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