The WineMaker Guide to Home Winemaking: Craft Your Own Great Wine * Beginner to Advanced Techniques and Tips * Recipes for Classic Grape and Fruit Wines

by WineMaker

This comprehensive guide from WineMaker magazine—packed with recipes, expert advice, step-by-step photos, and more—is the resource you need to make your own great wine at home.

Home winemakers around the world have turned to the experts at WineMaker  magazine for more than two decades. From well-tested recipes to expert troubleshooting , WineMaker sets the standard for quality. Now, the editors known for publishing the best information on making incredible wine at home have set the new standard for how-to books on winemaking. In The  WineMaker Guide to Home Winemaking , you’ll find the best of the best when it comes to techniques, recipes, tips, and more.

The book is built to be a first-time winemaker’s companion , explaining the entire process from start to finish with helpful photography. Yet it has plenty to offer those who are more experienced , as well, including advanced techniques for blending, testing, creating sparkling wines and fruit wines, and barrel aging. Inside these pages you’ll Whether you’re looking to get into winemaking, up your game, or find inspiration for your next wine, let WineMaker be your guide.

224 pages, Paperback

Published January 16, 2024

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

*** Thank you to NetGalley, Quarto Publishing Group and Harvard Common Press for providing access to this book in exchange for an honest review ***

I am not sure what I was expecting when I picked up this title. Before this book, I had no experience dealing with the process of making wine. I only drink wine casually as well. It was shocking to learn how technical the wine making process is. This is definitely not a hobby you can just pick up on a whim and enjoy casually. This is more like a science where it requires attention and dedication to put out the type of flavor you're looking for.

This is great knowledge to have, and I appreciated the reading experience. I would definitely recommend this to anyone truly interested in dedicating time and attention to detail in making their own wine at home.

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This will be great for people wanting to make modern, sophisticated wine. I love making wine but I typically make country wines and I make them the simple, old fashioned way. I don’t have hundreds of dollars worth of supplies, I don’t use chemical additives and yeast nutrients, and I certainly don’t buy cans of concentrated Riesling grape juice. I use wild grapes, backyard grapes, backyard fruits like rhubarb and cherries, foraged fruits like elderberries, mulberries and black raspberries, and so on. Sometimes I’ll use a wine yeast but that’s pretty much it for added ingredients other than organic sugar, and I’ll often use the yeast right on the fruit since it’s a bit of an adventure that way (wild yeasts vary incredibly in flavor).

This is a perfect book for those who want to do things the official, expensive, modern, chemical laden way and will tell you everything you need to know. Do know that it’s not the only way to make delicious wines though. If you want to try the old ways, I recommend Wild Winemaking as my favorite resource.

I read a temporary digital copy of this book for review.

[TammyJo Eckhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I personally have no interest in making wine, I wanted to learn more about the process and hoped I'd learn more about wine in general. I've toured a local winery in the past, and this book supplemented what I learned there. The instructions are well written without any assumption that the reader knows much at all. Information is repeated so that you do not forget what previous chapters taught you. I particularly like the recipes' repetition and the fact that I now know far more about the difference between types of wine than ever before.

By the end, I realized why wines are not inexpensive; making them requires a lot of space, time, equipment, and money especially to begin, but continuously.

[Tove R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great book about everything a new home winemaker needs to know. I am intrigued by winemaking, but I have never attempted to try it myself. Not sure I am ready yet, but this book triggered something in me, so maybe one day... For me the biggest challenge is getting the grapes, but at least now I know the process when it comes to winemaking, and everything I would need to buy and do before, during, and after. A really great companion if you are about to start your journey! Good layout, clear sections, easy to read and understand, as well as great pictures.

[Diandra Knutson · Rating 4 out of 5]

How cool is this book! I’ve been wanting to do my own wine kit at home, but have been terrified because I don’t know the science behind it. And if I don’t know the science behind it, I can easily screw it up! This book was so informative and made me feel a bit more comfortable on this venture!

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a detailed guide to home winemaking. It provides specific details about methodology and different types of wine.