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

• #6 in Best Wine Books

30 Reviews

Sort by: Most Helpful ▲ Date Rating

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 A.J. Winkler's book "General Viticulture" is a bit outdated and a good revision would help...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.

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!

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.

Cox's "From Vines to Wines" is probably one of the best introductions to backyard grape growing and basement winemaking available today. From selecting vine stock to harvesting the crop, the first half of the book covers all the bases for grape growing. The second half is dedicated to winemaking, from first establishing what type of wine you want to create to labeling the bottles. This book is definitely oriented towards the hobbyist - readers with designs for a large vineyard (1+ acres) will want to start with this book but move on to more detailed texts. Personally, I found the section on site selection and soil analysis a little thin - fine if you're limited to the space on hand (your backyard), but lacking if you want to buy acreage dedicated to a vineyard. No data was provided on small scale commercial operations or basic vineyard economics. Cox's winemaking chapters are probably the best I've seen. He goes through the whole process and highlights potential trouble areas. Overall, a very good book for the hobbyist.

I found that Jeff Cox's book to be an excellent "short" guide for growing grapes and making wine. The book is targeted towards the backyard gardener and hobbyist. His examples of trellis construction is excellent with its illustrations of construction techniques. The section on disease and pest would have benefited by including color photos. I would recommend that this book for anyone that is interested in starting a small (less then 200 vines) vineyard.

Of all the books I have read on growing grapes and making wine, and I have read a few this is the most comprehensive and useful. Jeff Cox is a master at making even the most difficult aspects of viticulture easy to understand. I recomend this book to anyone looking for an all in one guide to turning vines into wines.

I like this book for my winemaking and think it has been very useful over the years. The author does a nice job of explaining the entire process of making wine here from starting with a bare plot of ground to picking the grape varieties to grow, spacing the plants, pruning, harvesting, crushing, fermenting, and finally bottling.

He also makes the point that winemaking is as much of an art as it is a science, there is more than one way to do most things and he explains some of them in this book.

I happen to use some different methods to growing the grapes than he recommends in this book though due to the climate I live in, such as using shoot thinning which he advises against. He leans more towards cluster thinning and I can't come to the task of removing grape blooms when that is the whole point in grape growing. Instead I remove the new shoots with no grape blooms and leave only those shoots that have them. I have found this to be the best way to get full crops in my climate, however with heavy bloomers his method may be more appropriate.

Also he advises to fertilize and I don't do that either as it leads to rank growth and more severe pruning later on, but as I said those are minor points I do differently.

The chapters on fermenting the grapes and producing wine are excellent as well, I would only say that my experience shows he tends to go too light on adding preservatives and I have found it is better to use a little more than he suggests as the wine tends to go cloudy with too little.

He also explains the importance of sugar content and acid and how they are related in the grape juice, also in testing before fermentation and how this is key to producing consistent fine wines. I completely agree here and that is the hard part as he mentions, one year is usually better or worse than the next, and keeping notes is important so if that year is the best you try to copy the methods again. The weather is different though so that changes things again, but as he says the key is to do your best and this book helps do that!

Finally for those that only want to make fruit wines this book would be helpful for the section on fermenting and bottling alone as I have made excellent fruit wines [mostly plum] using these methods. Just keep good notes on weights of fruit to the amount of water you add, also final sugar content, acid level and even the wine yeast you use.

I would also suggest anyone going the route of growing grapes from scratch to start with making fruit wines the first couple years as the vines mature [it can take two to three seasons to get enough grapes in some climates to make wine] so you have already made wine before pressing your first grapes. Also you may find the fruit wine as good or better in some cases.

So overall this is a great book for ideas, I recommend it highly!

This is an excellent book. It completely explains the whole wine making process from the best grape variety for your area, proper growing techniques and care of the plants to making excellent wine with the fruit. I could not find a more complete A to Z book of the whole wine making process than this one.

