We are familiar with the medical opinion that a daily glass of wine is good for the health and also the rival opinion that any more than a glass or two will set us on the road to ruin. Whether or not good for the body, Scruton argues, wine, drunk in the right frame of mind, is definitely good for the soul. And there is no better accompaniment to wine than philosophy. By thinking with wine, you can learn not only to drink in thoughts but to think in draughts. This good-humoured book offers an antidote to the pretentious clap-trap that is written about wine today and a profound apology for the drink on which civilisation has been founded. In vino veritas.

This book is a fully updated amalgamation of two previously published titles - Growing Vines (1972) and Wines from your Vines (1974). It is concise, yet detailed, and covers all aspects from planting the vines through cropping and vinification to enjoying the final product. The quality of English wine is constantly improving and this book will help the amateur to produce high-quality wine from home-grown grapes providing the right varieties are used and the simple rules followed.