Beetroot Wine

You will need

• Beetroot1.8 kg
• Sugar1.3 kg
• Root ginger, bruised25 g
• Lemons, juice of2
• Raisins, chopped250 g
• Waterto 4.5 L
• Red wine yeast + nutrient1 sachet

Picking it at the right moment

• Beetroot

  Lift when a good size for the variety and still firm, before the ground freezes hard.

Method

1. 1

   Sanitise. Scrub the beetroot well but do not peel — much of the colour is just under the skin — and dice.

2. 2

   The lesson is colour, and its fragility. Beetroot gives a wonderful deep ruby that browns easily if handled roughly or aged too warm. Simmer the diced root with the bruised ginger until just tender (not mushy — as with any root, overcooking clouds the wine), and keep the lid on to hold the colour.

3. 3

   Strain the coloured liquor onto the sugar, lemon juice and chopped raisins; top to 4.5 L. The ginger and lemon are there to lift what would otherwise be a flat, earthy wine.

4. 4

   Cool, pitch yeast and nutrient (reading ~1.090), and ferment out under airlock.

5. 5

   Rack promptly — beetroot throws heavy lees — and keep it somewhere cool and dark to protect the colour.

6. 6

   Age a year. Earthy and deep; the ginger keeps it from being dull.