[caption id="attachment_9425" align="alignleft" width="300"] The ingredients...[/caption]

I'm making one wine a month and it's time to make February's wine. This rose wine is based on a recipe I was given by Jim. Jim and I attended NAWB 2 years running but never really met properly. At the 60th NAWB, we won the special prizes for Wine and Beer. I won the beer prize and he won the wine prize. Unfortunately or fortunately, we were given the wrong rosettes. We ended up corresponding, swapped rosettes and now speak 2-3 times a month. Gentle reader: it was meant to be, no doubt.

Jim is a winemaker turned beermaker. He has spent significant time studying the art of winemaking, so it is likely that this recipe will be a good one. Only I can mess it up.

Rose (Grape Juice, Strawberry & Raspberry Wine)
3.2l White Grape Juice (Jim says 3)
2x 410g tins of strawberries including the syrup
1x 300g tin of raspberries including the syrup
300g sugar
Pectic Enzyme, Nutrient, Bentonite as per the instructions
Good quality wine yeast

(Back sweeten to 1005-1015 once it has all settled down!)

[caption id="attachment_9426" align="alignright" width="300"] Smashing it[/caption]

The method is simple. Sanitise a bucket. Dump the tinned fruit in and mash with a sanitised masher. Add the sugar. Add the juice. Stir it all up until the sugar is dissolved. Add the magic additives. Stir up again and add the yeast. Ferment it on the pulp for about four days, before straining into a demijohn.

This wine involved another trip to the loft to retrieve a demijohn. Generally, the winemaking process is not too difficult compared to making beer. There is more room to adjust the product and it's probably fair to say that wine is more resilient than beer. There is less likely to be an error. (Except of course I'm making it.)

[caption id="attachment_9429" align="alignleft" width="300"] The yeast deployed[/caption]

We'll see. Will be giving this one some months to settle down before bottling it. I don't think I will bother to back-sweeten all of them - I'm not a fan of sweet wine unless it is with a desert. I'm hoping it will be a welcome drink in the summer.

This evening I racked it into a demijohn and it was a bit short, but I'm leaving it as-is for now. I may top up further later. I'm hoping it will clear down into a nice rose.