Homemade Wine

Homemade?  Well, hardly.  But it was easy and fun and tasted good.

 

I've had this recipe in my "To Try" file for quite a while.  It's super-simple and definitely cheating when it comes to actually making wine at home.  But last week I decided to give it a go.

 

Here's the recipe:

 

3 cups frozen unsweetened fruit, thawed

(The fruit can be any kind of  berry:

raspberries, strawberries,

blueberries, etc.)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 bottle (720 ml) dry white wine

 

In a large bowl, combine fruit and

sugar, stirring until well coated.

Stir in wine until sugar is dissolved.

Cover and chill 5 days.

Strain wine through a fine sieve.

Store in the refrigerator.

Serve chilled.

 

Now you know why I say it's a "cheater" wine.

 

In hindsight, I realize I should have chosen another wine other than my favorite Middle Sister Sweet & Savvy which is a moscato.  The end product would have been better (I'm thinking) if I had used a dry white wine (well, duh) as suggested in the recipe.  I should have grabbed the vinho verde that was right next to my Sweet & Savvy.

 

I combined my blueberries (they were wild blueberries) and sugar in my two-quart Pyrex pitcher.  Next the bottle of wine was poured in and I stirred until it seemed the sugar was dissolved.  A plastic wrap cover was wrapped over the top and I placed the container on a shelf in my pantry where it would have no problem staying "chilled" these days.

 

After the 5 days were up, I strained the liquid into my one-quart pitcher.

 

The blueberries looked none the worse for wear so I put them in a refrigerator dish to save for some other use.

 

I labeled the cover of the blueberry dish so no one would eat them with their breakfast oatmeal and get an early morning buzz.  (Actually, I did eat them with my oatmeal and they were fine.  So was I.)

 

Then I poured the homemade (ha-ha) blueberry wine back into the wine bottle and put it in the refrigerator.

 

How was the taste?  Probably a smidge sweeter than most people would like.  But, obviously, that was because I used the moscato wine.  Papa Pea said he'll gladly sip a glass of it in the evening while in his reading chair.  Daughter said it tasted exactly like Welch's Grape Juice.  "Exactly," she repeated.  Does it taste like blueberries?  Yes, I think that flavor does come through.  I know I'll have no problem helping to consume the bottle.

 

I'm eager to try the recipe again.  And I'll definitely use the bottle of vinho verde I have because it's a dry wine and I think the light touch of fizziness it has will add greatly to the end product.  Hmmm, will the fizziness dissipate during the 5 day wait period?  Even if it does, I'm sure it'll be drinkable.

 

Cheers!