Unfortunately I live in an area which is too cold to grow the wine grape variety Cabernet Sauvignon. That is the variety I wanted to grow the most, but this book pointed out that this variety will not do very well through the short growing season in my state and will have allot of difficulty through the very cold winters here. Excellent information which will save you future dissapointment and point you in the right direction. Since reading this book I've done extensive research for a red wine grape variety which will do extremely well in U.S. states with short growing seasons and harsh cold winters. A good choice not covered.. I searched the net for several days to find this information, so I thought I would share it.

This book is not just a one-time read. It will become your reference for all things grape. I bought the book about two years ago in hopes of starting my own vineyard. There's so much information and it's so complete that you really don't have to know much about wine or the growing process. If you have an interest, it's all here from siting of your grape vineyard, to planting, to pruning, to fermenting and cellaring, to enjoying the finished product. Read through the chapters and you'll feel like an expert. I took a long-distance learning course on wine growing from UC Davis (THEE school for wine growing) that cost more than $1,000. I enjoyed it, but learned more reading Jeff's book. You won't be disappointed.

I have acreage in california that I want to use for growing and making wine (I also live there, it's not a commercial venture). I have been doing research on what to grow, what to plan for etc. and this book has been, by far, the most helpful resource so far. Cox covers all aspects from site selection, planting, training, harvesting, and the wine making process itself.

This book won't answer every question you have, but it answers far more than most. Highly recommended!

This is a well compiled, easy to read treatise on the subjects of viticulture and eneology. Focused on the layperson, it is very easy reading whilst glossing over none of the facts.

The book covers growing grapes suitable for wine, focused specifically on the North American region. It doesn't labor over the different types of grapes and their most suitable areas but it does give some information. It covers the history on wine making grapes and some of their historical regions. Moreover, it gives details on trellising and pruning techniques.

Further, the book describes the process of winemaking. The authors easy going an informative style provides for a pleasant read.

The author provides the reader with incite into his own experiences and even suggests alternatives to the common approach.

I could recommend this book, not only to a perspective grape grower or wine maker, but to those that would like to learn more about wine, its history and how to taste it (all of which are between these covers).

I have read a lot about this book so I had to have it. I recently bought a small vineyard in Slovakia and I have tons of local books about winemaking. I am a real newbie and after I read these books I had an idea how to make wine, but that was not enough. I always had tons of questions, which I did not know who to ask. Well Jeff Cox answers them. When he describes the wine making process he does that very precisselly that a newbie like me would underestand it. I am looking forward to use his tips this autumn.

This book is clearly written and easy to read. In addition to the educational aspects, the author effortlessly recounts his own home winemaking experience and shares his passion for it. I found the tables and calculations extremely helpful. A lot of attention is paid to describing the technology and chemistry of the homemade wine. However, the author puts even more emphasis on choosing and correctly growing the right grape at the right place and calls it "your single most important decision". That's why the first chapters on the grape varieties and basic viticulture techniques are especially helpful for beginning grape growers. I truly enjoyed reading this book and highly recommend it!

My dream is to have a vineyard somewhere and grow my own grapes and make my own wine. It's a romantic thing, nurtured by too many movies and books on Tuscany. But hey, I live in a country that is a city - Singapore.

Jeff Cox's book tells me everything I need to know to grow healthy grapes and produce rich wines with them. The book has many splendid illustrations of planting, pruning, trellis systems, and more. Roughly half the book is about growing grapes, something that other "make your own wine" books don't have. Even if you're not going to grow your own, you'll get an education about the viticultural process.

The second half the book is about turning your grapes into wine. The author sensibly balances his explanations with chemistry and practical advice. He doesn't overly complicate the process the way some other books do. At the same time, there's enough information so that the first time wine maker could succeed based on the instructions from this book alone.

Someday I hope to have land on a Southern-facing slope to grow my own. Until then, glass in hand, I read this book and appreciate the work that goes into every bottle.

Cheers!

This is a great book for someone considering growing grapes. It puts it all in plain english and makes it easy to understand.

After years of making our own wine and finally living in a world class grape growing region we wanted to try out hand at growing grapes. This book provided excellent information for the entire process. We've followed the advice in this book and have had good result with our grapes for two years.

