing industry in GB including yields and performance data, plantings and production levels. Much of this data has never been seen before. There are also detailed descriptions of the thirty-one most widely planted varieties with advice about future plantings and varieties to be grown. There is also a completely new chapter on PIWIs (disease resistant varieties) and hybrids. This covers the history of vine development from the mid-1800s to the present day. there is also a chapter on the PIWI and hybrid varieties being grown in GB as well as those which show potential to be planted in GB. This is the first time that some of these varieties have been written about in an English language publication.