You can click here to see the foreword to the book or read a report about cold-tolerant, disease-resistant Eurasian grapes.

1. Introduction
The myth that grapes cannot be grown and fine wine cannot be produced beyond the northern reaches of the traditional winemaking world is challenged. Case studies illustrate current successful viticulture and winemaking efforts in the extreme climatic regions of Minnesota, Quebec, Latvia, and Belarus.

2. The Vine and Winter Cold
Why do my vines injure in some winters and not in others? This chapter provides a practical explanation of the physiological process of vine acclimation to cold and deacclimation to warm temperatures. It includes a discussion of weather conditions that affect cold hardiness and species differences in hardiness. A tutorial shows how to recognize winter injury to grapevines and how to heal winter-injured vines. Eight color plates illustrate classic winter injury symptoms.

3. Grape Varieties for Northern Viticulture
There are 16,000 different grape varieties documented in the literature. We note 34 varieties that are of special interest to winegrowers in northern regions because of their winter hardiness, their earliness of ripening, or their ability to set fruit in cold, wet weather. Based on extensive data collected personally and from research centers around the world, it provides much information never before offered in book form.

4. Fostering Vine Winter Survival
Detailed instructions on winter protection of grapevines are presented here, based on experiences from all over the northern grapegrowing world. Temperature-modifying effects of vineyard ground covers and the potential of super-hardy rootstocks to enhance the hardiness of grapevines are discussed.

5. Selecting a Vineyard Site
If you already have the regional climate going against you, just what do you need to look for in a vineyard site? This chapter describes some specific analyses of site that the perspective grape grower should perform while investigating real estate for a vineyard.

6. Training and Pruning Vines in the North
Training and pruning are the topics that most confuse the typical grape grower. This chapter discards most conventional training methods and focuses on just a handful of approaches that have been proven to result in high quality grapes under growing conditions in the far North. Dormant pruning is reduced to easy-to-compute and understand formulas that have proven successful in northern regions. Careful observation of vine growth and productivity are emphasized.

7. The Ripening Grape
The best grape growers outshine lesser growers in the northern grape growing world by their attention to the vines and fruit during the period from fruit set to harvest. Optimal exposure of the fruit and vegetation to the sun yields grapes that make the best wine. Special vine management techniques are described to produce uniformly well-ripened grapes. Deciding when your grapes are optimally ripe for winemaking, using some unconventional measures of ripeness is described.

8. Getting Started
What can a cold climate winemaker reasonably hope to achieve? What are the winemaking considerations in working with specific hybrid grape varieties? What lessons can be learned from vinifera winemaking and be applied to cold climate grapes? What equipment do you need?

9. Staying on the Path of Established Winemaking Practice
Winemaking basics, defined as "staying on the path", outlines steps that prevent the mistakes most often made by amateur winemakers and greatly simplifies what needs to be known in order to start making wine.

10. Thirteen Keys to Winemaking Quality
Winemakers must make decisions based on grape variety, condition of harvest, and wine style. The consequences of making wrong decisions are defined for each variable. Some of the decisions require detailed knowledge, specified in later chapters.

11. Winemaking Styles
Classic winemaking styles are defined to show how wines can be shaped to showcase the best a grape variety has to offer in a given year. The grape varieties we recommend are listed after each style that is most likely to be appropriate. Examples of mistakes in winemaking style are described.

12. What Can Go Wrong?
Problems and their likely causes are defined. Some problems can be detected early and minimized. How can corrections be made, and when are corrections not possible? Preventative measures are described to avoid repeating the observed problem.

13. Aging
How do well-made wines age differently from faulty wines? What does the aging pattern tell the winemaker about his wine? What wine characteristics can be expected to improve with age? What does aging unmask in problem wines?

14. Tasting and Evaluation
How do our senses work when evaluating wine? Develop, practice, and sharpen your evaluation skills. Get expert tasting help from others.

15. Fine Tuning and Balancing
How do you evaluate the present strengths and weaknesses of a wine before adjustment? Fine-tuning requires the use of a gentle hand in nudging wines in the right direction. Try to adjust the acid and the tannins before balancing.

16. Blending
Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your wines to see how blending can help. How does an ideal blending component differ from an ideal wine? Combine wine components in the right proportion for final balance. Blend for complexity to achieve multiple layers of taste.

17. Presentation: Appearance, Bottling, and Labeling
How do first impressions of a wine's appearance influence what smell and taste? Wine appearance is judged by clarity, color, and intensity. Specific bottle shapes and colors are associated with specific wine styles. What should your label convey?

Appendix A. Varieties
A compilation of data on growing and making wine from 30 grape varieties adapted to various types of cool and cold climates, including a color photo of each.

Appendix B. Resources
A comprehensive list of sources of northern grapevines and sources of grapegrowing and winemaking information around the colder parts of North America and Europe, including points of contact in associations and businesses, and links to their web sites.

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