Joy of Home Wine Making (39 page)

8 lbs. apples, crushed and pressed, or a 24 oz. can of frozen juice

1 lb. chopped golden raisins

3¾ qts. water

2¼ lbs. sugar or 2½ lbs. mild honey

1 crushed Campden tablet (used in the pressed juice)

10 peppercorns, bruised

20 cassia buds or bark cinnamon, bruised

5 cloves, bruised, or 2-4 ozs. grated fresh ginger

½ tsp. acid blend

½ tsp. pectic enzyme

1 tsp. yeast nutrient

¼ tsp. tannin

1 packet Montrachet or champagne wine yeast

Put the water mixed with the sugar or honey on the stove to boil. Put the spices and chopped raisins in a small muslin bag and add them to the water. Heat to boiling and let it simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Pour the hot sugar water over the pressed or frozen juice, along with the spices and raisins. If you prefer you can chill and reserve half the water beforehand, to add later 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. 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. Remember, you can always sweeten later. This wine is going to be on the heavy, sweet side.

Twenty-four hours later, add your yeast made up with a little sugar water. You want the fermentation to start right away.

After two weeks, remove the bag (don’t squeeze). Discard the contents. After the sediment has settled down again, rack the wine into a glass secondary fermenter. Bung and fit with an air lock.

Rack it again at least once during fermentation.

In four to six months, check the PA. Taste it, too. Write down your impression. Bottle and label it. Let it rest for at least a year, then open and enjoy. This wine keeps well.

NOTE: If you want to use fresh apples, but don’t have a press, use the alternative method in Chapter 3, fermenting on the fruit. You can use almost any light fruit for the basis of this wine. Potato wine with these spices is very nice! You can also use tame blueberries that seem a bit boring, or cranberries.

FATHER SOLSTICE RAISIN SHERRY

This seems to be a traditional British idea. It’s rich and needs to stay in the bottle for at least two years, but if you like sherry, it’s well worth it. You can make it as a regular strength wine, or fortify it with some brandy or rum at the end so it is up to real sherry strength. You can use more raisins if you can afford them. See the dried fruit section in Dried Fruit for details.

Chopping the raisins is a pain. The two best methods I have
found is to soak the raisins overnight and process them in small batches in a Cuisinart, or to put the raisins through a meat grinder. I make this several gallons at a time.

3 lbs. dark raisins

1 gallon water

1 lb. sugar or 1½ lbs. dark honey

30 cassia buds, bruised, or 2-3 pieces bark cinnamon

2-4 ozs. grated fresh ginger

¼ piece nutmeg

zest and juice of 2 lemons

zest and juice of 3 oranges

10 whole allspice, bruised

1 tsp. yeast nutrient

no tannin

1 Campden tablet, crushed (optional)

½ tsp. pectic enzyme

1 packet Flor sherry yeast

Put the chopped fruit, peels, and spices in a nylon straining bag. Simmer in the water with the sugar or honey. Put everything into a primary fermenter. Add the acid and nutrient. After the mixture cools, 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. It might seem a bit high, but that’s probably because of the raisin pulp suspended in the must. Twenty-four hours later, add the sherry yeast. You should start it in the sterilized orange juice an hour or so before you add it.

About two weeks later (maybe more; I tend to start this in the winter when the house is cool), check the PA and rack into a secondary fermenter. Bung and fit with an air lock. Sometimes it makes a lot of sediment, so be sure to have some cooled boiled water ready to make up the difference.

Rack this sherry two more times in the next six months or so. You can bottle this dry, or sweeten it. You can also add some brandy or rum to fortify it. Refer to the Pearson Square in the Port section.

Age improves this wine considerably. Ideally, it should be
served at Christmas, Solstice, or New Year’s, amid much holly and ivy.

BLUEBERRY SPICE

I shamelessly tried to copy Nashoba Valley’s blueberry wine. I’m still working on it, but it’s pretty good like this.

2-3 lbs. fresh or frozen tame blueberries

1 can wild blueberries

3½ or so qts. water

2¼ lbs. sugar or 2½ lbs. mild honey

20-30 bruised cassia buds

1 oz. grated ginger

half a nutmeg, broken

1 tsp. acid blend

1 tsp. yeast nutrient

¼ tsp. tannin

1 Campden tablet, crushed (optional)

½ tsp. pectic enzyme

1 packet Montrachet yeast

Pick over the berries carefully. Watch for mold. Discard anything that looks odd. Wash the berries in cool water, and drain.

Wash your hands. Put the canned and fresh berries in a nylon straining bag and into the primary fermenter, then squish them with your hands or a sanitized potato masher. Add the liquid from the can of wild blueberries.

Put the spices in a smaller bag or a twist of clean cheesecloth that has been tied up, and add to the water. Boil the spices with the sugar or honey water, skimming off any scum.

Now pour the hot sugar water and spices over the crushed berries. This sets the color. If you prefer, you can chill and reserve half the water beforehand to use 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 your yeast. Stir daily. After two weeks, remove the bag (don’t squeeze), and after the sediment has settled down again, rack the wine into your secondary fermenter. Bung and fit with an air lock.

Rack it at least once during fermentation. You don’t want any off flavors. Be sure to keep the wine in a dark jug, or to put something over it to keep the light from stealing the color.

In four to six months, check the PA. Taste it, too. When you bottle it, you might want to sweeten it. Use stabilizer, and add 2 to 6 ounces of sugar boiled in water. Keep it for a year before drinking, if you can.

NOTE: Obviously, you can add spices to almost any wine you care to make. Vegetable and grain wines, along with apple and pear wines, work the best with spices. Remember my caveat above, though: Don’t spice everything, just to fling spices around. Everything will taste the same. Let the true flavors of the fruits and vegetables come through.