Simple Wine Recipes

These wines can be made from your garden.

Strawberry

4lb strawberries
2lb sugar
1/8th cup of tannin
1 teaspoon pectolase
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
champagne yeast

Method:

Chop the strawberries coarsely and place into a demijohn, boil 2 pints of water and add the sugar to it and stir and dissolve, pour the syrup into the demijohn over the strawberries and add the pectolase and stir. Make your tannin by making a cup of tea with a teabag or tea leaves, strain if using leaves and add 1/8th of the tea to the demijohn and stir well, add the yeast nutrient and allow to cool by topping up with cold water, when at room temperature you add the yeast.

Ferment out and when fermented, strain off by syphoning through a straining bag to remove the solids, add finings and fine out the fermented wine and strain off again. Bottle and mature for at least 6 months.

NOTE - TO MAKE TANNIN YOU USE TEA, YOU MAKE A CUP OF TEA AS NORMAL BUT DO NOT ADD MILK OR SUGAR, FOR EACH TEASPOON OF TANNIN REQUIRED YOU ADD 1/8TH OF YOUR CUP OF TEA TO YOUR MUST.


Peach Wine

2 1/2lb peaches
2lb sugar
2 teaspoons citric acid
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
Tannin (half a cup of tea)

Method:

Peel and stone out the peaches and place in a saucepan, mash well and add the sugar to cover them, leave them overnight and cover with a cotton teacloth or similar as the sugar will extract the flavour. Add 2 pints of water to the saucepan and gently raise to the boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes taking care not to scorch the fruit and fully dissolve the sugar.
Make a cup of tea and add 1/2 a cup of tea to your demijohn, add the citric acid and yeast nutrient, then strain your saucepan contents through a fine straining bag into your demijohn, top up with cold water, allow to get to room temperature and add your yeast.

Ferment out, fine, and bottle and mature for 1 year.


Wild Cherry (or picked sour cherries)

5lb wild or picked cherries
1 1/2lb sugar
1 teaspoon citric acid
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
1 teaspoon pectolase

Method:

Stone out the cherries and put into a saucepan, cover with the sugar and leave overnight and cover the saucepan with a cloth or teatowel, add 2 pints of water and bring to the boil and simmer for 30-45 minutes and pour the entire contents into the demijohn.
Add the citric acid, pectolase, and yeast nutrient to the demijohn and top up with cold water, leave until cooled to room temperature and add the yeats and allow to ferment, wild cherry can be a vigerous fermenter so only fill the demijohn 3/4 full and allow the fermention to die down before fully topping up with water.

Strain off and filter out the fruit through a sparging bag, fine, and bottle. Leave to mature for at least 6 months.


Dandelion Wine

2 quarts (4 pints) dandelions with all the green removed
3lb sugar
1 lemon and 1 orange

Rose Petal Wine

10 cups rose petals
2 1/2lb sugar
15 white grapes finely chopped

Method:

For the dandelion you add the flowers to a bowl and finely slice the whole lemon and orange to it/
For the rose petal you add the rose petals to the bowl.

Cover with 2 pints of boiling water just off the boil and stand for 7 - 10 days and cover, every 2 days uncover and gently crush the flowers between the back of a wooden or plastic spoon and the bowl to extract more flavour. Strain off the flowers through a sparging bag and return the juice to the saucepan and heat through (do not boil) and add and dissolve the sugar, pour into a demijohn and top up with cold water.

For the rose petal you finelt chop the grapes and add them to the demijohn, and make a cup of tea and add 1/4 of a cup to the demijohn and top up with water.

Allow to cool and add the yeast, ferment out and strain off, allow to settle for 2-3 weeks and strain off again and fine, bottle and stand to mature for 1 year.