Techniques in Home Winemaking: A Practical Guide to Making Chateau-Style Wines

This book is a great start for a fledgling vintner and appears to have enough detail to be useful even after becoming competent. It doesn't assume you know anything about winemaking, giving detailed descriptions of the various processes and explaining the purpose and importance of each of the steps. Source information for supplies is also very helpful.

Excellent book, at least for a beginner, which I am. Certainly very useful for experienced winemakers due to lots of advanced topics. Was a clear winner after comparing it with other books on the same subject. Very clear and to the point, well organized. I definetly recommend it!

This is a very good book. The rather lofty objectives inferred by its title and stated in its "Preface" are more than adequately met. Indeed, the book is geared toward achieving good wine from average grapes through proven methods of balancing aroma, body, clarity, color, taste, and style. In all, it succeeds in achieving these goals.The book is laid out in a logical order that progresses from the general and introductory to the specific and detailed. Among the introductory topics are a discussion of wine styles, grapes, juices, concentrates, and an analysis of wine itself. The author then discusses winemaking equipment and the additives and chemicals used to control musts and shape the character of the wines produced by controlling sugar, alcohol, acidity, pH, and sulfur dioxide. He discusses the preparation of the grapes for processing, the maceration process, pressing, alcoholic fermentation, malolactic fermentation, and stabilization. Not only does he explain the processes themselves, but he offers sound advice and skillful techniques even old hands will appreciate. He then devotes a well-written chapter to clarification methods and products, from simple racking schedules to a variety of fining products and filtration systems. He then moves into and through the all-important and oft-overlooked subject of blending varieties and vintages to achieve more complex and interesting wines. His chapter on oak barrels is perhaps the best I have read. Not only does he thoroughly discuss the preparation and maintenance of oak, but also traditional and modern methods of fermenting and aging wines in oak, including spoilage problems, how to treat them, and more importantly how to prevent them. Alternative oaking methods are also discussed. Finally, he concludes the basics of winemaking by discussing bottling, closures and cellaring.Had Pambianchi stopped there, his book would have surpassed most in useful content. Instead, he spends three chapters discussing the ins and outs of making sparkling wines, ports and icewines. From must preparation to specific techniques of alcoholic fermentation for each, he explains the fundamentals with clarity and thoroughness. For sparkling wines, the bottle fermentation, disgorgement, dosage, and bottling are the final steps that lead to success or failure. Portwine making is not simply fortifying a sweet still wine, and icewine making is not simply prematurely stopping the fermentation in a late harvested, highly-acid, very sweet, grape must. Pambianchi clarifies these differences and defines the essence of each. Here, his book excells.He then goes back to the basics and discusses vinification and winemaking problems anyone could encounter and how to treat them. This is a wonderful chapter for anyone who ever encounters one of these, for Pambianchi discusses the 14 most common problems and their resolutions better than do most authors of similar books. When combined with his coverage of the problems a

The charts and illustrations in this book are worth the price in explaining the process of making wine. The book includes the wine making process for fresh grapes, concentrates, or kits, this book is a valued reference. Many topics are covered, from pressing to bottling. Details of fining and malolactic fermentation are also explained.