What is your favourite book on winemaking?

Xlev · Jun 18, 2023

I thought it might be interesting to see what books about winemaking do you like the best?

I can start by saying that I only read Modern Home Winemaking by Pambianchi and I absolutely love it.Reading it for the second time now. I have just ordered 2 more books

Red Wine Enology: Tannin and Redox Management in Red Wines

And

Acidity management in must and wine, both books by Volker Scneider. No idea if they are good yet or if the information is useful for a home wine maker.

What have you read? You can also share any online resources if you like.

BigDaveK · Jun 18, 2023

My perspective is as a relatively new country wine maker and I've collected a number of used books from Ebay and other sources.

CJJ Berry is good with "First Steps In Winemaking" and "Amatuer Winemaker Recipes".
T. Edwin Belt "Flower, Leaf, and Sap Wines" and "Vegetable, Herb, and Cereal Wines".
Leo Zanelli "Home Winemaking from A to Z".
Terry Garey "The Joy of Home Winemaking".
Margaret Crowther "Making Wine From Fruits, Roots, and Flowers".

I have many more. For a fun historical book it's "A Treatise On Family Wine Making" by P.P. Carnell written in 1814. Seems to be a mix of voodoo, alchemy, and luck. Amazing they made something drinkable.

vinny · Jun 18, 2023

BigDaveK said:
Seems to be a mix of voodoo, alchemy, and luck. Amazing they made something drinkable.

Never underestimate the power of a good spell!

Jovimaple · Jun 18, 2023

I have Home Winemaking: The Simple Way to Make Delicious Wine, by Jack Keller. He was famous in winemaking circles for fermenting many (non-grape) fruits and vegetables. He was working on this book when he passed away, and his family finished it and published it.

His recipes are often a light little on flavor and high on alcohol, but give good guidance. It's easy to take one of his recipes and tweak it, such as adding more fruit to add more flavor.

winemaker81 · Jun 18, 2023

Online? I read the Australian Wine Research Institute, as a lot of their published worked are understandable by non-PhD's (a lot of technical papers are written by PhD's who are trying to impress other PhD's). I also utilize WineMakerMag.com, which to geared towards amateurs.

Books? I haven't purchased wine books in a long time. Wagner's Grapes into Wine is a great resource, with the understanding it was first written in the 1930's.

Rice_Guy · Jun 18, 2023

Top two books: The new Cider Makers Handbook, Jolicour and Mead Maker, Schram. Why? both books explain why. My impression is Pembachi just assumes we’all do grape and can ignore some of the rules.
The Beverage People: Fermentors Warehouse has some excellent web articles one can download
The AWRI is excellent, they have university grade tools that explain why?