From Vines to Wines: The Complete Guide to Growing Grapes and Making Your Own Wine [Paperback]

Jeff Cox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 3, 1999

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

Editorial Reviews

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

 

From the Back Cover

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

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC; 3 edition (January 3, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580171052
• ISBN-13: 978-1580171052
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,976 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #4 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > Fruit
  • #6 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Organic Cooking
  • #15 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Drinks & Beverages > Wine > Wine & Winemaking

More About the Author

For the first eight years of my life, I was a suburban kid in Manhasset, New York. Then we moved to the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania where I learned to hunt, fish, eat wild foods, and swim in pristine waters of spring-fed creeks. Then I lived in Manhattan. So I'm at home just about anywhere. My experiences in the country, though, were the most important, leading me through newspaper and magazine work to Organic Gardening magazine, where I developed a love of gardening and landscaping. Now I'm a wine writer for many magazines and the restaurant reviewer for Northern California's newspaper of record, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, here in the heart of the Wine Country. I'm also a contributing editor to The Wine News and Horticulture magazines. I've written 18 books on food, wine, and gardening,--many of which are available on Amazon.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

121 of 121 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent starter book for new grapegrower/winemaker June 11, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

The new revision is an excellent book for anyone putting in a new vineyard, or thinking about winemaking. The two most certainly go hand in hand, however, if you are just interested in improving your knowledge of growing grapes, then it provides much very usefull information. On the other hand, if you are a new or aspiring winemaker, the section on making wine is filled with up to date, smart information, and can also be a stand alone reference to winemaking. By combining the two related fields, grape growing (specifically for winegrapes), and winemaking the winemaker will better understand what he should be looking for in winegrapes for his resulting wine. Conversely, the grape grower will have an understanding of how to grow his grapes to achieve the best possible product for the winemaker. If you are a grower of French Hybrid grapes, or the newer selection of American crosses from Elmer Swenson, David MacGregor, the University of Minnesota, New York Experiment Station named and numbered varieties, et al, then you do NOT want to pass up this book. A.J. Winkler's book "General Viticulture" is a bit outdated and a good revision would help... this one is right on the money.

92 of 93 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great information for the home winemaker October 17, 2000

By Lisa Shea HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

As an avid home winemaker, I was thrilled to find this book. It doesn't get bogged down in long technical descriptions and pages of history. Instead, with sections like "Problems in the South", it gets right into what will and will not work for your home winemaking efforts.

The intro has a glossary of terms and a basic overview of winemaking which is very helpful for those new to the fun. Tables list which kinds of grapes work best for different regions, so those who are planting vines have a best-case scenario laid out for them. Clear instructions tell how to plant the vines, how to prune them, what a trellis looks like, and even harvest details.

That's just to start. Now the books goes into the winemaking process, and it shines here as well. The conversational tone makes it easy to follow discussions of pH and brix and pomace. The book offers various normal situations winemakers find themselves in, and solutions to fix them. There is even information on barrel usage and aging techniques.

The back appendix section offers places to buy wine supplies, wine societies, common vine pests and treatment, and much more.

In all, this is a fantastic resource for the home vine grower and winemaker. Grab a copy if you're either one!

62 of 62 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent survey of all aspects of winemaking April 11, 2001

By M. Ragen

Format:Paperback

This is an excellent introduction to the topics of growing grapes or winemaker hobbyist. Cox does an admirable job of providing enough information and tips for the backyard grapegrower or basement/garage winemaker. Other books may go into more detail but this is a comprehensive overview that encompasses each aspect of growing and winemaking.

As a wine enthusiast, I have given thought (more than once) to learning more about the complete wine-making process. Reading this book has given me just enough confidence to try this as a backyard/basement hobbyist. It's not that I believe I can grow and make world-class wine -- rather, I expect to be able to appreciate the effort that goes into making a world-class wine. And, with any luck, I'll be able to make something worth drinking. The sections of the book on choosing grapes appropriate to your region, growing and training tips, fermentation, aging, bottling are all clearly written. The supply sources listed in the back are comprehensive enough to be able to find the basics. All in all, a very solid effort.