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If you understand the technical terms, or will bother to look them up, this is either an invaluable work or a complete waste of money for any winemaker. While it is most certainly aimed at the large scale (commercial) winemaker, even us amateurs can benefit in countless ways from reading (and hopefully digesting) this book. However, if your winemaking education is already optimized and your beliefs poured in concrete you will probably find the book of little value. For either case, the book is thought-provoking in most of the right places. It just depends on how open one is to the author's thoughts and philosophical biases (he isn't a fan of "natural" winemaking—nor am I).

For me, Postmodern Winemaking was a good read, even though I had to read portions more than once to grasp the implications—some subtle and some blunt opinions. I particularly enjoyed the author's injection of humor scattered throughout which made it fun to read.

Clark Smith's discussions of micro-oxygenation and reverse osmosis require investments that may be beyond the budget of most amateur winemakers, but they do allow one to appreciate them more fully. Also, his discussions of tannin and anthocyanin polymerization and the impact and evolution (or is it devolution?) of acids in wine are especially important in my opinion.

To be succinct, the book may be a challenge to many, but is certainly worth reading and digesting if you make wine.

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Paperback 288 pages (June 1996)
Book Description:
A solid guide to home winemaking

If you've never made wine before and would like to try it, this is the book for you. It is well written, rich in anecdotes, and easily understood. If you've made wine for several years and think you know what you're doing, I'm willing to bet you that The Joy of Home Winemaking will teach you much more than a mere thing or two.

The Joy of Home Winemaking is much more than a primer for making wine at home. The beginner invariably expects an identifiable relationship between the color, flavor and bouquet of the raw ingredients and the finished wine. While such a relationship exists, it is not the one that beginning winemakers expect. Garey goes where few have attempted to go before. She wants you to know what you will get, and that requires more than simply adjusting your expectations.

To accomplish this, Garey explains the principles and, to some degree, the chemistry that underlies the processes at work when wine is being made. She explains flavor extraction better than most, which spices produce which qualities, which fruits and vegetables complement each other when combined in the crock, which herbs and flowers work and which don't, and so on. The result is not merely education, but firm understanding, and that is requisite to experimentation and invention. She does this better than most, and for that alone she should be read and reread. (Reviewed by Jack Keller)

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Bonus Selection:
Home Winemaking Step-by-Step
by Jon Iverson

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Paperback 250 pages (4th Edition, September 2009)
Book Description:
The single best resource for the amateur I've found for making grape wines

If you've never before made wine from grapes but want to try it, or if you've been making it for years but simply want to improve your skills and your wine, Home Winemaking Step by Step is the single best resource for that task. Jon Iverson has written a book anyone can use with confidence. His writing is straightforward, concise and lay-oriented, and both beginner and advanced winemaker will feel this book was writen for them. For the beginner, it is refreshingly complete. For the advanced winemaker, it contains nuggets of technique and insight that will prove valuable and useful. Iverson's treatment of acidity, cold soaking and stabilization, extended and carbonic macerations, malolactic fermentation, sparkling wine methods, fining, and oaking are pregnant with value. While most would agree these are advanced topics, Jon works them into the overall process so effortlessly that the beginner might never know he is being ushered through a collegiate. Similarly, the appendices are loaded with procedures, tables, insights, and resources all will find useful. It still sports a quote by me on the cover.(Reviewed by Jack Keller)

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