The Grape Grower: A Guide to Organic Viticulture

Grapes are the most popular and widely grown fruit in the world. From the tropics to Alaska, grapes will grow successfully in almost every climate. Whether you raise them for fresh eating, or for making wine, juice, or jellies and preserves, the right grapes will reward you with abundant crops for a modest investment of time and effort.

Now for the first time comes a book for grape growers who wish to use organic growing methods to raise healthy, thriving vineyards in the backyard or on a small commercial scale. The Grape Grower distills the broad knowledge and long-time personal experience of Lon Rombough, one of North America’s foremost authorities on viticulture.

From finding and preparing the right site for your vineyard to training, trellising, and pruning vines to growing new grapes from seeds and cuttings, The Grape Grower offers thorough and accessible information on all the basics. The chapters on grape species, varieties, and hybrids are alone worth the price of a college course in viticulture. And technical information on the major (and minor) insect pests and diseases that affect grapes, as well as their organic controls, makes this book an invaluable reference that readers will turn to again and again.

Rombaugh also provides a wealth of information on hardy but little-known grapes that are native to North America, and on a wide range of topics, including:
• pruning neglected or overgrown vines
• growing grapes on arbors and in greenhouses
• controlling animal pests in the vineyard
• bunch grapes and muscadine grapes for the South
• winter protection, and how to increase the hardiness of grapes
• creating your own new varieties

Price: $35.00

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Vines, Grapes & Wines: The Wine Drinker's Guide to Grape Varieties

As more and more wine consumers become grape conscious, they identify and buy wine according to its grape—and this is the guide to help them choose. Written by one of the world’s most highly respected wine writers, Vines, Grapes, & Wines covers the numerous grape varieties that are grown internationally, examining an extensive range of the varieties that the enthusiast is likely to encounter both as a plant and as a wine style.  Each one is described in its geographical context, and there are hundreds of inspiring illustrations throughout.
 
Winner of the Veuve Clicquot Wine Book of the Year and André Simon Drink Book of the Year awards
 

Price: $27.95

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Oz Clarke's Grapes and Wines: The definitive guide to the world's great grapes and the wines they make

First published in hardcover as Oz Clarke’s Encyclopedia of Grapes, Oz Clarke’s Grapes and Wines is newly revised and updated to provide the most current information on an even wider array of grapes. Oz covers chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, and fifteen other "classic" grapes in depth, and includes features on tradition and innovation, methods used in the vineyard and the winery, and different wine styles around the world. He also provides vivid descriptions of more than three hundred grape varieties organized in his renowned A-to-Z format, as well as a glossary of technical terms and a wine decoder that lists which grapes go into which wines.

This authoritative volume by one of the world’s great wine writers is all you need to distinguish among grape varieties— the wines they create and the flavors they contribute—and to make an informed choice on selecting the most satisfying wines.

Price: $25.00

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Jancis Robinson's Guide to Wine Grapes

Hailed by the Wine Advocate as "perhaps the most gifted of all wine writers writing today," Jancis Robinson has been voted the Wine Writer's Wine Writer by her peers, dubbed "the undisputed mistress of the kingdom of wines" by France's Madame Figaro, and won the 1995 Wine Literary Award of the Wine Appreciation Guild. Holding the prestigious rank of Master of Wine, Robinson lectures and judges all over the world, and recently hosted a ten-part PBS series Jancis Robinson's Wine Course. She also edited The Oxford Companion to Wine, which won every major wine book award in 1995--including the Julia Child Cookbook Award (Wine, Beer, or Spirits) and The James Beard Book Award--and which has been praised by Frank Prial in The New York Times as "easily the most complete compendium of wine knowledge assembled in modern times," and by Anthony Dias Blue as "one of the definitive reference books on the subject."

Now, in Jancis Robinson's Guide to Wine Grapes, Robinson provides wine aficionados with a handy, on-the-spot guide to the most central aspect of wine making--the grapes themselves. Here are over 850 grapes, ranging from such widely acclaimed vines as Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Muscat, Pinot Noir, Riesling, and Sauvignon Blanc, to economically important if less distinguished vines such as Airen, Grenache, Muller-Thurgau, Trebbiano, Syrah, and Rkatsiteli. Robinson offers a fact-filled introduction--discussing everything from rootstocks and wine blends, to vine pests and disease--and glossary of technical terms (from botrytis and carbonic maceration, to fanleaf and foxy, to skin, sugars, tannins, and yield). She then examines the world's grape varieties in alphabetical order, describing the basic characteristics of the wine produced by the grape (dry, sweet, high or low acidity, the bouquet), its likely quality, the regions that produce the best wine, and, if a blended wine, the blends that yield the best results. (As an added guide to the wine a grape might produce, the Guide includes an easy-to-use visual aid: a horizontal bar with a band which shows the range of quality, from ordinary to superb.) Robinson also shares much fascinating wine history, her deep insight into the wine industry, and more important, her own judgment on a wine. And Robinson does not hedge in judging a wine: discussing Carignan, France's most planted red wine, she comments "Its wine is high in everything--acidity, tannins, color, bitterness--but flavor and charm. This gives it the double inconvenience of being unsuitable for early consumption yet unworthy of maturation." And for Trebbiano, the most planted white grape in Italy (and with Ugni Blanc, which is the name of the grape in France, the second most planted white grape in the world), Robinson notes "the word Trebbiano in a wine name almost invariably signals something light, white, crisp, and uninspiring."

Perhaps most important, this portable book can be used in the store as a buying guide. With Robinson's Guide, simply find the grape variety on the label--or, if not listed, turn to Robinson's unique Grapes Behind the Names appendix in the back--look up the entry on that grape, and you will discover everything you need to know to make an informed decision to buy or pass. With Jancis Robinson by your side, you can evaluate a bottle of wine on the spot, no matter where, when, or by whom it has been produced.

Price: $13.95

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

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 to:

-- 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

Price: $18.95

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The Backyard Vintner: An Enthusiast's Guide to Growing Grapes and Making Wine at Home

Anyone who ever wanted to have homemade wine and never thought they had the space or ability to make it will love this book. The Backyard Vintner is a handy guide to at-home wine making that teaches readers the tips and tricks of the trade. It is perfect for those who want to bring the feeling of wine country right into their own backyard.

The Backyard Vintner teaches readers how to start and maintain a vineyard, providing vital information on topics such as planting, trellising, and proper pruning techniques for grapes; which grape varieties will grow best in every climate or region; and the wines that can be made from each variety. Basic recipes for wines, and advice on topics such as bottling, storing, and serving wines, are also provided.

Price: $19.99

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Guide To Grape Harvesting & Wine Making Tips

A Complete guide to growing your own grapes & making delicious wine. Written by a Wine Making Veteran. Complete step by step process

Check it out!