The Joy of Home Wine Making

280 Pages·1996·4.02 MB·English

by  Terry A. Garey

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THE JOY OF
TERRY GAREY
AVON BOOKS NEW YORK
If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that
this book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed"
to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received
any payment for this "stripped book."
AVON BOOKS
A division of
The Hearst Corporation
1350 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10019
Copyright © 1996 by Terry A. Garey
Cover art by Tom Nikosey
Interior photographs © 1995 by David Dyer-Bennet
Published by "arrangement with the author
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 95-44219
ISBN: 0-380-78227-8
All rights reserved, which includes the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in
any form whatsoever except as provided by the U.S. Copyright Law. For information
address Scovil Chichak Galen, 381 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10016.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data:
Garey, Terry A.
The joy of home winemaking / Terry Garey.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Wine and winemaking—Amateurs' manuals. I. Title.
TP548.2.G37 1996 95-44219
641.872—dc20 CIP
First Avon Books Trade Printing: June 1996
AVON TRADEMARK REG. U.S. PAT. OFF. AND IN OTHER COUNTRIES, MARCA REGISTRADA, HECHO
EN U.S.A.
Printed in the U.S.A.
OPM 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 32
This book is for
Dennis Lien
for the usual, the unusual,
and most of the good jokes
and for
Joel Rosenberg
with much gratitude
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to Erik Biever for yeast and advice, and to Karen Schaf-
fer and Mog Decarnin for patience and inspiration. Special thanks
to Jeanne Gomoll for heaps of patience. Thank-you David Dyer-
Bennet for the photos, and Lydia Nickerson, photographer's assis
tant and model. Many thanks to Shawna McCarthy for taking
a chance.
Many thanks also to Tim Furst for that first taste of raspberry
wine, to my mother for liking it when I made it, to Phil and Irene
Garey for computer and printer support, to Jerry Kaufman and
Suzle Tompkins for making me write nonfiction, to Myrna Logan
for bravery, to Janet Belwether for the first recipe, to St. Paul
Campus Library Technical Services for jokes, work, research, and
time, and to the Minnesota Science Fiction Society for being there.
Thank you, Charlotte Abbott, for helping me make sense.
Thanks, finally, to The Flying Karamazov Brothers—Randall
Nelson and Steve Jobs—for the gone but never forgotten Kaypro.
"Look, a computer from out of the crowd!"
Do the best you can and don't worry!
—My grandmother Garey during an earthquake
Contents
Introduction
PART ONE: BEGINNING WINEMAKING
Chapter 1: A Brief History of Winemaking
Chapter 2: The First Gallon
PART TWO: INTERMEDIATE WINEMAKING
Chapter 3: Equipment
Chapter 4: Ingredients
Chapter 5: Fresh Fruit Wines
Chapter 6: Wines from Canned Fruits,
Concentrates, and Dried Fruits
xi
xii CONTENTS
Chapter 7: Vegetable Wines 147
Chapter 8: Herb, Flower, Seed, and Grain Wines 160
PART THREE: ADVANCED WINEMAKING,
OR THE BIG TIME 175
Chapter 9: Advanced Techniques and Equipment 177
Chapter 10: Advanced Wines 186
Chapter 11: Fortified and Sparkling Wines 212
Chapter 12: Extra Helpings 234
APPENDICES 248
A: Winemaking Guidelines and Cheat Sheets 248
B: Troubleshooting: When Good Wines Go Bad 251
C: Glossary 253
D: Bibliography 260
E: Miscellaneous Information 263
F: Wine Supply Addresses 265
G: On-line 267
INDEXES 268
Subject Index 268
Recipe Names Index 270
Recipe Ingredients Index 273
Racking the wine 25
Corker 31
Corking 32
Level of wine in fermenter 45
Large equipment 46
Assorted small equipment 52
Hydrometer and water tension 62
Mr. Ick 64
Equipment in use in the cellar 66
Part of my wine cellar 67
Introduction
If you can follow a simple recipe, you can make wine. You can
make it in the tiniest kitchen apartment. You don't need much
specialized equipment. You don't have to be Italian or French or
a chemist. You have to be an adult over eighteen or twenty-one
(depending on where you live) with a sense of adventure, curiosity,
and patience.
Home winemaking is easy, as I'll show you. Do yourself a
favor, though, and read through at least the first three chapters
of this book before you start. Nothing wastes more time than
undue haste.
Here's how I got started.
Many years ago I spotted some Danish strawberry wine in a
shop. I was young, but I had had good wine and knew what it
should taste like. My father bought the pretty bottle for me, since
I wasn't yet twenty-one, but he cautioned me that I wouldn't
like it.
1