First Timer Books???

[Va. Wine Drinker]

Hey everybody,
Been doing beer for a while and starting my research on making some wines. Can anybody reccommed some good starter books or a series to check into? Thanks!

Ben

 

[cpfan]

What sources are you planning on using?

Fruit ie grapes or berries or???

Grape juices from supermarket? or from brew shop?

wine kits?

something else?

Steve

 

[Va. Wine Drinker]

Steve, I have no idea.... This post has been my first attemp at researching the subject. The LHBS (Homebrew USA)has some kits but I don't know where I'm gonna get my grapes from. I may contact a winery and near the harvest next year and get some Cab Franc grapes or something. But that obviously doesn't help me now. I feel like I got the beer process down good and to be quite honest don't know where to start for wine. I read alot of books on brewing beer and was looking for something here that would give me the basics. I guess the instructions are in the kit. What should I do, just go get a good kit and make it? Then ask questions as I go? Thanks for the reply.

Ben

 

[cpfan]

Sounds like you should try a good quality kit. Follow the instructions, except extend the time frames once the wine is in carboy. I find that the books do not help much with kits. Some info in the books is actually contrary to accepted practice with a kit.

You can alos make wine from supermarket juices or frozen fruit or "a lot of other things".

Then you will be ready to make wine from grapes.

Steve

 

[blackcrk]

Hi Ben,

Please weight this response as a 5 out a maximum of 10 (I'm a homebrewer that is relatively new to wine making).

If you discover a Charlie Papazian quality book for wine making in your research, please let me know.

The standard here in VT seems to be C.J.J Berry's "First Steps in Winemaking". Covers a lot of area (country wines, etc.), originates in the UK, might be slightly outdated, index and table of contents leaves a lot to be desired, but worth the few dollars and time to read (IMHO). Be prepared to read it thoroughly and mark important pages with post-its to mark the things you didn't recognize or you think might be important. If you don't use the the post-its or other marking system, you are likely to find yourself hunting through the book later, if you read the book carefully.

As a beer homebrewer, I suggest there is enough of a difference between making wine and beer that even with a kit, you will want to read a winemaking book such as Berry's "First Steps".

please understand, this is not an endorsement, just the best I found here so far.

 

[Luc]

Ben,

On my web-log on the right side there is a list of
free downloadable winemaking books.
A few pretty good ones are included.

you can download them and print them freely.

www.wijnmaker.blogspot.com

Luc

 

[Manimal]

One book that I highly recommend for anyone seriously interested in winemaking, whether you're a novice or an experienced veteran, is Daniel Pambianchi's "Techniques in Home Winemaking: The Comprehensive Guide to Making Chateau-Style Wines." It focuses solely on grape wines, though, so if you're looking for recipes for country wines, you'll be out of luck. It's the most thorough and up-to-date book I have found so far. It covers pretty much every subject you'll need to know about and it has lots of handy tables and appendices for quick reference when you need them. If you can't get it at your local bookstore, I think you can order it online from the following website www.vehiculepress.com

 

[Va. Wine Drinker]

Thanks allot gents. Now i know what direction to head in.

Ben

 

[aaron4osu]

i checked these out from the library. them seem pretty good.
"The Home Winemaker's Companion: Secrets, Recipes, and Know-How for Making 115 Great-Tasting Wines"

"Home Winemaking Step-by-Step"