An informative, fun guide to making your own wine It's estimated that one million North Americans make their own wine. Relatively inexpensive to make (a homemade bottle costs from $2 to $4), a bottle with your own label (and grapes) is a fantasy even someone with modest aspirations can fulfill. Author Tim Patterson, an award-winning home winemaker, shows how it's possible for anyone to create a great wine. In Home Winemaking For Dummies, he discusses the art of winemaking from grape to bottle, including how to get the best grapes (and figure out how many you need); determine what equipment is required; select the right yeast and figure out if any other additives are needed; and store, age, and test wine. With detailed tips on creating many varieties -- from bold reds and demure whites to enchanting ros s and delightful sparkling wines -- this guide is your ultimate winemaking resource.

An informative, fun guide to making your own wineIt's estimated that one million North Americans make their ownwine. Relatively inexpensive to make (a homemade bottle costs from$2 to $4), a bottle with your own label (and grapes) is a fantasyeven someone with modest aspirations can fulfill. Author TimPatterson, an award-winning home winemaker, shows how it's possiblefor anyone to create a great wine. In Home Winemaking ForDummies, he discusses the art of winemaking from grape tobottle, including how to get the best grapes (and figure out howmany you need); determine what equipment is required; select theright yeast and figure out if any other additives are needed; andstore, age, and test wine. With detailed tips on creating manyvarieties -- from bold reds and demure whites to enchantingrosés and delightful sparkling wines -- this guide is yourultimate winemaking resource.

Introduction 1Part I: Motivations, Materials, and Methods 7Chapter 1: Making Great Wine at Home 9Chapter 2: Finding Good Grapes 21Chapter 3: Provisioning Your Home Winery 37Chapter 4: Obsessing over Temperature, Oxygen, and Sanitation 61Part II: Phases and Stages 71Chapter 5: Sorting, Crushing, and Pressing 73Chapter 6: Letting Yeast Do Its Thing: Fermentation 91Chapter 7: Doing the Post-Fermentation Tango 111Chapter 8: Aging and Blending 125Chapter 9: Finishing and Bottling 145Chapter 10: Storing, Serving, and Starting Over 159Part III: Deeper Into Reds 169Chapter 11: What's Special about Red Wines? 171Chapter 12: Bold Bordeaux Reds 185Chapter 13: Ravishing Rhône Reds 199Chapter 14: Handling the Hard Cases 213Chapter 15: Up-and-Comers and Off-the-Radars 229Part IV: Deeper Into Whites 237Chapter 16: What's Special about White Wines? 239Chapter 17: Fruity, Herbal Whites 253Chapter 18: Aromatic Whites 271Part V: Beyond Red and White 289Chapter 19: Thinking and Drinking Pink 291Chapter 20: Dessert, Fortified, and Sparkling Wines 299Part VI: The Part of Tens 315Chapter 21: Ten Mistakes Most Home Winemakers Make at Least Once 317Chapter 22: Ten Ways To Save Money (and Make Better Wine) 321Chapter 23: Ten Differences between Wine(makers) and Beer(brewers) 325Part VII: Appendixes 329Appendix A: Glossary 331Appendix B: Conversions 333Appendix C: Resources 335Appendix D: Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) and pH 339Index 347