Home Winemaking For Dummies

by Patterson, Tim

• ISBN13: 9780470678954
• ISBN10: 047067895X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-11-23
• Publisher: For Dummies

Summary

An informative, fun guide to making your own wineSince 2007, 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 own grapes) is a fantasy even someone with modest aspirations can fulfill. Author Tim Patterson, an award-winning amateur winemaker, shows how it's possible for anyone to create a great wine. In Home Winemaking For Dummies, he discusses, from grape to bottle, the art of winemaking, including whether to make wine from a kit, concentrate, juice, or grapes; and how to determine what equipment is required; select the right yeast and figure out if any other additives are required; store, age, and test wine; and evaluate the wine. Includes tips on creating fruit, fortified, and sparkling winesThis fun and friendly guide will help any wine enthusiast take their love of the grape to the next level. With Home Winemaking For Dummies, you can create a wine of your very own that will even have friends and family toasting your accomplishment.

Author Biography

Tim Patterson writes about wine and makes some of his own in Berkeley, California. He contributes the monthly "Inquiring Winemaker" column for the industry trade magazine Wines & Vines, digging into winemaking theories and techniques, and he covered home winemaking for several years in the pages of WineMaker. He has won dozens of Gold medals, Double Golds, and Best of Shows from amateur winemaking competitions in California.

Table of Contents

Introduction.

Part I: Motivations, Materials, and Methods.

Chapter 1: Making Great Wine at Home.

Chapter 2: Finding Good Grapes.

Chapter 3: Provisioning Your Home Winery.

Chapter 4: Obsessing over Temperature, Oxygen, and Sanitation.

Part II: Phases and Stages.

Chapter 5: Sorting, Crushing, and Pressing.

Chapter 6: Letting Yeast Do Its Thing: Fermentation.

Chapter 7: Doing the Post-Fermentation Tango.

Chapter 8: Aging and Blending.

Chapter 9: Finishing and Bottling.

Chapter 10: Storing, Serving, and Starting Over.

Part III: Deeper Into Reds.

Chapter 11: What's Special about Red Wines?

Chapter 12: Bold Bordeaux Reds.

Chapter 13: Ravishing Rhône Reds.

Chapter 14: Handling the Hard Cases.

Chapter 15: Up-and-Comers and Off-the-Radars.

Part IV: Deeper Into Whites.

Chapter 16: What's Special about White Wines?

Chapter 17: Fruity, Herbal Whites.

Chapter 18: Aromatic Whites.

Part V: Beyond Red and White.

Chapter 19: Thinking and Drinking Pink.

Chapter 20: Dessert, Fortifi ed, and Sparkling Wines.

Part VI: The Part of Tens.

Chapter 21: Ten Mistakes Most Home Winemakers Make at Least Once.

Chapter 22: Ten Ways To Save Money (and Make Better Wine).

Chapter 23: Ten Differences between Wine(makers) and Beer(brewers).

Part VII: Appendixes.

Appendix A: Glossary.

Appendix B: Conversions.

Appendix C: Resources.

Appendix D: Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) and pH.

Index.