Customer Reviews

The American Wine Society Presents: The Complete Handbook of Winemaking

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an anthology of articles, many of which are quite technical but nonetheless good. By the same token, there is enough here to contribute to most readers' education and make him or her a better winemaker. You may learn things you don't need to know in the process, but knowledge should be its own reward.

Frankly, I enjoyed this book. Much of what is written elsewhere on the subject is for the beginner and is all too ofter the same basics as were in the previous dozen books on the subject. It's nice to read (and learn) something new for a change. Just as -- if not more -- importantly, it's nice to learn why something you knew to be so is, in fact, so.

If you simply don't understand the nuances of acidity -- and many people don't -- or just want to learn the finer points of blending, this book will pay for itself with better wines in the future. What more could you ask for?

This book, even in paperback, makes an especially attractive gift -- to yourself o! r to another.

Having recieved a winemaking kit as a Christmas gift, I purchased The Complete Handbook of Winemaking for the obvious purpose. Although experienced in the consumption of wine, I purchased the book thinking that I would receive a step by step instruction (reference the book title)that would take me from winemaking ignorance to novice and beyond.

The book is set up in a logical fashion and its contents are actually a compilation of articles authored by experts from throughout the winemaking community.

While each of the articles are generally well written, I would hesitate to recommend this book to anyone who is not already well versed in the art of winemaking. If you have ever read an industry white paper or an industry executive summary, than you will know exactly what I mean.

The topics appear to be presented by industry experts FOR industry experts. Terms were not clearly explained and the book did not attempt to engage me in the core concepts of winemaking. After completion of the book I found that I had many more questions than answers.

In conclusion, and not to poke fun at the expense of the American Wine Society, this book is very dry and not really helpful at all. I appears as though as they have capitalized upon the brand recognition of their good name to market a collection of dusty and seldom read academic papers.

If you have a engineers or any other type of scientific background and love winemaking this book is for you. This book is a compliation of papers going over different ascepts of wine and winemaking. Scienctific priniciples are used and explained in this book quite a bit. Most of the contributors are former chemists and scientistics

Beginners and first time kit winemakers: Do NOT buy this book. Make your wine from concentrate, ferment it, taste it, age it, etc, etc. Repeat. THEN buy this book, and learn why you did what you did to get what you did.
The articles presented in this book are fairly comprehensive in the sense that they cover the majority of the wines explored by home vintners. Still, sparkling, fruit, port, sherry, blends, and even vinegar are covered, each with their own article. BUT, in the modern sense of "complete" it fails miserably (apparently so does the the universe as a whole, but that's another review...)
Complete today means "tell me what to do". This is complete in the sense that all the groundwork has been laid, you have been educated enough to understand the finer nuances of winemaking, and you can now complete your wine with these facts in mind. Process is discussed at length, but it's always one specific step, ususally out of order with it's neighboring processes.

Alright, in a nutshell:

Have you made wine that tastes good before?
Do you want to know how to make it taste better?

Buy this book, and ignore the title.

This book is interesting and very well written, however it is not very helpful for a novice in winemaking. I would suggest looking for another book.

The review written by David J. Leudemann sums it up best.

My son found this book and I had to get my own copy. We have been making wine for a few years but we were making mistakes and pouring it down the drain. Now we know why!

The book does not explain enough concepts of winemaking to a beginner and is not detailed enough for an expert.

I found the Complete Handbook of Winemaking by the American Wine Society to be very readable and found that it covered the whole wine making process very well.
Not only did it outline the wine making, but addressed almost any problem situation that might arise and offered solutions to most of them. All-In-All it was worth the time and expense.

I purchased this book for my mom. I am happy to have found it. Very quick arrival. Very good condition. Lots of information.

This is a good book for beggining wine makers. there are more indepth tomes but for the money this is your best bet to start with......