Red Wine
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Red Wine

By November 9, 2017

“Red, red wine
Stay close to me
Don't let me be alone
It's tearin' apart
My blue, blue heart

Red red wine you make me feel so fine
You keep me rocking all of the time
Red red wine you make me feel so grand”
(UB40 Song)

It’s inching so ever close to that time of the year. My fav among all.... Christmas. The celebrations vary from place to place but a traditional Keralite Christmas will have a fruit laden boozy scrumptious plum cake and some red wine. Yea.... sinfully good right.
So, to help you all, I’ve made things a bit more simpler. Red wine in all its basking glory.
Here is my version of Red wine, (not very sweet) made from black/purple grapes
There are tons of wine making recipes. Most of them being grandmas secret ones , very sweet and aged to perfection.
It just does not stop with grapes though...bananas, oranges, beetroots, gooseberries, orange peel, even nutmeg!!! Lately Wine is made at every home and recipes very from maker to maker.
There is no shortcut in making a perfect aged wine. 21 days!! But really worth it. Trust me.
A dark, luscious, aromatic sparkling wine perfect to be used for parties, baking and even for your fruit cakes. Wine is even added to meats during slow cooking. Well, I don’t think this is gonna reach that far. It’s a punch of flavour.
This recipe yields a dark, yet sparkling, aromatic red wine. It is a perfect starter for all parties, a best accompaniment with a cake.
Oh... before I forget. Do make it in a big glass jar or a tall clay jar( Bharani). Absolutely no plastic, aluminum or steel!!!! 😃
To wind off... drink safe,stay safe. Enjoy.

Ingredients

Instructions

Tools:
A large clay pot (bharani), wooden spoon, dark glass bottles.

Method:
Thoroughly clean and wash the grapes, drain well and dry with a cotton cloth. Take ½ glass of lukewarm water, add little sugar and 2 tsp yeast. Mix well and set aside to rise.
With your clean hands crush the grapes and add into the bharani (do not use mixer). Pour in boiled and cooled water, risen yeast mix,
1 ½ kg sugar, rice grains, and beaten egg whites. Mix very well with a wooden spoon. (you can add cinnamon and cloves if you like bit spicy flavour).
Keep in a dark place. Close the jar ensuring that it is not locked tightly**. Cover with a cloth to ensure that no flies and insects shall intrude in.
Keep mixing the wine mix thoroughly every day once for 21 days.
After 21 days, drain the mix through a strainer or a muslin cloth. Discard all the left over grapes waste and rice grain.
In a heavy bottom pan, caramelize ½ kg sugar, till you get a dark golden brown syrup. Pour some drained wine mix to the caramel and set aside till the whole caramel has fully dissolved.
Clean and dry the clay pot again and pour the whole wine extract including the caramel concoction and mix well like you would do to a magical portion 🧚🏼‍♀️.f✨💫. Set aside in a dark place sealed as per the firsts instructions
When the wine is settled and clear, pour it into dark glass bottles (or in a clean clay pot) and keep sealed in a dark place.
Sparkling red wine is ready and can be stored for years. The more it’s stored, the tastier it gets.

** for few days till all sediments are settled.

Notes:
1) Ensure that all jars and other appliances are clean and dry. Be patient enough for 21 days. The magic takes place then.
Never close the jar tightly during fermentation & take care no flies and insects intrude in.
2) You can add some Rum or Brandy before bottling.
3) Instead of Fresh grapes, you can use 8 liters of fresh packed grape juice with no water added. Rest of the recipe remains the same. You can add a cup of black dried raisins.
4) You can always adjust the sweetness, but adding more sugar.

Get those glasses ready, the UB40 wine song playing and lets get some action don

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