If you want to experiment with your backyard vineyard, these references may be very helpful. All are readily available from major booksellers, or the UC-Davis online bookstore: Making Good Wine: A Manual of Winemaking Practice for Australia and New Zealand, Bryce Rankine, Pan Macmillan Australia, 2004. While it was written for winemakers in Australia and New Zealand, Making Good Wine is a great resource for anyone — professional or amateur — interested in making wine regardless of where they live. Topics covered include background on the wine industry; grape development and composition; winery establishment and layout; winemaking procedures; maturation, stabilization, clarification, packaging; winemaking faults and their prevention; quality control and tasting and analysis. Jancis Robinson Guide to Wine Grapes, Jancis Robinson, Oxford University Press, 1996. Don’t let the small, slim size of this book fool you. Containing information about 850 varietals, this book examines the world’s grape varieties in alphabetical order, including important information for would-be grape growers such as rootstocks and wine blends, to vine pests and disease. She also describes the basic characteristics of the wine produced by
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