An informative, fun guide to making your own wineIt'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.

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.