Where Have You Found Excellent WM Info?

[NoSnob]

This board is a great place for all new winemakers (and veterans) to get advice. Sometimes, new winemakers do not know exactly what it is they need to know because their experience is limited. Then, too, newbies may need very prompt responses to help them out of a perceived pinch.

As we progress in our craft we realize that simple advice may not be enough and what we need is not just opinion about what we need to do but good information about why we do it. That means learning best practices - what to do & why. That's where good references come into play. I encourage winemakers to continue to learn by consulting authoritative sources of information. It may mean online videos (be careful), winemaking pamphlets, DVDs, magazines, or books.

What authoritative source(s) of information have you found useful?

I'll start by mentioning my favorites:
1. Winemaker Magazine (both print & online)
2. Home Winemaking for Dummies (Tim Patterson, 2011, Wiley)
3. Techniques in Home Winemaking (Daniel Pambianchi, 2012, Vehicule)
4. The Winemaker's Answer Book (Alison Crowe, 2007, Storey)

How about yours?

NS

 

[waynep]

My father-in-law! He's made a lot of wine over the years and it's very good. I call him and record the phone calls (with his permission). I also have a few books.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Lum Eisenmans Wine Making Book

This is years old but explains the science of wine making. Print out a copy for yourself.

Here is the link
http://www.winebook.webs.com

Aside from that right here with the wine making veterans.

 

[sour_grapes]

Lum Eisenmans Wine Making Book

This is years old but explains the science of wine making. Print out a copy for yourself.

Here is the link
http://www.winebook.webs.com

Aside from that right here with the wine making veterans.

That is great, Steve. I hadn't come across this source before.

For some reason, my DNS is not finding that link right now (although it appears to be correct). Here is another place I found to download it: https://www.erowid.org/chemicals/alcohol/alcohol_article2_winemakers_manual.pdf

 

[Boatboy24]

I like Winemaker mag. I read Home Winemaking for Dummies, but before I actually started making wine. So a lot of it didn't make complete sense to me. I should go back and read it again.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Paul, it opens on my iPhone.

Years ago I downloaded it, deleted photos, changed margins and type style plus made some graphs smaller. Condensed it from a couple hundred pages to under 200 I believe.

Ran it out and read it numerous times. Excellent source of wine making techniques and fixes. Put it in its own binder for easy reference. Despite it being large you can command F search the book online to find something specific precisely in your downloaded copy.

 

[JohnT]

Growing up, there have been a whole bunch of sources of info..

Tasting rooms, believe it or not, are a great source of info, especially for small wineries. More times than not, I can hunt down and pick the brain of the actual winemaker himself. I have found that if you have questions, and passion for the craft, most will be more than happy to talk with you. Pair this with actually tasting what the maker is talking about, and you can not help but learn.

There is also my family (father, uncle, and also my 2nd cousin that runs the family winery in Hungary).

There have been hundreds of books! Some geared for the romantic (and not so informative beyond painting a picture with words), but many more that were process and science driven.

I found that (early on especially) the pros working at local supply stores are also a good source of info. Be careful though, you can occasionally come across those that just want to sell you something.

Then there is my own experiences and failures. If a disaster happens, I made it a point to know everything about WHY the problems occurred and then take steps to ensure that it never happens again. Several wine labs have been very helpful in this area.

And then, there is this forum. Most here are very experienced and really know what they are doing. Many are even Pros.

With all of the above, and a couple of decades of experience, you can arrive at a point where you are marginally comfortable in your acquired knowledge. The most important thing to remember is that one can never know everything. My learning continues, even after 26 years!

 

[salcoco]

go to morewinemaking .com. they have number of manuals on different aspects of wine making also a complete books free for downloading on white and red winemaking. also Jack Keller web site is a great resource on many items.

 

[jethro]

I learned about winemaking from reading this forum, and from the Yahoo groups winemaking forum (which I since stopped reading), and from
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/basics.asp

Thanks, Steve, for the URL of Eisenman's book. I will read it next.

 

[Boatboy24]

go to morewinemaking .com. they have number of manuals on different aspects of wine making also a complete books free for downloading on white and red winemaking. also Jack Keller web site is a great resource on many items.

Thanks Sal - I had forgotten how much I learned from their manuals. The one on red winemaking is a fantastic overview fit into several pages. Their manual on malolactic fermentation removed all the mystery from the process for me and really made it easy to understand.