← Seasonal recipes

Medlar Wine

Getting confident

In season November to December · makes 4.5 L · target OG 1.086

An old-orchard fruit that must be bletted soft first; pectic enzyme is essential on a pectin-rich pulp.

Before you start. Medlars must be bletted (stored until soft and brown) before use — hard, unripe medlars are intensely astringent. Discard the pips.

You will need

  • Medlars, well bletted1.6 kg
  • Sugar1.2 kg
  • Pectic enzymeper dose
  • Lemons, juice of2
  • Wine yeast + nutrient1 sachet
  • Waterto 4.5 L

Picking it at the right moment

  • Medlar

    NOT usable at picking: pick hard in late autumn after a frost, then 'blet' (store) until the flesh turns soft and brown. A hard, fresh medlar is inedibly astringent.

Method

  1. 1

    Sanitise. Medlars are hard and mouth-puckeringly astringent off the tree — they must be BLETTED first: stored in a cool place (or after a frost) until soft and brown, when the astringency turns to a rich, apple-butter sweetness. Unbletted medlars make an undrinkable wine; this is the whole art of the fruit.

  2. 2

    Scoop the soft pulp from the skins, discarding the pips; mash it under 2.5 L cooled boiled water; add pectic enzyme (medlar is pectin-rich and will not clear without it) and the lemon juice.

  3. 3

    Add the sugar dissolved warm; top to 4.5 L (reading ~1.086); pitch the yeast and nutrient.

  4. 4

    Ferment on the pulp three days, strain, rack and clear.

  5. 5

    A rare, spiced, amber wine that tastes of an old orchard.

  6. 6

    Age a year.

What this one teaches you

  • · Using pectic enzyme

Make a free account to copy this into your own recipes and record a batch against it.

An original MakeWine recipe.