Viticulture book by Australian authors wins major international prize

The book ‘The Grapevine: from the science to the practice of growing vines for wine’ has received international recognition by winning an Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin (OIV) prize in the viticulture section of the OIV 2012 book awards.

Each year the OIV awards prizes to books that have made a significant contribution to the knowledge of a particular discipline and that are judged to be the best books published in each discipline for that year. ‘The Grapevine: from the science to the practice of growing vines for wine’ was judged as providing a comprehensive review of the literature and its application to the practice of viticulture.

Patrick Iland, one of the authors and Director of Patrick Iland Wine Promotions, publishers of the book, said that this is a great achievement for the authors. The OIV awards are highly regarded and sought after as these prizes are only awarded to books judged by an international panel of specialists as being of exceptional standard.

The book is written by four of Australia’s leading viticulture scientists — Dr Patrick Iland, Dr Peter Dry, Dr Tony Proffitt and Professor Steve Tyerman. Patrick Iland and Peter Dry are past lecturers in The School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, The University of Adelaide. Patrick Iland now writes and publishes educational wine books and is a Visiting Research Fellow at The University of Adelaide. Peter Dry is an Adjunct Associate Professor at The University of Adelaide and a viticulture consultant at The Australian Wine Research Institute. Tony Proffitt is a viticulture consultant based in Western Australia and lectures in the Department of Environment and Agriculture at Curtin University. Steve Tyerman, one of the world’s leading researchers in vine physiology, is the Chair of Viticulture in the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, The University of Adelaide.

Together, these authors provide an up-to-date, thoughtful, comprehensive and interesting account of the scientific principles relating to the practice of viticulture. The book is of interest to a wide range of people including scientists, students and practitioners and to anyone involved in viticulture and winemaking as, while it focuses on theory, it also contains practical aspects of growing vines for wine.