Dried Fruit Country Wine

You will need

• Mixed dried fruit (raisins, sultanas, dried apricots, dried apple)750 g
• Sugar1.1 kg
• Lemons, juice of2
• Wine yeast + nutrient1 sachet
• Waterto 4.5 L

Method

1. 1

   Sanitise. Everything here is from the cupboard — a wine for the dead of winter when nothing is in season.

2. 2

   Chop the dried fruit, put it in the bucket with the lemon juice, and pour on 3 L cooled boiled water; add the sugar dissolved warm and top to 4.5 L (reading ~1.090).

3. 3

   The dried fruit is here for BODY and slow richness — the same idea as a raisin or wheat wine — so give it time.

4. 4

   Pitch the yeast and nutrient; ferment on the fruit a week, stirring daily, then strain.

5. 5

   Rack as it clears; it throws sediment for a while.

6. 6

   Raw and bready young, smooth and golden after a year. Do not judge it early.