Books

[Spinmaster]

I'm currently reading Home Winemaking for Dummies. I'm new to home wine making so I don't know how useful it really is but I feel like I've learned some things.

Are there any books that anyone would recommend to help educate a novice wine maker?

 

[Tnuscan]

" Techniques in Home Winemaking " by Daniel Pambianchi.

 

[Boatboy24]

I started with the 'Dummies' book and also have one other. And I can't recall what that is because I've never opened it. Didn't finish the 'Dummies' book either. Almost everything I've learned was from this site.

 

[Scooter68]

I bought one that is highly technical and oriented 90% towards wine making with grapes AND it's a bit dated as it doesn't even mention pH meters.

Don't buy one online - go to a book store and review it well before purchasing. This site is great but sometimes it's nice to have the information in black and white right in front of you as you work.

 

[mainshipfred]

New to wine making since Christmas. With my kit a received " Techniques in Home Winemaking " by Daniel Pambianchi. I am about half way through it. The reason being the first part is easy reading and lots of good information. Now I'm in the more technical information and the reading gets a little (maybe a lot) harder but still very informative. I am a math major and my brain always tells me there is one correct answer. However from what I learned so far through the internet and this forum this is not the case in wine making. I think the basics are the same but after that it up to your personal taste and expectations. I guess that is why they call it artisan. So far "Techniques in Home Winemaking" has really consistent information with regard to most of the other information I have gathered.

Hope my newbee info helps!

 

[Johny99]

Ditto for Daniels book. I have every wine making and growing book I can get my hands on. If you get only one, Daniel's is the best.

 

[BernardSmith]

...I am a math major and my brain always tells me there is one correct answer. However from what I learned so far through the internet and this forum this is not the case in wine making....

Hi Mainshipfred - and welcome. I think the key idea is that wine making is a little like medicine - It's both a science and an art. In medicine there is a scientific basis for any diagnosis and treatment, so in wine making. Anything else is quackery, but the scientific basis is never enough to determine whether this particular patient, aged 85 with these other factors should be treated in this way or that way or whether this particular patient presenting with these very specific symptoms is in fact suffering from condition X and not condition Y. The art comes in the way the doctor knows how to make sense of what are important factors in this case and what is more or less "noise". The rank newbie tends not to know what data to look for. Period. The more seasoned student wine maker (or doctor) tends to see everything as data - much of which appears to be contradictory, while the expert tends to be able to effortlessly pluck the data from the background noise. Indeed, IMO, that is what always separates the expert from the non expert - the expert's perception of what information is critical and what is dross. And I say all this with the perception that 95% of what is self published on line is dross.

 

[mainshipfred]

Thanks Bernard, appreciate your words of wisdom. I am at the point of only having enough information to be dangerous and do not yet know what to or not to believe. But I am having a lot of fun learning.

 

[Spinmaster]

It seems the general consensus from this thread and others I have managed to uncover is that Daniel Pambianchi's Techniques in Home Winemaking is the book to go to next. Thanks for the feedback everyone.

 

[dcbrown73]

I have a three books. Though, I'm mostly only read the Daniel Pambianchi so far.

Techniques in Home Winemaking: The Comprehensive Guide to Making Château-Style Wines

Creating World Class Red Wine - This one is free on Amazon Kindle

Finally, Wine Making: How to Make Your Own Wine at Home

 

[Spinmaster]

Does anyone know of a way to get "Techniques in Home Winemaking" in an electronic version.

 

[Johny99]

Does anyone know of a way to get "Techniques in Home Winemaking" in an electronic version.

I haven't seen it, but you could ask him on his blog

http://www.techniquesinhomewinemaking.com/blog/

 

[Floandgary]

If you're any good at separating the wheat from the chaff, grapes from the stems, etc. ,,, Simply stay tuned to this site and eventually you will be exposed to every "trick" in any book!!!

 

[meadmaker1]

I would like to find a published log book.
An organized ot for all readings ta ph sg ect dates times temps notes ect.
To help me stay diaplined. Perhaps with some basic formulas on inside cover.
If it asked for a record I can fill I'd know I need to learn something.
Does this exist.
Electronic doesn't work well for me. Lost in the machine!!!!