1824 · Milan
by HUBER, Vincenzo (fl. 1st half of the 19th cent.)
8vo (210x145 mm). LXXVI, 591, [1 blank], LXXIII, [1] pp. and 3 folding plates engraved by A. Rivelanti. Contemporary straight-grained dark blue morocco, spine gilt, gilt fillet borders and inner dentelles, yellow endpapers, edges gilt. Bassermann-Jordan bookplate on the upper pastedown. A very good copy.
The very much expanded second edition of this rare study of wine making in early 19th-century Italy. When one considers that the first edition (Estratto del saggio di enologia pratica, 1823) was one quarter the size of the current work, it could be argued that this second edition is a new work entirely.
In the Saggio di enologia pratica, Huber follows the method of wine making as invented by Mademoiselle Elizabeth Gervais, the first important female wine-maker in history. Her patent had been obtained through her brother in 1820 and word of her methods spread rapidly throughout Europe and the United States. Gervais' invention was to use a valve during fermentation that allowed for the expanding gas to escape while preventing additional oxygen from coming in. One added benefit of this method was that a greater portion of wine was preserved through the reduction in evaporation.
The current work begins with a useful 25-page index of the many subjects covered, followed by various chapters breaking down the steps in making wine (production, conservation, characteristics and quality of wines, with tables of their specific alcoholic content, etc.). In addition to the work of Gervais, Huber discusses the contributions of writers such as Bosc, Burel, Chaptal, Dandolo, Gay-Lussac, Herpin, and Leonardi. The wines and their grape varieties from the Austro-Hungarian Empire are covered (including Lombardy, Veneto, Tyrol, Istria, Dalmatia, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, and Transylvania) as well as those from Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Persia, Africa, and North and South America.
"In 1824, Jullien's acquaintance Vincenzo Huber published an extremely important oenological manual in which he argued the need to introduce new technological processes in wine production, based primarily on the progress of the study of chemical processes (Vincenzo Huber, Saggio di enologia pratica osia nuovo metodo di fare il vino e suoi vantaggi ..., Milano: Fratelli Sonzogno, 1824). Like many others, he added an overview of the world's most important vineyards, almost exclusively taking over Jullien's classification from the second edition of Topography [1822]. It is understandable that he paid the greatest attention to the Italian vinegrowing regions, where he corrected and elaborated Jullien's content. He presented other regions only superficially, emphasizing the most important ones. The description of Sremski Karlovci vinegrowing region is literally taken from the second edition of Topography, but without mention of Banat or Serbia within the Ottoman Empire. Huber's manual is extremely important for us because Sremski Karlovci vinegrowing region has been presented there for the first time in Italian" (A. Fotić, Vinopedia, online).
The plates show wine barrels, fermentation and bottling equipment, etc.
B.IN.G., 1036; Simon, Gastronomica, 867; Westbury, p. 122. (Inventory #: 206)
The very much expanded second edition of this rare study of wine making in early 19th-century Italy. When one considers that the first edition (Estratto del saggio di enologia pratica, 1823) was one quarter the size of the current work, it could be argued that this second edition is a new work entirely.
In the Saggio di enologia pratica, Huber follows the method of wine making as invented by Mademoiselle Elizabeth Gervais, the first important female wine-maker in history. Her patent had been obtained through her brother in 1820 and word of her methods spread rapidly throughout Europe and the United States. Gervais' invention was to use a valve during fermentation that allowed for the expanding gas to escape while preventing additional oxygen from coming in. One added benefit of this method was that a greater portion of wine was preserved through the reduction in evaporation.
The current work begins with a useful 25-page index of the many subjects covered, followed by various chapters breaking down the steps in making wine (production, conservation, characteristics and quality of wines, with tables of their specific alcoholic content, etc.). In addition to the work of Gervais, Huber discusses the contributions of writers such as Bosc, Burel, Chaptal, Dandolo, Gay-Lussac, Herpin, and Leonardi. The wines and their grape varieties from the Austro-Hungarian Empire are covered (including Lombardy, Veneto, Tyrol, Istria, Dalmatia, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, and Transylvania) as well as those from Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Persia, Africa, and North and South America.
"In 1824, Jullien's acquaintance Vincenzo Huber published an extremely important oenological manual in which he argued the need to introduce new technological processes in wine production, based primarily on the progress of the study of chemical processes (Vincenzo Huber, Saggio di enologia pratica osia nuovo metodo di fare il vino e suoi vantaggi ..., Milano: Fratelli Sonzogno, 1824). Like many others, he added an overview of the world's most important vineyards, almost exclusively taking over Jullien's classification from the second edition of Topography [1822]. It is understandable that he paid the greatest attention to the Italian vinegrowing regions, where he corrected and elaborated Jullien's content. He presented other regions only superficially, emphasizing the most important ones. The description of Sremski Karlovci vinegrowing region is literally taken from the second edition of Topography, but without mention of Banat or Serbia within the Ottoman Empire. Huber's manual is extremely important for us because Sremski Karlovci vinegrowing region has been presented there for the first time in Italian" (A. Fotić, Vinopedia, online).
The plates show wine barrels, fermentation and bottling equipment, etc.
B.IN.G., 1036; Simon, Gastronomica, 867; Westbury, p. 122. (Inventory #: 206)
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