Making wine for dummies
 

Hi,

my family has some hills with wine in Greece, but nobody is interessted
to continue to make wine in my family, since my grandfather died 15
years ago. I like at least to try it a little bit and play around in my
leisure time, to see if I can do it. I have no idea about wine at the
moment, but I like to read about it. This is my main problem. I looked
in Google on Amazon and found lots of things about consuming wine,
making wine seems to be a secret.

Can anyone of you recommend a website or a book about MAKING wine?
Something which teach the basics and give a dummy like me a chance to
learn how to make at least a simple wine?

TIA

Alex

Alex -
If you've looked at this newsgroup for any length of time, you
should have seen plenty of references to these sites:

Lum Eisenman's online book / website on winemaking:
http://home.att.net/~lumeisenman/

Jack Keller's winemaking site:
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net

I won't recommend specific books - there are enough recent ones to fill
several bookshelves. If winemaking is a secret, it's probably the most
poorly-kept secret in human history.

I find it hard to believe that any family in Greece doesn't have at
least a couple of people in it who are convinced they already KNOW how
to make wine (although whether they would agree with each other about
anything, that's another question).

But if you're really looking for information, spend some time on those
sites. Searching Amazon.com for the keyword "winemaking" turned up a
list of several dozen books, including most of the ones most often
mentioned in posts on this newsgroup.

Doug

HOW MANY COOK CAN YOU MAKE?

HOW MANY PASTA CON YOU MAKE IN THE GLASGOW RESTORANT?

HOW MANY PASTA CON YOU MAKE IN THE GLASGOW RESTORANT?

HOW MANY PASTA CON YOU MAKE IN THE GLASGOW RESTORANT?

>
> Can anyone of you recommend a website or a book about MAKING wine?
> Something which teach the basics and give a dummy like me a chance to

> learn how to make at least a simple wine?
>
> TIA
>
> Alex


I have two suggestions. One is a pretty good on-line manual at

http://home.att.net/~lumeisenman/

The other suugestion is hanging out on the rec.crafts.winemaking group.
There is a wide range of wine makers there, from professionals to
newbies and it's a very friendly group.

Andy

Pick up a copy of Cox "From Vines to Wine" Take all that he says with a
grain of salt but it is a good overview and starts you thinking. Good
reading. You will find it at Amazon.

Ray

"Alexandros Gougousoudis" > wrote in message
...
> Hi,
>
> my family has some hills with wine in Greece, but nobody is interessted to
> continue to make wine in my family, since my grandfather died 15 years
> ago. I like at least to try it a little bit and play around in my leisure
> time, to see if I can do it. I have no idea about wine at the moment, but
> I like to read about it. This is my main problem. I looked in Google on
> Amazon and found lots of things about consuming wine, making wine seems to
> be a secret.
>
> Can anyone of you recommend a website or a book about MAKING wine?
> Something which teach the basics and give a dummy like me a chance to
> learn how to make at least a simple wine?
>
> TIA
>
> Alex

Hi,

Doug wrote:
> http://home.att.net/~lumeisenman/
> http://winemaking.jackkeller.net

Thanks for all of your suggestions! I'll begin read. Didn't find them
with Google, my fault.

> I find it hard to believe that any family in Greece doesn't have at
> least a couple of people in it who are convinced they already KNOW how

At least in my family not, and also our neighbours quit that, since
their village turned into a city. We sit anyway in Germany and have not
such a close contact to them all. It's easier for me to read everything
in books.

> sites. Searching Amazon.com for the keyword "winemaking" turned up a

I looked at Amazon.de and I found only those about consuming wine (like
lexika etc.). My fault was to search in german and then ask in an
english group for help without searching in english. oki oki, mea culpa. :-)

cu & thanks also to JEP64 and Ray
Alex

I see good recommendations already. I'll add two that I've found
helpful and practical.
Home Winemaking Step-by-Step -- by Jon Iverson
Techniques In Home Winemaking -- by Daniel Pambianchi

RD

Ray - Why do you say "take all that Cox says with a grain of salt"? I
planned an entire vineyard based on his book about 10 years ago and found
his information about planting the vineyard and making wine excellent. You
can find far more technical books on winemaking but you certainly make good
wine from instruction in his book.

Bill Frazier
Olathe, Kansas USA

"Ray Calvert" > wrote in message
om...
> Pick up a copy of Cox "From Vines to Wine" Take all that he says with a
> grain of salt but it is a good overview and starts you thinking. Good
> reading. You will find it at Amazon.

Don't mean to step on anyone's toes, Cox's book is a very good book but it
has some weaknesses. Just as a for instance, I followed his advice to drop
corks in boiling water before using them. A bad idea. I lost a lot of wine
with that one. Just an example. I do not have my own vineyard and will not
comment on that part of his book but I have had others say that they started
with his methods and moved away from them. Maybe you should take what
everyone says with a grain of salt.

Ray

"William Frazier" > wrote in message
...
> Ray - Why do you say "take all that Cox says with a grain of salt"? I
> planned an entire vineyard based on his book about 10 years ago and found
> his information about planting the vineyard and making wine excellent.
> You can find far more technical books on winemaking but you certainly make
> good wine from instruction in his book.
>
> Bill Frazier
> Olathe, Kansas USA
>
> "Ray Calvert" > wrote in message
> om...
>> Pick up a copy of Cox "From Vines to Wine" Take all that he says with a
>> grain of salt but it is a good overview and starts you thinking. Good
>> reading. You will find it at Amazon.
>
>

Ray Calvert wrote:

................
> I do not have my own vineyard and will
> not comment on that part of his book but I have had others say that they
> started
> with his methods and moved away from them. Maybe you should take what
> everyone says with a grain of salt.
>
> Ray

Cox's book is one of the best I have seen on pruning. I think it is an
excellent book for anyone starting a vineyard. If I would have had his
book when I put in my vineyard, I could have saved myself a lot of grief.

Alexandros Gougousoudis wrote:
> Hi,
>
> my family has some hills with wine in Greece, but nobody is interessted
> to continue to make wine in my family, since my grandfather died 15
> years ago. I like at least to try it a little bit and play around in my
> leisure time, to see if I can do it. I have no idea about wine at the
> moment, but I like to read about it. This is my main problem. I looked
> in Google on Amazon and found lots of things about consuming wine,
> making wine seems to be a secret.
>
> Can anyone of you recommend a website or a book about MAKING wine?
> Something which teach the basics and give a dummy like me a chance to
> learn how to make at least a simple wine?
>
> TIA
>
> Alex


Are you sure you looked on amazon? A simple "winemaking" search yields
141 books. Of course, if you seriously want to consider using your
family's hills to grow grapes for wine, you should start with some books
on viticulture as that is going to be the most important and time
consuming part of your process.

Making wine is certainly no secret as there are a couple of stores in my
small town alone dedicated to supplies for making beer and wine.