Hedgerow Blackberry Wine

You will need

• Blackberries, ripe1.8 kg
• Sugar1.1 kg
• Pectic enzymeper maker's dose
• Water, to volumeto 4.5 L
• Red wine yeast + nutrient1 sachet

Picking it at the right moment

• Blackberry

  Ripe when deep matt black (not shiny), plump, and they come away with only the gentlest tug — a berry that resists is not ready.

Method

1. 1

   Sanitise your gear. Pick over the fruit and discard anything mouldy.

2. 2

   Crush the berries in the bucket and pour on 2 L of water that has been boiled and cooled to hand-warm.

3. 3

   When it is no more than lukewarm, stir in the pectic enzyme and leave it overnight. This is the new idea: soft fruit is full of pectin, which makes a wine that will never clear — the enzyme breaks it down so the wine falls bright. Adding it to cool (not hot) must is what keeps it working.

4. 4

   Next day dissolve the sugar in a little warm water, add it, top to 4.5 L, and take a gravity reading (aim near 1.090).

5. 5

   Add yeast and nutrient. Ferment on the pulp four or five days, pressing the cap down daily, then strain into a demijohn under airlock.

6. 6

   Rack when fermentation stops and it starts to clear; again a month later.

7. 7

   Bottle bright. A year turns it from fruity to properly wine-like.