Blackcurrant Wine

You will need

• Blackcurrants1.4 kg
• Sugar1.2 kg
• Pectic enzymeper dose
• Waterto 4.5 L
• Red wine yeast + nutrient1 sachet

Picking it at the right moment

• Blackcurrant

  Ripe about a week after they blacken — when the whole strig is black and the berries are soft and have deepened in flavour.

Method

1. 1

   Sanitise. Strig (destalk) the currants and crush them under 2.5 L cooled boiled water.

2. 2

   The lesson: some fruit is simply too intense to use as much as you would of milder fruit. Blackcurrant is so strong in flavour, colour and acid that a wine made like a blackberry one comes out harsh and overpowering. So you use LESS fruit and MORE water than instinct says.

3. 3

   Add pectic enzyme when cool; next day the sugar in warm water; top to 4.5 L (reading ~1.090).

4. 4

   Pitch yeast and nutrient; ferment on the pulp two days only, then strain — long contact makes it more intense still.

5. 5

   Rack, clear, and age. Blackcurrant needs a good year to lose its raw sharpness and become the deep, cassis-like wine it can be.