Winemaking is so complicated! ..Or is it?Home wine making used to be simple. And now it is again! Our grandparents, and generations of grandparents before them, made excellent wines with minimal fuss, minimal equipment, and no added sulfites or additives. They made them not just from grapes but from all manner of available fruits, berries, honey, and other produce. They didn't spend a lot of money. They didn't overwhelm themselves with minuscule measurements and chemistry. They didn't dwindle down the savings to buy pricey containers for fermenting or for storing. They made wine in tune with the rhythms of nature, with basic equipment.They made Good. Simple. Cheap. Easy. Homemade Wine!If you've always wanted to make wine but thought the process or investment was beyond you, this is the book for you. This is the book that takes winemaking back to its roots. The no-fuss, no-frills method of wine making that uses everyday equipment you can buy right downtown. This simplified and basic process uses no added preservatives, sulfites, or unrecognizable ingredients. Just good, clean, wine-making for good, clean, fun-making wine!

Simple Instructions and Superb Recipes from a Winemaking Legend With local breweries and wineries popping up everywhere, learning how to make wine is on everyone’s “to do” list. Utilize the guidance of home-winemaking legend Jack Keller. In the 1990s, Jack started one of the first (if not the first) wine blogs on the internet. His expertise is shared with you in Home Winemaking. It takes a fun, practical, step-by-step approach to making your own wine. The book begins with an introduction to winemaking, including basic principles, equipment needed, and exactly what to do. After the fundamentals are covered, you’re introduced to a variety of tested, proven, delicious recipes. More than just grape wines, you’ll learn how to make wine out of everything from juices and concentrates to foraged ingredients such as berries and roots. There are even recipes that utilize dandelions and other unexpected ingredients. With 65 recipe options, you can expand your winemaking season indefinitely! Jack’s simple approach to the subject is perfect for beginners, but winemakers of every skill level will appreciate the recipes and information. So get this essential winemaking book, and get started. You’ll be sipping to your success in no time.

The supposed "scary" and "difficult" subject of wine is broken down so anybody can learn and understand wine with just a few quick reads.

Suzanne McMinn, a former romance writer and founder of the popular blog chickensintheroad.com, shares the story of her search to lead a life of ordinary splendor in Chickens in the Road, her inspiring and funny memoir. Craving a life that would connect her to the earth and her family roots, McMinn packed up her three kids, left her husband and her sterile suburban existence behind, and moved to rural West Virginia. Amid the rough landscape and beauty of this rural mountain country, she pursues a natural lifestyle filled with chickens, goats, sheep—and no pizza delivery. With her new life comes an unexpected new love—"52," a man as beguiling and enigmatic as his nickname—a turbulent romance that reminds her that peace and fulfillment can be found in the wake of heartbreak. Coping with formidable challenges, including raising a trio of teenagers, milking stubborn cows, being snowed in with no heat, and making her own butter, McMinn realizes that she’s living a forty-something’s coming-of-age story. As she dares to become self-reliant and embrace her independence, she reminds us that life is a bold adventure—if we’re willing to live it. Chickens in the Road includes more than 20 recipes, craft projects, and McMinn’s photography, and features a special two-color design.

Offers an overview and instructions on how to make homemade wine, including topics such as selecting the type of grapes to use, what equipment to buy, and how to make popular wines like pinot noir or port wine.

Making wine at home just got more fun, and easier, with Richard Bender’s experiments. Whether you’re new to winemaking or a seasoned pro, you’ll find this innovative manual accessible, thanks to its focus on small batches that require minimal equipment and use an unexpected range of readily available fruits, vegetables, flowers, and herbs. The ingredient list is irresistibly curious. How about banana wine or dark chocolate peach? Plum champagne or sweet potato saké? Chamomile, sweet basil, blood orange Thai dragon, kumquat cayenne, and even cannabis rhubarb wines have earned a place in Bender’s flavor collection. Go ahead, give it a try.

