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

by Jeff Cox

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 -- 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

Genres: Wine, Nonfiction, Gardening, Food, Brewing, Cookbooks, Cooking

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Nicholas Horton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author is inexplicably horny at times (long description of his wife cleaning her legs before crushing the grapes and how it raises his pulse?) and a number of his opinions about wine come across as a little pretentious or even old fashioned (his views on natural yeasts for example). But given the age of the book it would be a little unfair to dismiss it entirely because of that. It is otherwise a fairly decent introduction to wine-making and gives you all the steps you need to go and explore furthermore if you’re interested in growing your own wine.

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first read about vine.
I liked it a lot - everything is written in easy to understand manner and basically from the beginning (how to choose a vine) till the end (how to make and bottle wine). Some tips and suggestions might be relevant not for all regions/countries - however it is very clearly written too - that some sort of information is relavant or can be observed in some region/country X.
A lot of marked parts of the book for future reference.

[Lloyd Downey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometime, when it comes to book-buying, I just can't help myself. And at $1 ...even if it is a bit water stained......how can you go wrong? Well, the truth is I have frequently gone wrong buying cheap books and rued my impulsiveness. But not really in this case. In my youth, I lived and worked in the heart of Australia's wine growing area .....The Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area....and was even a member of the Griffith Oenological Society (A self styled group of wine lovers or connoisseurs who were scientists from the CSIRO and the Viticultural Research Station). I would never claim to be a "known palate" or even a wine connoisseur ...or, these days, even much of a wine drinker......but the whole drama of wine ...from the growing of the grapes through to the making of the wine and then the marketing and the consumption has always interested me. One of my good friends from those early days has gone on to be an internationally famous viticultural consultant and I've followed his career and interests at a distance. I've even helped in the harvesting of friend's grapes and pruning of the vines. So much of what Jeff Cox covers in his book is not new to me.
He really does a workman like job of covering all the basics from selection of varieties, and matching with the site through to laying out the trellising and making your own vintage.
If it has a fault, from my perspective, it is that the book is clearly focussed on the North American market and little consideration is given to other areas of the world where vines are grown. Still, he doesn't pretend to be writing for everyone and I still learned a lot about pruning ....which is both an art and a science. I did notice that he didn't mention the Scott-Henry system of vine trellising which my learned friend Richard has long promoted as a way of improving both yields and quality. But he did cover other systems of trellis. I missed some section about the history of wine but I guess there are whole books written just about this subject so that's not a reasonable criticism.
Overall, I quite enjoyed the book even with its US focus. Three stars from me.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book loaded with easy to understand basic information. Instructions are applicable for beginner to semi experienced wine grower. I keep this book out (it has many flagged pages for reference)

[Casey Kirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, but more for California. Covers a lot of material though and probably a first read for any interested viticulturalist.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I mainly used this book as a reference. It gives good overview of the wine making process which I found helpful. I rate the book with two because I feel that it's a big industry monoculture and control approach. To the point the author says that if the natural yeasts are not killed the wine can turn out to be terrible and have sulfuric taste. Therefore the recommendation is first to put chemicals in your wine to kill natural yeasts.
From my experience and in conversations with many winemakers I found that it's just not true. I tried fermenting my grapes on the wild yeasts and found no big issue. A winemaker told me also that he found that not killing natural yeasts adds more intricacy to the wine, keeps it more pure and saves him money. When natural sulfur taste develops in wine there are also natural methods to deal with that, without the use of chemicals.
The biodiversity is disappearing from the soil, food and our guts and I think this book tries to reinforce that approach. I believe that biodiversity is necessary and should be encouraged. People made wines for thousands of years without chemicals and weren't so much worse for it.

[Crystal Swafford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is chock-full of useful information for making your own wine, delivered in a pleasant, humorous way. While I’m intrigued with the science and art from literally vines ground up to the glass, I’ve appreciated that winemaking is a complicated process. Perhaps I’d like to remain a consumer and enjoy. I think this was definitely a thorough work that would help me get started if I wanted to. I do wish the book had more illustrations. My favorite part of reading this book was an excuse to enjoy drinking a glass and pondering its origin.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basically a science book

Mostly very tedious, but fledgling winemakers and chemistry lovers should love this book. An interesting read for anyone who wants to know more about wine.

[SD Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of good information

This book does contain a lot of good information. My only gripe would be the writing gets way overly romanticized at times. It is worth the read If you are interested in making wine.

