Rating: 
Summary: Making wine is fun and easy. This book will show you how.
Review:
I tried to write a book which answered all the questions I had as a beginning winemaker and incorporated answers to all the questions people had ever asked me about making wine. The emphasis is on fruit wines, rather than grape wines, and on having fun.
Sure, you can be more serious and scientific about things if you want, but really, if you can follow a cake recipe or make jam, you can make wine.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun Book on Winemaking!
Review: I just bottled my first batch of Potatoe, Rasberry and Spiced Apple wines. To my surprise, it was really easy to make and turned out delicious even though it still isn't fully aged. Garey was right, IT JUST TAKES PATIENCE! The book is written with the beginner in mind (myself included), with a great sense of humor and includes really good tips and many recipes to choose from. I only wish that I made more than one gallon of the Rasberry Wine, however. I feel more adventurous and willing to experiment now that my first batch turned out after nearly 6 months. In short, I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to start wine making as an enjoyable hobby without breaking the bank.
Rating: 
Summary: A very good starter book
Review: I started making wine with this book. It covers home winemaking very well and even walks you through making the first batch of wine. It has many recipes and covers ciders, champagnes. The tips and tricks that the author gives help the beginner winemaker new ideas and newer tricks to use. I've recommended this to a lot of people I know who want to get into it
Rating:
Summary: For a beginner, this IS the book you want.
Review: I've read more than a dozen books on making wine. I usually start by checking them out from the library then purchasing the books that I will use as a reference. I read this book when I checked it out then I bought it and read it again. I recommended it to another and they bought it as well. I have also given it as a gift. For the beginning wine maker this book is a tremendous benefit. It is easy to read. Terry does a great job explaining the principles from beginning to end. I have used the following recipies: Apple, Concorde Grape, Blueberry, Peach and Strawberry. Without exception, every batch has turned out great. Terry includes a little science but if you want to know more there will always be more out there. If on the other hand you want to make a very good bottle of wine and keep your costs down, this is the book you need. You may not be replicating Chateau Lafitte in your garage but I have yet to have a complaint about my wines when following Terry's examples. Start with this book then add to your library when you want to go further.
Rating:
Summary: For a beginner, this IS the book you want.
Review: I've read more than a dozen books on making wine. I usually start by checking them out from the library then purchasing the books that I will use as a reference. I read this book when I checked it out then I bought it and read it again. I recommended it to another and they bought it as well. I have also given it as a gift. For the beginning wine maker this book is a tremendous benefit. It is easy to read. Terry does a great job explaining the principles from beginning to end. I have used the following recipies: Apple, Concorde Grape, Blueberry, Peach and Strawberry. Without exception, every batch has turned out great. Terry includes a little science but if you want to know more there will always be more out there. If on the other hand you want to make a very good bottle of wine and keep your costs down, this is the book you need. You may not be replicating Chateau Lafitte in your garage but I have yet to have a complaint about my wines when following Terry's examples. Start with this book then add to your library when you want to go further.
Rating:
Summary: A solid guide to home winemaking.
Review: It has taken over 40 years for someone to write a better winemaking primer that C.J.J. Berry's classic "First Steps in Winemaking," and this is it. 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 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. Having been brought up through the ranks, as it were, on Berry's "First Steps..." and having never found it insufficient as an instructional and recipe reference, it is almost painful to admit that someone has bettered the master. But Terry Garey clearly has. "The Joy..." is thoughtfully divided into three sections -- beginning, intermedient and advanced winemaking. Garey presents the basics, expands upon them, and then he expands some more. Not only is his presentation progressive, it is solidly educational. Best of all, the recipes are largely fresh, varied and inviting! "The Joy..." 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. He 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. He 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 ex! perimentation and invention. It is this that he does better than Berry, and for that alone he should be read and reread by every winemaking hobbiest. I still highly recommend C.J.J. Berry's "First Steps in Winemaking" for the beginner, but I also highly recommend "The Joy of Home Winemaking" for the beginner and experienced alike. If you can only buy one, flip a coin. Better still, buy them both. The first is the classic. The second is destined to be.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a Grape Wine Book
Review: Only reason I am giving two stars is i bought this on the premise i was going to learn about making wine with grapes which is popular in the New York/Ontario area where i live. The author is more in love with wine from fruit. I have to admit it intriqued me, but, I think the title should be Making Fruit wine or something like it. Out side of that good book on basic wine making tips, I learned alot, just not about making wine from grapes.
This is more of a book for apple wine or berry wine, than for
Merlot or Cabernet...
Rating:
Summary: Not great, but it'll get you going...
Review: Simply put, Garey's work is for beginners. It's written that way and does an excellent job in that. But Garey expands her work with a great deal of unneccessary information that you can cull off the web. Her techniques are overdone, and I got the impression that though she may have had wonderful success with making wine in her own home, the cutesy method of writing the recipes reminded me more of a cookbook for 1950s housewives than a work that presents winemaking as a simple, direct primer. The instructions flow together in a blur, and several recipes are repeated. The instructions flow together in a blur, and several recipes are repeated. The instructions...you get the idea. I've read several other works on wine and been doing this only for a short time, but I don't recommend Garey's book as the end-all-be-all of home winemaking, as her book implies. If nothing else, use this to give you a feel for the methods. Her recipe for some wines are...well...let's just say I gave batches away to a bunch of people I don't know that well and have little chance of seeing anytime soon...
Rating:
Summary: Dandy book for all beginners.
Review: Terry Garey does a good job of inducing the novice they too can make quality wine. The book consists of a brief winemaking history, step by step instructions for the first gallon. Garey thoroughly explains the essential wine making equipment and evaluates different types of tools (e.g. plunger, lever action, and bench corkers). Recipes and ingredients for a variety of wines are given from grapes, canned fruits, concentrates, dried fruits, vegetable, herb, flower, seed and grain wines. The author explicates advanced; techniques, equipment, and wines even fortified and sparkling wines are discussed. Furthermore the author reveals winemaking troubleshooting, just in case your wine goes foul.
Rating:
Summary: Best book for those new to making wine!
Review: Terry Garey takes a very casual, fun approach to making wine with various fruits. Her recipes are tried and true. (I won a gold medal with her strawberry wine recipe) The book is easy to read and informative. Best of all, it is easy to understand and follow for the person new to winemaking. Wine purist probably won't care for the book due to the casual and varied approach to making excellent wines from many different sources.
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