Joy of Home Wine Making (46 page)

Intense; not for everyone!

3¾ qts. water

2¼ lbs. sugar or 2½ lbs. mild honey

3-4 lbs. fresh or frozen raspberries

1 lb. fresh or frozen blackberries or blueberries

1 lb. white raisins or 1 pint white grape concentrate

½ tsp. acid blend

1 tsp. yeast nutrient

¼ tsp. tannin

1 Campden tablet, crushed (optional)

½ tsp. pectic enzyme

1 packet champagne or sherry wine yeast

raspberry or red currant or lingonberry brandy

If using the raisins, soak them overnight.

Put the water mixed with the sugar or honey on the stove to
boil. Pick over the berries carefully, discarding any that are not up to par. Rinse lightly. Put the berries into a nylon straining bag with the raisins, if you are using them, and tie the top tightly.

Put the bag of fruit into the bottom of your primary fermenter and crush the fruit within the bag. You can use a potato masher if you prefer, but hands are the best.

Now pour the hot sugar water over the crushed fruit. This sets the color. If you prefer, you can chill and reserve half the water beforehand, adding it now to bring the temperature down quickly. Add the acid, tannin, and yeast nutrient, but wait till the temperature comes down to add the Campden tablet, if you choose to use one. Cover and fit with an air lock. Twelve hours after the Campden tablet, add the pectic enzyme. If you don’t use the tablet, merely wait until the must cools down to add the pectic enzyme.

Check the PA and write it down.

Twenty-four hours later, add the yeast, made up with a little sugar water.

After two weeks, remove the bag (don’t squeeze). Discard the fruit. After the sediment has settled down again, check the PA. If it is still above 3 to 4 percent, let the wine ferment for another week, then rack into your glass fermenter and add the white grape concentrate if you are using it. Bung and fit with an air lock.

Rack the wine at least twice during fermentation. Be sure to keep it in a dark jug, or put something over it to keep the light from stealing the color.

In six to eight months, check the PA and clarity. If the wine has fermented out, rack it and fortify it with whatever brandy you have decided to use, using the Pearson Square.

You can use any red liqueur with this, but you’ll have to add more unless you make your own using higher proof alcohol. Raspberry (framboise) will make it more intensely raspberry, while strawberry might be nice, or cranberry, or lingonberry. You can also use apple or pear.

One thing I’ve always wanted to try is rose liqueur!

Rack off the wine and add the alcohol. Then bottle, label, and store the wine. Try it in a year, then in two, or even three, years. Consider using some half bottles, so you can taste it more often as it progresses.

You could also just bottle the wine as it is, and enjoy it, of
course! In that case, stabilize and sweeten with four to six ounces of sugar in syrup. Keep for at least a year before trying.

WHITE PORT

Some people consider white port to be an abomination, but they’d consider our fruit ports in the same light, so what the heck?

water to make up the gallon, as needed

2¼ lbs. sugar or 2½ lbs. mild honey

8 lbs. crushed or chopped apples or 24 oz. can frozen apple juice

3 lbs. fresh or 1 lb. dried apricots or peaches

2 tsps. acid blend

1 tsp. yeast nutrient

¼ tsp. tannin

1 Campden tablet, crushed (optional)

½ tsp. pectic enzyme

1 packet sherry wine yeast

Brandy, Calvados (apple brandy), or fruit liqueur

Put the water mixed with the sugar or honey on the stove to boil. If you are using crushed or chopped fresh fruit, do it as quickly as possible. Tart apples mixed with sweeter apples are better than all sweet dessert apples. Peels are OK, though it’s best to get rid of the seeds if you can. Pit the apricots or peaches and chop. If using dried fruit, chop. Put the crushed or chopped fruit into a nylon straining bag and put it in the bottom of your primary fermenter.

Now pour the hot sugar water over the fruit or the frozen apple juice. If you prefer, you can chill and reserve half the water beforehand, adding it now to bring the temperature down quickly. Add the acid, tannin, and yeast nutrient, but wait till the temperature comes down to add the Campden tablet, if you choose to use one. Cover and fit with an air lock. Twelve hours after the Campden tablet, add the pectic enzyme. If you don’t use the tablet, merely wait until the must cools down to add the pectic enzyme.

Check the PA and write it down.

