Synopses & Reviews
Create you own backyard winery!
From breaking ground to savoring the finished product, Jeff Cox's From Vines to Wines is the most complete and up-to-date guide to growing flawless grapes and making extraordinary wine.
Wine connoisseurs, gardeners, and home winemakers will find the latest techniques in this fully revised and updated edition. With thorough, illustrated instructions, you'll learn how to:
-- Choose and prepare a vineyard site
-- Construct sturdy and effective trellising systems
-- Plant, prune, and harvest the perfect grapes for your climate
-- Press, ferment, age and bottle your own wine
-- Judge wine for clarity, color, aroma, body, and taste
Review
"Cox has a lively prose style that keeps this guide for grape growers and home vintners from ever becoming dull or pompous. Whether you plan to grow or make your own wine or just want to understand what you're seeing when you visit a winery of vineyard, this book will prove invaluable." -- San Francisco Examiner
"Read a book or two on the basics of home winemaking -- Jeff Cox's From Vines to Wines is a good one."
-- Wine Spectator
"This book takes the reader from grape to glass . . . easy-to-use lists, tables and drawings will inspire confidence in readers who are interested in making their own wines."
-- Orlando Sentinel
" 'Complete' aptly describes the tables, glossary, illustrations, and readable text. "
-- Country Journal
"an intelligent handbook on how to make good wine. Without getting into the details of hard science, it teaches, informs and excites."
-- Beverage Business
About the Author
Freelance author and journalist Jeff Cox is a contributing editor to Organic Gardening magazine and The Wine News and is the host of Grow It! on the Home & Garden Television Network. He has written 13 gardening books, including From Vines to Wines, Seasonal Celebrations, The Perennial Garden (with his wife, Marilyn Cox), The Spirit of Gardening, and Flowers For All Seasons. Jeff is a member of the Author's Guild of America, Garden Writers' Association of America, and the San Francisco Professional Food Society. He lives in California.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Making Wine
Part 1: Selecting the Vines
The Context of Winemaking
The Origin of Classic Wine Grapes
A Self-Education in Wine
Climate and Geography Affect Choice of Wines
Identifying Wine-Growing Areas
Part 2: Growing the Grapes
Parts of the Grapevine
Choosing a Vineyard Size and Site
Finding a Favorable Site
Vineyard Soil and Grape Quality
Other Site Considerations
Grape Trellises
Hardware for Constructing a Trellis
Construction Directions
Ordering and Planting Grapestock
Managing Vineyard Rows and Aisles
How to Prune Grapes
Grapevine Pruning Illustrated
Cluster Thinning
Trellis Systems Illustrated
Pest Control Strategies
Fertilization
Tending Grape Crops
Determining Ripeness
Harvesting Botrytized Grapes
Weather as a Harvest Factor
Harvesting
Part 3: Making the Wine
Making Consistently Fine Wine
The Primary Fermentation
The Secondary Fermentation
Further Racking and Aging
Wine Disorders
Filtering
Fining
Blending
Final Measurements Before Bottling
Bottling
Corking
Labeling
Cellaring the Wine
Wine Accoutrements
Sensory Evaluation of Wine
Appendix 1. The Home Winemaker's Record Book
Appendix 2. For More Information
Appendix 3. Sources of Supplies
Appendix 4. Sources for Grapevines
Appendix 5. Grape Pests and Their Controls
Index