Considering I live in Las Vegas, growing grapes is out of the question or is it? He does not mention any grape varietals that I could plant in my region. Other than growing the vines I loved all the info on fermenting and making the wine. I have already ordered equipment from places that he recommended in his book. Making wine is not going to be as exspensive as I thaught. After writing a few letters to retailers, you will be ready to roll with all your equipment. You must have an understanding of wine to understand all the terminalegy. Great book, lots of info, and a little humor about how he gets off watching his wife stomp the grapes. I wont be stomping grapes but i will be fermenting grape juice, thank you.

Expertly written by Jeff Cox (an accomplished gardener and senior editor of "Global Vintage Quarterly"), and now in an updated and expanded fourth edition, From Vines To Wines: The Complete Guide To Growing Grapes And Making Your Own Wine is a complete, cover-to-cover, "user friendly" resource for home winemakers. Featuring everything from selecting ideal vines, to growing and harvesting grapes, the wine-making process from fermentation to labeling and cellaring, From Vines To Wines is a solid, practical, wonderfully accessible resource with diagrams, down-to-earth language, offering everything the reader needs to know to grow and make their own vintages.

When I bought this book, I have to say that I never really had any intention of making wine. While I truly enjoy visiting regional wineries and have quite a full wine rack, I would have thought that it would be just too hard to do. I got this book just to have a better appreciation of the process, but now I think I might try this...some day.

You can't beat the price, very reasonable for what you get. It is very detailed and thorough, but not so techincial that it is confusing or overwhelming. Also, I was pleased to see that the author took into account that there are other places to grow wine other than California. I live in Virginia and there are some great local wineries, and the same can be said of New York's Finger Lakes where I went to college.

The book covers location, varieties, what varieties grow where, process, and problems. Very comprehensive overall.

I purchased this book for my 12 yr.old grandson. We have found the illustrations and explainations to be very clear and easy to follow. The book also has extensive useful information to help the beginner as he grows in knowledge,

The book was delivered in a timely manner, well packaged. Would buy from this seller again.

Complete, easy to read. We refer back to this book often and it's helped take us from home grapegrower to commercial winery.

Very good book and well written..Has an answer to all questions i was wanting to ask. Bought several books and this was only one that gave me straightforward advice that i could really use.

This book tells you everything about growing grapes and producing fine wine. It even deals with the choice of grape-varieties suited for your climate. It is almost perfect. I think many Europeans will read this book, and it would have been perfect if it included the Meditteranean countries in the tables of climate-zones and selection of suitable varieties. It is very difficult to find this (about Europe) on the internet. But a great and very useful book.

This is a very informative book, I can not wait to start my own wine grape vine.

We wanted a resource for the wine process from growth to the glass.
Everything you need is in here.

This book is the one I keep coming back to for answeres to the questions I have about vinyard care and wine making. It covers both the east as well as the western U.S. I only wish it went deeper into hybrid grapes than it does. (although it does cover them).

When we were planning our vineyard we needed all the help we could get. From Vines To Wines was one book kept by the bedside for constant reference during the planning and planting stage. (The other book was "Vineyard Simple." The illustrated guide to pruning is exceptionally well done. Now that we've made it through year 1, I find myself going back to the book time and again. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in planting a vineyard. Craig Justice, Webmaster of Winemaker's Journal and Founder, Blue Merle Vineyard & Winery

I gave this to my father and he was so excited because it focused a lot on building a good trellis with good illustrations and also good for prunning.
These are two things that lack in other books that i have bought him (and that I am starting to be interested in, too).
Of course the book covers all aspects of the grape and wine making process, but the trellising and prunning in more detail was very welcome.
Recommended on all aspects.

This is indespensible for home winemakers. Period.

If you are a person engaged in wine studies, this is an essential first look into serious technical winemaking aspects. Before delving into more serious technical manuals such as "Understanding Wine Technology" and "The Science of Wines from Grape to Glass".

Pros: wonderfully written in laymans terms
Cons: drawings sometimes difficult to distinguish