[Bob Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun to read and tons of information on growing grapes and making wine.

[Eric Effinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will keep as reference when I next vint my next batch of wine.

[Nick Nigrelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book on growing and making your own wine. Super cool book for anyone interested in gardening and understanding the process of when making.

[A. Boutte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great overview of salient points. Color images would be useful.

[Vonze · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think future editions/updates should include more pictures and diagrams…or maybe I just need an idiot’s guide - lol.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I reviewed this fascinating book for NetGalley.

I am fascinated by wine making. Though I will never grow my own grapes and make my own wine (living in a small condo places a large number of restrictions on having a garden, let alone a vineyard), making wine, in my opinion, is one of the most civilized and fulfilling activities possible.

Mr. Cox explains in great detail how to set up your own vineyard and process the harvested grapes to create the best wine possible . The book is appears to be very complete and helpful for the novice vintner. This is an excellent reference book and should be read by anyone thinking of producing small batch wine from his personal vineyard. The commitment required by this endeavor is illustrated by the detail in the book - Mr. Cox is very thorough in his description of the making of wine. This book will let the prospective vintner know exactly what is expected of him. Very thought provoking.

An enjoyable and educational book, well worth reading to gain a better understanding of the complexities of wine.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

*THIS WAS AN ARC RECEIVED FROM NETGALLEY IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW*

I love wine. I love drinking it. I love buying it. I love talking about it. I love sampling it at various wineries. This book was great. He starts at growing your own, discusses soil, techniques, plants, everything. He also discusses types, flavors, what can be added, how to change flavors, etc. It didn't stop at being a how-to book. It really added to my understanding of my favorite wines and how they become that way. I think anyone who has an interest in wine would enjoy this book. It is written in a clear cut and easy to understand format. And the material is presented in a way that anyone can understand regardless of your wine expertise.

[Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a trip to San Francisco last year where my buddy Ben and I went up to Napa and Sonoma to check out the vineyards, I found myself more interested in the process of growing grapes and making wine. This book is a great combination of technical information about the two processes and a tone that makes it seem like you're learning about viticulture and enology from a new friend. Seems like a great start for the non-professional. It also opened up a whole new arena for my agricultural interests.

[H L · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad introduction to viticulture and winemaking, but it should be viewed as a general survey, rather than a production manual. One could succeed in growing some decent grapes and making some palatable wine following the instructions in this book, but if you want to take your grapes/wines to a level that approaches commercial quality, you'll need to invest in some more in-depth, professional books (and preferably, some course work and/or experience working at some operating vineyards and wineries).

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love demystifying things. The last one I figured out was ice cream, which I now make like a champ. BUT wine's a bit different. This book covers EVERYTHING having to do with wine production, from building trellises to which grapes on the vine ripen most, from chemical reactions to adding the dreaded sulfites. It's for the true wine geek-- and definitely for those who dream of becoming the next Gallo.

Cheers.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

My husband and I want to start a vineyard, and used this book as our resource. Great tips, hints and suggestions. We learned how to space rows and vines. How to create the trellises. Also, how and when to harvest. Now, if we only can make time to get it done.

My only disappointment was it dealt with warm weather grapes (California,) not those that are in our zone and climate.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thorough primer on starting to grow your own grapes and make wine, from start to finish. Geared towards smaller scale, home-based winemaking. This book corroborated my experiences working in a research vineyard but gave further explanation that I was seeking on the processes. There are a lot of helpful resources in the appendices also.

[Tristan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent resource for a home vineyard. It is amazing how many ways the illustration Jesus used of the kingdom being like a vineyard, becomes more relevant and explodes with depth as you learn about these plants!

[Randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still in the early chpaters but very informative.

[Rhi · Rating 3 out of 5]

from MXM

A technical book that describes the basics of making wine, including introductory information about every aspect along the way. Oregon vineyard here we come!

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

As per the title, this book covers all the basics of growing grapes and making wine.

Although I am not going to make wine, it was interesting to read how it is done.

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative and a great help.

[Liltishy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found very helpful

[Virgilio Costa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice book with handy knowledge about vines, wines with a nice approach to the technical stuff

[Diana Harper · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was a lot of good information even for the backyard grower.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for the grape growing portion...best explanation of pruning for next year's fruiting canes that I've found so far (with step by step pictures for the novice).