The Joy of Home Winemaking

Terry Jones’‘The Joy of Home Winemaking’ is a wonderfully informative yet quirky guide to making wines at home. From the detailed sections on equipment and basic ingredients to the huge variety of wines one can make, this is a must for any budding vintner.

Terry begins with a short history of wine making dating back to long before the Romans and how it spread across the world and developed due to advances in technology. He then leads you into basic wine making from ingredients to equipment. The information he gives is detailed yet simple to understand with easy to follow instructions and he also gives various alternatives to the processes and tips to overcome any problems encountered.

Then follows the more advance Intermediate Winemaking section which contains more guidance on ingredients and equipment with several subsections of recipes from fresh fruit wines, canned and dried fruit wines, vegetable wines and even wines made from herbs, flowers, seeds and grains. Who could resist the temptation to try ‘cheerful cranberry wine’ or Grandma’s gooseberry wine’? Or what about ‘Magician turnip wine’ hmmmmm…? Perhaps lavender, honeysuckle, tangerine or vanilla is more your thing. There are also some wonderful sounding combination wines for the more advanced wine maker – ‘Tutti Frutti’ with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, peaches and more, or ‘Liquid Sunshine’ with carrot and apricot. Terry’s guide will make sure you grasp the basic skills and techniques so that you can then create whatever flavour combination takes your fancy. The options are endless. There is also a chapter on fortified and sparkling wines and homemade liqueurs should you feel ambitious. A glossary of wine related terms provides some useful back up whilst the comprehensive recipe index at the back means you will always know how to make wine from pretty much anything – ‘golden parsnip sherry’ anyone…..?