Since the discovery of the role of yeast and alcoholic fermentation in transforming grape juice into wine in the 19th century, many scientific experiments in microbiology, biochemistry and chemistry have provided the basis for accurate definitions of the technological practices used in making different wines and continuous improvements in production conditions, as well as, consequently, the quality of the various types of wine.

In 1999, the first edition of the Handbook of Enology Volume 2 "The chemistry of wine, stabilization and treatments" provided an overview of scientific knowledge at that time and its application in techniques commonly used during the second stage in winemaking, including stabilizing the wine, any treatments required, clarification, and aging processes in vats and barrels.

This new edition reaps the benefits of new developments based on the latest findings produced by extremely active scientific research in this field. There have been significant changes in the new version, including in-depth modifications to present updated knowledge as well as additional paragraphs covering entirely new topics. Altogether, the new edition has approximately 10% more pages than the previous version.

This new, updated handbook provides valuable information for winemakers, enology students, and, in general, for biochemistry and microbiology specialists interested in the scientific and technical issues involved in vinification.