PARIS - Emile Peynaud, a wine expert credited with major advances in the way wine is made and consumed, has died after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. He was 92.

Peynaud died Sunday at his home in the town of Talence, outside Bordeaux, said Yvonne Peynaud, his wife.

Born in the winemaking town of Madiran in southwestern France, Peynaud was hired by the Calvet winery in Bordeaux as a trader at age 15.

After World War II, when he was imprisoned by the Nazis, he studied the best way to taste, smell and evaluate balance in wine.

His most significant work came advising winemakers after the war, a former colleague said. He recommended they focus on using the best grapes, control temperatures in fermentation and improve cellar hygiene.

"This was not a man who brought a specific recipe to wines, but a global conception," said Jacques Blouin, a former head of wines at the Bordeaux region's Agriculture Department. "I don't believe there's anyone in the wine world today who hasn't at least at one point made reference to him."

Peynaud was the author of two classic books about wine, "Knowing and Making Wine" and "The Taste of Wine."

Besides his wife, Peynaud is survived by a daughter, a son and five grandchildren. He was buried Wednesday.