Handbook of Enology Vol. 1

Denis Dubourdieu was born in Barsac, France on July 1, 1949 and grew up on the family wine estate. After studying agronomy and economics, he enrolled in the University of Bordeaux, where he earned a doctorate in 1978 with a dissertation on the molecular structure of grapes affected by botrytis. He received a second doctorate in 1982 with a dissertation on the filtering and clarifying of dessert wines. In 1987, he became a professor of enology at the University of Bordeaux.

He was a scientist, vineyard owner, and winemaker who modernized the white wines of Bordeaux. He helped revise and update the two-volume Handbook of Enology and was the enology adviser to the most recent edition of The Oxford Companion to Wine. In 2009, he played a main role in creating the Institute of Vine and Wine Sciences at the University of Bordeaux. In 2016, he was made a knight of the Legion of Honor for his contributions to French wine. He died of brain cancer on July 26, 2016 at the age of 67.

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