From planting vines to savoring the finished product, Jeff Cox covers every aspect of growing flawless grapes and making extraordinary wine. Fully illustrated instructions show you how to choose and prepare a vineyard site; build trellising systems; select, plant, prune, and harvest the right grapes for your climate; press, ferment, and bottle wine; and judge wine for clarity, color, aroma, and taste. With information on making sparkling wines, ice wines, port-style wines, and more, this comprehensive guide is an essential resource for every winemaker.

Fermentation is an ancient way of preserving food as an aid to digestion, but the centralization of modern foods has made it less popular. Katz introduces a new generation to the flavors and health benefits of fermented foods. Since the first publication of the title in 2003 he has offered a fresh perspective through a continued exploration of world food traditions, and this revised edition benefits from his enthusiasm and travels.

Ever been baffled by a wine list, stood perplexed before endless racks of bottles at the liquor store, or ordered an overpriced bottle out of fear of the scathing judgment of a restaurant sommelier? Before she became a James Beard Award—winning food and wine writer, Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl experienced all these things. Now she presents a handy guide that will show you how to stop being overwhelmed and intimidated, how to discover, respect, and enjoy your own personal taste, and how to be whatever kind of wine person you want to be, from budding connoisseur to someone who simply gets wine you like every time you buy a bottle. Refreshingly simple, irreverent, and witty, Drink This explains all the insider stuff that wine critics assume you know. It will teach you how to taste and savor wine, alone, with a friend, or with a group. And perhaps most important, this book gives you the tools to learn the only thing that really matters about wine: namely, figuring out what you like. Grumdahl draws on her own experience and savvy and interviews some of the world’s most renowned critics, winemakers, and chefs, including Robert M. Parker, Jr., Paul Draper, and Thomas Keller, who share their wisdom about everything from pairing food and wine to the inside scoop on what wine scores and reviews really mean. Readers will learn how to master tasting techniques and understand the winemaking process from soil to cellar. Drink This also reveals how to get your money’s worth out of wine without spending all you’ve got. At last there’s a reason for wary wine lovers to raise a glass in celebration. Savor the insider’s viewpoint and straight talk of Drink This, and watch your intimidation of wine transform into well-grounded, unshakeable confidence.

A complete, practical, and entertaining guide to using the best ingredients and minimal equipment to create flavorful brews—including wildcrafted meads, bragots, t’ej, grog, honey beers, and more! "A great guide . . . full of practical information and fascinating lore."—Sandor Ellix Katz, author of The Art of Fermentation Ancient societies brewed flavorful and healing meads, ales, and wines for millennia using only intuition, storytelling, and knowledge passed down through generations―no fancy, expensive equipment or degrees in chemistry needed. In Make Mead Like a Viking, homesteader, fermentation enthusiast, and self-described “Appalachian Yeti Viking” Jereme Zimmerman summons the bryggjemann of the ancient Norse to demonstrate how homebrewing mead―arguably the world’s oldest fermented alcoholic beverage―can be not only uncomplicated but fun. Inside, readers will learn techniques for brewing: Sweet, semi-sweet, and dry meads Melomels (fruit meads) Metheglins (spiced meads) Ethiopian t’ej (honey wine) Flower and herbal meads Bragots Honey beers Country wines Viking grog And there's more for aspiring Vikings to explore, including: The importance of local and unpasteurized honey for both flavor and health benefits What modern homebrewing practices, materials, and chemicals work—but aren’t necessary How to grow and harvest herbs and collect wild botanicals for use in healing, nutritious, and magical meads, beers, and wines How to use botanicals other than hops for flavoring and preserving mead, ancient ales, and gruits The rituals, mysticism, and communion with nature that were integral components of ancient brewing Whether you’ve been intimidated by modern homebrewing’s cost or seeming complexity in the past or are boldly looking to expand your current brewing and fermentation practices, Zimmerman’s welcoming style and spirit will usher you into exciting new territory. Grounded in history and mythology, but―like Odin’s ever-seeking eye―focusing continually on the future of self-sufficient food culture, Make Mead Like a Viking is a practical and entertaining guide for the ages. "Adventurous mead makers or brewers who want to move beyond the basics will find plenty to savor here."—Library Journal