Good winemaking books

[mashpaddled]

What are considered the quality winemaking books out there on the home level? Reviews on a lot of the books I see sold at homebrewing shops suggest they are riddled with dated and bad info.

Also, any recs on good natural winemaking books?

I am growing a couple vines in the garden principally for sour beer but that has made me curious to learn more about winemaking.

 

[bernardsmith]

By "natural" do you mean using only indigenous yeast or do you mean "country wines" - that is, wines made from flowers , fruit, herbs and vegetables?
One book that is basically OK is Country Wines by Pattie Vargas & Rich Gulling (1992, Garden Way Publ) . Another more scientific based book focused more on grape wines is by Daniel Pambianchi Techniques in Home Winemaking (2012, Vehicule Press). Techniques... can be used to make country wines too but Pambianchi is a first class professional wine maker based in Canada.

 

[MT_Keg]

+1 Techniques in Home Winemaking

 

[Blacksmith1]

I went through several free books on the wife's kindle. Then started looking on line and found a ton of info also for free. Then came here and learned a lot more....

 

[Erik the Awful]

My wife got me Wild Wine Making by Richard W. Bender. It was pretty inspirational to me to consider other ingredients, like jalapeno in my wines. I don't consider it as much of a technical manual.
Right now I'm borrowing The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart from my mother. It's not at all technical, but it's a good botanical primer on the different plants used around the world for wine, beer, and distilling.

 

[bernardsmith]

Thanks for this note. The Drunken Botanist looks like an interesting read. Just ordered a copy

 

[Jeff Wilson]

...The Drunken Botanist...

Loved that book! Another "inspirational" book (i.e., neither scientific nor technical) that I really enjoyed is Ancient Brews: Rediscovered and Re-created by Patrick E. McGovern. Not really "wine". Not really "beer". A bit of both and the history of concoctions in general. Covers some of the "ancient brews" that Dogfish Head made.