Joy of Home Wine Making

The book is well written and covers the steps and concepts of home winemaking in an easy to understand way.

This book has become my bible for making home-made wine. I've worn the pages so much, I ordered another one just to keep around. Terry's dry, humorous wit and casual style for making wines is what every novice needs to get started in this fun and relaxing hobby. She begins with a little history lesson and a simple recipe to make a one-gallon batch of apple wine from concentrate. From there you learn more and more as each chapter progresses into more challenging (and rewarding) recipes and techniques. From fermentation to bottling, Terry makes learning how to make wine simple and fun without all the stuffiness and intimidation I've seen in other beginner's books. Again, though, this book is designed for someone starting at 'ground zero' and wanting a fun way to learn about making wine at home. If you've already gotten your feet wet or want a reference manual, find something else. But if you've always wanted to try making wine and don't know where to begin, then THIS is the book for you. Enjoy!

Terry Garey takes a very casual, fun approach to making wine with various fruits. Her recipes are tried and true. (I won a gold medal with her strawberry wine recipe) The book is easy to read and informative. Best of all, it is easy to understand and follow for the person new to winemaking. Wine purist probably won't care for the book due to the casual and varied approach to making excellent wines from many different sources.

This is a great book. I started making wine about 5 years ago and this book has all the instruction I needed. Garey takes the mystery out of wine making. I have bought several books since, but find myself returning again and again to this one. Everything you need to know to get started is here and there are enough recipes to keep you going for a long time. If you are a beginning wine maker, this is the book for you.

I just bottled my first batch of Potatoe, Rasberry and Spiced Apple wines. To my surprise, it was really easy to make and turned out delicious even though it still isn't fully aged. Garey was right, IT JUST TAKES PATIENCE!The book is written with the beginner in mind (myself included), with a great sense of humor and includes really good tips and many recipes to choose from. I only wish that I made more than one gallon of the Rasberry Wine, however. I feel more adventurous and willing to experiment now that my first batch turned out after nearly 6 months. In short, I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to start wine making as an enjoyable hobby without breaking the bank.

It has taken over 40 years for someone to write a better winemaking primer that C.J.J. Berry's classic "First Steps in Winemaking," and this is it. If you've never made wine before and would like to try it, this is the book for you. It is well written, rich in anecdotes, and easily understood. If you've made wine for years and think you know what you're doing, I'm willing to bet you that "The Joy of Home Winemaking" will teach you much more than a mere thing or two.Having been brought up through the ranks, as it were, on Berry's "First Steps..." and having never found it insufficient as an instructional and recipe reference, it is almost painful to admit that someone has bettered the master. But Terry Garey clearly has. "The Joy..." is thoughtfully divided into three sections -- beginning, intermedient and advanced winemaking. Garey presents the basics, expands upon them, and then he expands some more. Not only is his presentation progressive, it is solidly educational. Best of all, the recipes are largely fresh, varied and inviting! "The Joy..." is much more than a primer for making wine at home. The beginner invariably expects an identifiable relationship between the color, flavor and bouquet of the raw ingredients and the finished wine. While such a relationship exists, it is not the one that beginning winemakers expect. Garey goes where few have attempted to go before. He wants you to know what you will get, and that requires more than simply adjusting your expectations. To accomplish this, Garey explains the principles and, to some degree, the chemistry that underlies the processes at work when wine is being made. He explains flavor extraction better than most, which spices produce which qualities, which fruits and vegetables complement each other when combined in the crock, which herbs and flowers work and which don't, and so on. The result is not merely education, but firm understanding, and that is requisite to ex! perimentation and invention. It is this that he does better than Berry, and for that alone he should be read and reread by every winemaking hobbiest.I still highly recommend C.J.J. Berry's "First Steps in Winemaking" for the beginner, but I also highly recommend "The Joy of Home Winemaking" for the beginner and experienced alike. If you can only buy one, flip a coin. Better still, buy them both. The first is the classic. The second is destined to be.