Wine Making Books

Make extraordinary homemade wines from everything but grapes! Exotic wines, honey meads, spicy metheglins and fruity melomels - there’s no end to the great-tasting elixirs you can make using ingredients from your local market and even your own backyard!

You’ll find easy, step-by-step winemaking instructions plus memorable recipes, including:

- Apricot Wine
- Dry Mead
- Marigold wine
- Almond Wine
- Cherry Melomel
- Cranberry Claret
- Pea Pod Wine
- Lemon-Thyme Metheglin
- Strawberry Wine
- Rose Hip Melomel

Like a lively course from an expert teacher, The Wine Bible grounds the reader deeply in the fundamentals while layering on informative asides, tips, amusing anecdotes, definitions, glossaries, photos (all new for this edition), maps, labels, and recommended bottles. Karen MacNeil’s information comes directly through primary research; for this second edition she has tasted more than 10,000 wines and visited dozens of wine regions around the world. New to the book are wines of China, Japan, Mexico, and Slovenia. And through it all the reader becomes ever more informed—and, because of the author’s unique voice, always entertained: “In great years Pétrus is ravishing, elegant, and rich—Ingrid Bergman in red satin.” Or, describing a Riesling: “A laser beam. A sheet of ice. A great crackling bolt of lightning.”

Discover how to taste with focus and build a wine-tasting memory. The reason behind Champagne's bubbles. Italy, the place the ancient Greeks called the land of wine. An oak barrel's effect on flavor. Sherry, the world's most misunderstood and underappreciated wine. How to match wine with food - and mood

Plus everything else you need to know to buy, store, serve, and enjoy the world's most captivating beverage.

Sake began with a grain of rice. Scotch emerged from barley, tequila from agave, rum from sugarcane, bourbon from corn. Thirsty yet? In The Drunken Botanist, Amy Stewart explores the dizzying array of herbs, flowers, trees, fruits, and fungi that humans have, through ingenuity, inspiration, and sheer desperation, contrived to transform into alcohol over the centuries.

Of all the extraordinary and obscure plants that have been fermented and distilled, a few are dangerous, some are downright bizarre, and one is as ancient as dinosaurs—but each represents a unique cultural contribution to our global drinking traditions and our history.

This fascinating concoction of biology, chemistry, history, etymology, and mixology—with more than fifty drink recipes and growing tips for gardeners—will make you the most popular guest at any cocktail party.

As one of the most ancient of human beverages, mead arose in part because it was easy to make. Today’s hobbyists rediscover the simplicity of making mead while reveling in the range of flavors that can result. In The Compleat Meadmaker, veteran beverage hobbyist Ken Schramm introduces the novice to the wonders of mead. With easy-to-follow procedures and simple recipes, he shows how you can quickly and painlessly make your own mead at home. In later chapters he introduces flavorful variations on the basic theme that lead to meads flavored with spice, fruits, grapes and even malt.

Uncork all the answers! Alison Crowe, WineMaker magazine’s popular ‘Wine Wizard’, supplies practical, easy-to-follow answers to every question and problem that stands between you and your perfect vintage - from choosing the raw ingredients to fully understanding the mysteries of fermentation. Smooth and well-balanced, this broad range of wine making solutions will satisfy the most inquisitive vintner.

Here are just a few of the questions that you will find answers to:

- What could cause a bitter or tart taste in a cherry wine?
- What are the guidelines for aging and storing country fruit or vegetable wines?
- How are egg whites used as a fining agent?
- Is it possible to add too much yeast?

Build your own winery! Learn how to set up a home winery and construct all the basic equipment for just a fraction of what commercially manufactured products would cost. Leading you through the entire winemaking process, Steve Hughes includes building plans and step-by-step instructions for making more than 30 essential winemaking tools. From fashioning presses and pumps to the best way to fill and cork bottles, The Homebuilt Winery covers everything you need to know to affordably enjoy delicious, high-quality homemade wine.

From the Back Cover:
Whether you have a cellar stocked with homemade vintages or are a recent convert to the rewards of home winemaking, you are likely to need some new equipment. The Homebuilt Winery provides complete building plans for 43 winemaking projects, pieces that facilitate the entire process of turning grapes into wine - from crushing and destemming to bottling and labeling. Each project includes thorough step-by-step instructions, building diagrams, an illustration of the completed piece, and instructions for use.

A home winemaker and experienced builder himself, Steve Hughes understands every step in the winemaking process and has designed projects that are useful and durable, yet easy to build with only basic carpentry skills and materials. Using his building plans, you can do anything from replacing a few worn pieces to building an entire home winery.

From breaking ground to savoring the finished product, every aspect of growing flawless grapes and making extraordinary wine is covered in this classic guide. Fully illustrated instructions clearly show you how to choose and prepare a vineyard site; build effective trellising systems; select, plant, prune, and harvest the right grapes for your climate; press, ferment, age, and bottle wine; and judge wine for clarity, color, aroma, and taste. This revised and updated edition features all-new information on creating your own sparkling wines, ice wines, port-style wines, and dessert wines.

Raise a glass of homemade burgundy and enjoy the fruits of your labor. This informative guide provides an overview of the entire home winemaking process, from the vine (or the boxed kit) to your glass. With more than 100 recipes for a wide range of delicious wines, ports, and champagnes, you’re sure to find a wine to suit your taste. Clear diagrams for setting up your equipment and fail-safe instructions ensure that your home winemaking will be a success.

From The Back Cover:
Few pleasures are more gratifying than pouring a glass of fine wine, admiring its clarity and color, savoring its rich bouquet, raising it to your lips, and knowing that you made it yourself. With this complete guide to home winemaking, such pleasure can be yours with little fuss and lots of fun. The Home Winemaker's Companion will guide you as you progress from making your very first batch of kit wine to mastering advanced techniques for making wine from fresh grapes. Included are Gene Spaziani's tried-and-true recipes for 115 delectable wines…even port and champagne! Making consistently great wine at home is easy; the hardest part is being patient while your wine ages!