Winemaking: Recipes, Equipment, and Techniques for Making Wine at Home

Practical suggestions for equipment, where to purchase it and techniques are explained in a straightforward fashion. With a relative small cash outlay and this book, you can be well on your way to an interesting hobby.


Great 'recipe book' for beginning winemakers   January 30, 2001
 14 out of 14 found this review helpful

Some books are meant to be read, and others are meant to be used. This one definitely falls into the second category. Spiral bound, this falls neatly open to whichever wine recipe you are currently working on. There are recipes for apricot wine, kiwi fruit wine, ruby port, sparkling wine, and everything in between.

There are also photos and descriptions of winemaking equipment, explanations of how to fortify wine, troubleshooting techniques, and much more.

True, not all ingredients are readily available everywhere. Many recipes require trial and error before they become perfect for your palate. That's the same for any recipe, though. Find out what raw materials you have available, open the book to the recipes which match your fruits, and have at it. You'll find that using this book as a springboard, you'll soon be amazing your friends and pleasing your palate with a product made right in your own basement.


4/99 A good beginner book and reference for the amateur.   April 22, 1999
 37 out of 38 found this review helpful

I'd like to clarify by suggesting 4 stars for a beginner interested in beginning home winemaking and 3 stars for an amateur home winemaker. Regarding beginners interested in winemaking, this is a good starter book with explanations for the ingredients you're using without too much science getting in the way. I feel that this book should be used in conjunction with other books (perhaps Joy of Home Winemaking) to give potential hobbyists a better feel for winemaking. There are numerous recipes for fruits, berries, vinifera & hybrid grapes, and straight concentrates. The reservations I hold against the book is that I suspect it was written more for the west coast hobbyist with better access to some ingredients (ie. certain grape concentrates, brands of yeasts and acids), but that shouldn't prevent anyone from producing wine with this book. (3 stars) Amateurs already familiar with a couple of batches should find this a useful reference because of the variety of recipes and equipement techniques & usage.


Very informative but full of recipe errors and omissions.   November 4, 1997
 17 out of 18 found this review helpful

I've been studying the book now for a couple months and am both impressed with the detail and dissapointed in the inaccuracies. The apple and pear recipies I've tried were way off on volumes and the scrumpy recipe was literally impossibe. You may need some experience to know how to change some of the recipes to make them workable. Other- wise there is wealth of good info and I recommend the book very much in spite of its weaknesses.