Autumn and the time to make Wine
Autumn and the time to make Wine
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| October - We started home winemaking many years ago but then found ourselves too busy to devote much time to it. When we came to clear out at my mothers wine cellar at Bath we found a number of full demijohns and on checking there were even more under our own stairs. Trying some of our wines which were up to twenty years old quickly convinced us we should start again! There is no point in making just a gallon - all the time is taken in cleaning and sterilising etc so we tend to make 4 gallon batches which have the advantage of lasting almost twice as long. The picture shows us in the middle of making this years new wine and racking and bottling the one and two year old wine - thirty or so demijohns in total. We have always found that fruit wines come out best and will keep for years, especially if left in the demi-johns. We have made wines from kits/grape concentrate but results have been disappointing and the wines start downhill after a year or so. Wines made from Blackberries, Elderberries and even Raspberries keep much longer and we recently opened a bottle of 20 year old Elderberry which would still be good for several more years. White wine never keeps as long - or need as long to mature. We have regularly made a light dry white from Gooseberries which is drinkable in a year and could pass for a grape wine after two - it is ideal for Mussels. We have also found some Gooseberry which is much fuller bodied, slightly sweeter and tasting much more of the fruit. It is still slightly petillant and will be something we will try to repeat - we should keep better records. |