—————————————————————————————————–
I remember a Master of Wine at the time trying to convince me that I should do the examinations for the qualification (this is a seriously difficult and time-consuming pursuit – it has been available for around seventy years and there are only 431 MWs in total). All I had to do, he insisted, was read Jancis’s book a couple of times. Might have worked for the theory but I’m not sure how that would have got me over the line with the tasting.
Anyway, this was not that long after I had finished my legal studies and more exams held about as much attraction as a glass of warm Savvy.
Some details. The new Oxford Companion has more than 4,100 entries and runs for around 900 pages. At three columns per page, this tallies more than a million words. An astonishing achievement, coming in at 3.2 kilograms. It is 25% larger than its predecessor. As well as updating all the entries already in existence, over 300 new topics have been added.
The updating was thorough. Obviously, some things do not change but the team estimates around 65% of the entries in the fourth edition required amendments and updating. It is fascinating (well, at least it is to me), that Ms Harding has commented that there have been far more advances and changes in the world of viticulture than we have seen in winemaking. Given climate change, this was probably inevitable.
Among the new entries – blockchain, the carbon footprint of wine, Jim Clendenen, underwater ageing, Easter Island, celebrity wines, Finland, stabulation, Frankland River, Uganda, glou-glou, paper bottles, growlers, zero-zero and zymurgy, among so many more.
If you are wondering, zero-zero refers to wines with nothing added and nothing subtracted. Zymurgy is the study or practice of fermentation and brings with it, the delightful comment that it is a word, “more useful in Scrabble than in everyday life”. For the others, you’ll need a copy of the book.
The information regarding the final definition of Italian single vineyards (looking at UGA and MGA) will be welcomed by many.
—————————————————————————————————–
