The Art of Making Wine (Plume)

With more than 100,000 copies in print, The Art of Making Wine is by now the definitive step-by-step guide for the serious amateur or beginning winemaker. Experienced vintners Anderson and Hull provide more than fifty recipes for making any kind of fruit. For the adventurous winemaker, they give guidelines for endless experimentation. Table reds, whites, and roses, sparkling wines, sherries, and Madeiras can be made from grapes; while apples, pears, currants, blackberries, apricots, plums, and figs even bananas and passion fruit make delicious fruity wines. You can even experiment with dandelions, rose hips, honey, or herbs. The authors provide details on:

Starting your home winery without spending a cent using easy-to-find household items;

Choosing and buying fruit, or using specially marketed concentrates or wine bases;

Making a yeast starter; do s and don t s of sugar, acid, and temperature control; measuring alcohol content;

Equipment for the more sophisticated winemaker, and all you need to know about bottles, barrels, corks, and racks;

Common problems from musty-smelling wine to exploding bottles and how to solve them.

Whether you are a traditionalist looking for new ideas or a beginner who has suddenly acquired a lot of fruit and needs to use it fast, you are certain to find inspiration here.