Sandra Silfven: Wine

There's help for amateur winemakers

If the smell of autumn gets your creative juices fermenting, you might want to curl up with the new fourth edition of "Home Winemaking Step-by-Step (Stonemark, $17.95) by Jon Iverson, the bible for many amateur winemakers. And whether you intend to actually crush some grapes or not, you stand to learn something about all those words that get bandied about on the back labels -- acidity, Brix, pH, French oak.

Iverson updates this edition with thoughts on "kit wines," the use of oak in all its forms (from barrels to staves to "beans"), and a new section on the tannins and enzymes widely used by commercial wineries.

He strongly urges newcomers to start with white wines because it's easier to make a good one, and high-quality white grapes are more readily available, plus they're cheaper than red.

Making wine up and down the Pacific Coast for more than 30 years, Iverson is a straight-shooter who lets you in on his own mistakes and triumphs.

His advice is timeless because in today's world, you can make wine at home 12 months a year, given the availability of fresh juices, juice concentrates, frozen blocks of crushed grapes and "home brew" stores around Metro Detroit and Windsor. In Michigan, it's easy to reach out to large wineries like Lemon Creek in Berrien Springs to buy grapes.

Tip: Lots of local home winemakers exchange information and pick up supplies at California Wine Grapes across from the Detroit Produce Terminal. This unique store, which only sells fresh grapes or juice, besides dozens of supplies, is at 7250 W. Fort St., Detroit, (313) 841-0590. Honeyflow Farm in Dryden is another source for help ( www.honeyflowfarm.com), along with Cap 'N' Cork in Macomb ( www.capncorkhomebrew.com).

Auction coming up

The 28th Detroit International Wine Auction to benefit the College for Creative Studies is Saturday night at the GM Wintergarden in the Renaissance Center. Featured vintner is Bob Bertheau, winemaker at Chateau Ste. Michelle. Hot lots at the auction include a VIP tour of Washington wine country; a showcase of Chateau Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon; a tour, tasting and luncheon at Fisher Vineyards in Napa Valley; a Cadillac CTS Coupe; and visits to Michigan's Brys Estate and Chateau Chantal.

Tickets to the gala dinner and live auction start at $350. Call (313) 664-7464 or go to www.collegeforcreativestudies.edu/diwa.

Michigan wine picks

2008 Chateau Chantal Chardonnay, Old Mission Peninsula, $12: Medium-bodied, unoaked style with amazing tropical fruit flavors and minerality. Perfect wine for the Thanksgiving table.

St. Julian Catherman's Port, $16: A fortified dessert wine made from Chambourcin grapes. It's got the usual portlike sweetness with tons of flavor and body to brace the soul when the winds of winter howl. One of my favorite ports.

Longview Reserve Cherry Wine, Leelanau Peninsula, $15: Taking "Best Fruit Wine" honors at this year's Michigan Wine & Spirits Competition, it's a fruit wine with amazing "wine grape" qualities -- it has cherry flavors, of course, but without the cherry-pie, over-acidic character of most cherry wines. Serve it with roast pork -- or turkey.

Wine