Daniel's Books

New Release

Modern Home Winemaking

A Guide to Making Consistently Great Wines

Available in paperback and hardcover formats.

Complementary copy of WINE MYTHS, FACTS & SNOBBERIES with purchase of this title.

payments only accepted.

Canadian Customers

$25.00 flat rate shipping within Canada

Currency in Canadian dollars (CAD$)

Continental USA Customers

$25.00 flat rate shipping to Continental USA

Currency in US dollars (US$)

This is a how-to book for aspiring and serious hobbyists wanting to take their winemaking to a whole new level. It describes the process of making flawless wine, consistently, from crush to bottle using modern techniques and the latest products.

Making wine is not only about fermenting juice into wine; this book details the many other processes involved in making outstanding wine, wines that will win medals at competitions. These include how to analyze and control quality parameters, such as total acidity, pH, sulfur dioxide, how to stabilize wine so that it ages gracefully without developing flaws, and how – and why – to filter.

And should something go wrong, a chapter is dedicated to help identify root causes of the most common problems, how to fix faults without compromising quality, and how to avoid them in the first place.

The book contains many illustrations to highlight key processes and use of equipment, and many examples to help calculate, for example, sugar and acidity adjustments to make balanced wines.

Publisher (date): Véhicule Press (2021)

ISBN-13: 9781550655636 (paperback)

Pages: 624

PRICING AND SHIPPING – PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

All prices are in the shown currencies and include all taxes. Shipping and handling are extra.

Books are shipped from Canada, and can be shipped within Canada and to the Continental USA. A flat rate per book is applied for shipping and handling. Shipping and handling charges will appear in your PayPal cart when you add a publication to your cart.

For international and non-Continental USA orders, please inquire.

Book Reviews

Back in 1978, a professor of mine, Ronald Subden, gave me a book entitled “Grapes into Wine”, written by the grand old man of eastern viticulture, Philip Wagner. As a student of viticulture and enology, I devoured those pages and tried to absorb every fact and detail. It is still on my shelf.

Now it is 2022, and author Daniel Pambianchi has given us a potential winemaking classic—Modern Home Winemaking. In its 600+ pages we can find everything from a comprehensive winemaking vocabulary, basic winemaking from start to finish with some basic chemistry thrown in for good measure, a list of varieties with yeast recommendations, and thereafter—equipment, sanitization, sugar and acid analysis and additions, SO₂, tannins, enzymes, alcoholic fermentation, MLF, stabilization, aging, fine-tuning, filtration, packaging and bottling, flaws and faults, and finally, submission to competitions. There are specific chapters devoted to individual wine styles—“fruity and full-bodied” white wine, “attractive rosé wine”, and “blockbuster” red wine”. The chapter involving troubleshooting, faults and flaws (and their rectification) is especially impressive, and a crucial chapter that must be read and digested by all home winemakers and beginning professionals alike.

The book has been lavishly illustrated with high-quality line drawings. There are also numerous easy-to-understand charts and equations to simplify the process of additions such as SO₂, potassium sorbate, calcium carbonate, and other additives. Appendices such as sugar vs. specific gravity and potential alcohol are also included.

The book has also has had the benefit of two well-respected technical editors—Arthur Harder (Harder Consulting, formerly Hillebrand Wines), and Bob Peak (consultant, California).

This book is not only for home winemakers! I recommend this a first text for all enology students and anyone who has a passion for making and tasting wine. Consider this book as a very modest investment in a lifetime of knowledge for students of wine young and old alike.

Dr. Andrew Reynolds

Former Professor of Viticulture, Viticulture Consultant

Daniel Pambianchi’s new book, Modern Home Winemaking, A Guide to Making Consistently Great Wines, 2021, by Véhicule Press, is a valuable and updated successor to his previous book, Techniques in Home Winemaking. He is one of the few authors on the subject who can simply and clearly explain complex ideas and methods to anyone, and not just to experts and degreed enologists, with a minimum of scientific terminology and distracting esoteric jargon. His charming and engaging style, and deep knowledge of the subject matter, make this a book valuable to all seeking to refine and improve their winemaking skills and knowledge.

Extremely well-written, this volume contains techniques and methods for the home winemaker but would also be helpful to winemakers of any experience level from beginner to advanced commercial winemakers. The book is thorough, complete, incredibly well researched, and contains the latest research on wine testing and analytical methods, including complete and useful information on cleaning, sanitation, and cellar hygiene, as well as a review of the most popular wine grapes, both V. vinifera and the newer hybrid wine grapes. In addition, Pambianchi covers the complex and often evolving subjects such as the uses of winemaking enzymes, tannins, and fining agents that can help home winemakers make wine “like the pros”.

Additional chapters on wine blending, fine tuning, troubleshooting, and packaging and bottling are subjects not often covered in this depth and breadth. At nearly 600 pages, this book leaves nothing out, and the beginning winemaker can be assured that if they will take the time to read and understand it all, there should be no reason whatsoever that they will not produce consistently excellent and high-quality wines.

As a commercial and research winemaker with over 20 vintages under my belt, I found the time it took to read Pambianchi’s new book was time very well spent. I would not hesitate to recommend this book to anyone seeking useful and clear advice on how to make excellent wines, consistently, and to make them even better every year.

Drew Horton

Enology Specialist, University of Minnesota Grape Breeding & Enology Project

Once again, Daniel Pambianchi, our favourite wine guru, has produced an excellent text for the home winemaker. Whether the winemaker is a novice or an experienced vintner, this text will delight and assist us in all our winemaking endeavours.

The text is easy to follow with chapters laid out in a comprehensive and organized manner. From the “how to” of making wine, various types of grapes, cleaning and sanitizing, bench trials and controls, then various analyzes and applications and navigating through the process to faults and fine tuning, Pambianchi has given us the perfect reference tool to make great wine. A delightful inclusion is the chapter on entering wines for competition and having wines judged.

Simple, direct and well written, Modern Home Winemaking is the perfect “go to” resource for any winemaker. The language is clear and concise. Pambianchi provides the technical knowledge to walk us thorough problems and it is always understandable and interesting. The winemaker is able to see where to avoid problems, where they may have originated and the necessary fix for them. Pambianchi provides a plethora of charts on anything and everything the winemaker needs. Yeasts, YAN, S.G., Alcohol, SO2, etc., charts and guides, are all included in Modern Home Winemaking; A Guide to Making Consistently Great Wines.

Step by step methodologies are given for various techniques and alternatives are suggested providing the winemaker with options. Beginner winemakers can feel comfortable that they are being led confidently through a variety of tasks to the final production of making excellent wines. Experienced winemakers can proceed with confidence knowing that their winemaking skills are being honed to achieving better wines than they have made before.

We can look forward to raising the bar on our winemaking skills with this extremely useful book. I highly recommend it to every winemaker and will use this text for future training in the Wine Judges of Canada training program.

Patti Polfuss

Vice President Wine Judges of Canada/ Training Co-ordinator

Daniel's Books

New Release

Modern Home Winemaking

A Guide to Making Consistently Great Wines

Complementary copy of WINE MYTHS, FACTS & SNOBBERIES with purchase of this title.

Book Reviews

My other books

Now Available

Bestseller

General Reading

Just starting out?