Home winemaking is an appealing hobby for a new generation of wine lovers lured by the promise of a great payoff — small batches of handmade wine. It’s the perfect opportunity to experiment with flavors, have fun playing with chemistry, and share a few tasty bottles with friends and family. But safely fermenting, bottling, and aging wine is a demanding process requiring special equipment, impeccable sanitation, an understanding of chemical reactions, and the patience to see the aging process through to the end. No matter how experienced the home winemaker, unforeseen questions develop with every batch of new wine.

When a winemaker has problems with leaky corks or finds an oily film on top of his fermenting wine, what’s the simplest, quickest way to get an answer? The Wine Maker’s Answer Book is a 24/7 helpline with advice on hundreds of winemaking dilemmas. From the basic curiosity of the novice (What equipment will I need to get started?) to the finer points of fermentation (What is the impact of malolactic fermentation on acidity?), every step of the process is covered in detail.

Author Alison Crowe uses a friendly question-and-answer format to explain the mysteries of turning grape juice into wine, whether the reader is beginning with fresh grapes or a home winemaking kit. To the straightforward requests for information, she offers detailed descriptions of procedures and equipment. For stickier real-life problems, she first carefully assesses the possible causes and then gives expert advice on fixing the trouble.