Important personalities in the world of winemaking

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Emile Peynaud

milieu, starting out as a cellar worker with a Bordeaux

négociant firm when he was a teenager. He earned a doctorate from what was then called the Institute of Enology at the University of Bordeaux, where he taught enology.
His career as an enologist began in the 1930s, was interrupted during World War II, and ended when he retired in 1990, at the age of 78.

He consulted not just in Bordeaux but also in California, Chile, Spain, Peru, Mexico and elsewhere. In Italy, he worked for Antinori on its super Tuscan reds, Solaia and Tignanello; in Chile, for Concha y Toro; and in Bordeaux for classified-growths ranging from Margaux to fifth-growth Lynch-Bages in Pauillac.

in Bordeaux; with his books and consulting business, the University

of Bordeaux professor helped raise the standards of winemaking in Europe and in the New World.
Two books, The Taste of Wine and Knowing and Making Wine, became classics read by consumers as well as wine professionals.

was successful in:

convincing many proprietors of the importance of harvesting

fully ripe grapes;
aging the wine in clean, and often new, oak barrels;
accepting low acid levels in the grapes and wines;
controlling temperatures in the cellars, especially during fermentation.

Peynaud was a leading researcher in methods to stabilize wines, both whites and reds.

it required major changes. The châteaus were used to harvesting

early to protect their grapes from rot and to obtain high acid levels, which acted as a preservative against spoilage. Protection against spoilage was a concern because the châteaus used old oak vats that developed microbes, which could lead to off odors.

Soon, it became evident that the "Peynaud style" produced richer, riper, rounder wines. Lower acid levels made the wines more accessible, and more enjoyable, when they were young. New oak barriques and temperature-controlled equipment reduced the risks of spoilage and produced cleaner wines.

of a wine consultant.

"Person of the year".

of wine flavors, he identified ten classes of smells, creating

an aromatic school of wines of the XX century. Its basis is the influence of fermentation temperature on wine bouquets. Now sommeliers are trained according to his method.

"He has such a huge contribution to the philosophy of French wines, the like of which was not possible to make any resident of France," wrote Hugh Johnson about him.

Peynaud