Twenty-four hours later, add the yeast. After one or two weeks, remove the bag (don’t squeeze). Discard the fruit. After the sediment has settled down again, check the PA. If it is still above 3
to 4 percent, let it ferment another week or so, then rack it into your glass fermenter and fit with an air lock.

Gradually add an extra half pound of sugar, dissolved in water, to the must, watching the SG as described in Pearson Square.

Rack the wine at least twice during secondary fermentation.

In six to eight months, check the PA and clarity. If the wine has fermented out, rack it again and add whatever brandy you have decided to use.

A white or yellow liqueur will be nice here: you can use apple, pear, peach, or apricot. Don’t use applejack unless you are sure you like it. Most domestic brands I have tried have not been very good. Calvados, the French apple brandy (no sweetener) is better, but hideously expensive.

Rack off the wine and add the alcohol. Then bottle, label, and store the wine. Try it in a year, then in two, or even three, years. Consider using some half bottles, so you can taste it more often as it progresses.

You could also just bottle the wine as it is, and enjoy it, of course! In that case, stabilize it and sweeten it with four to six ounces of sugar in syrup. Keep for at least a year before trying.

These are the basic methods. You could make any wine in this book into a sort of port, just by fortifying it and sweetening it. I recommend using only your best wines for this purpose. Combos or tutti-fruttis produce the best flavors.

SHERRY

Back in part two, in the section on dried fruits, I pretty well covered sherry-type wines. There are also a few in part three under spiced wines.

Sherry-type wines are fortified pretty much the same way port-type wines are; however, many people prefer dry sherries to sweet, or “cream,” types. So for sherries, you simply don’t add very much sugar in the final fortification—use brandy or vodka instead of fruit brandies.

Remember also that you don’t have to fortify these wines if you don’t want to. They’ll keep a reasonable time and taste very nice on their own.

In general, raisins and other dried fruit very effectively provide
that “oxidized” flavor and the characteristic brown color so familiar in sherry. But in this section I will offer some examples of some more classic home winemaking recipes. When you rack these wines, let them splash a bit. They need the oxygen.

GOLDEN PARSNIP SHERRY

If you use store-bought parsnips, remove the wax coating that is sometimes applied to them—otherwise, you’ll have a waxy mess. You’ll have to scrape and peel them.

2 lbs. dark raisins

6 lbs. parsnips

10 or 20 bruised peppercorns (optional)

zest and juice of 3 oranges

juice and zest of 2 large lemons or 3 tsps. acid blend

1 gallon water

2 lbs. sugar or 2½ lbs. honey

1 tsp. yeast nutrient

1 Campden tablet, crushed (optional)

½ tsp. pectic enzyme

1 packet sherry yeast

Soak the raisins overnight. Drain, reserve juice, and chop.

Scrub the parsnips well; cut off the tops and the root ends. Cut or shred them finely. SIMMER, do not boil, with the peppercorns (if you are using them) until tender.

Remove the zest from the citrus fruit (no white pith), and squeeze the juice. Place zest and raisins in a small nylon straining bag and place in your primary fermenter.

Strain the parsnips (and peppercorns) from the water. Remove about a quart of the water to add back later if you don’t have enough. It’s hard to say how much you will have lost in steam while cooking. Add the sugar or the honey, and simmer until the sugar is dissolved. If using honey, simmer 10-15 minutes while stirring, and skim any scum.

Pour the hot water into a sanitized primary fermenter over the zest. Add the fruit juices. You can reserve a bit of the orange juice and extra parsnip water to start the yeast later, if you like. Check to see if you have a gallon of must. If not, make it up with the reserved water. Add yeast nutrient, tannin, and acid blend if
you didn’t use lemons. Cover, and attach an air lock. Let the must cool, then add the Campden tablet, if you choose to use one. Twelve hours after the Campden tablet, add the pectic enzyme. If you don’t use the tablet, merely wait until the must cools down to add the pectic enzyme.

Twenty-four hours later, check the PA and add the yeast.

Stir daily. In two weeks or so, lift out the bag of raisins and let it drain back into the container before removing it. Do not squeeze. Let the wine settle, and rack into a secondary fermenter. Bung and fit with an air lock. Rack it as necessary in the next six months or so. Check the PA.