Mint Wine

You will need

• Fresh mint leaves250 g
• Sugar1.2 kg
• Raisins, chopped250 g
• Lemons, juice of3
• Wine yeast + nutrient1 sachet
• Waterto 4.5 L

Picking it at the right moment

• Mint

  Pick tender young leaves before the plant flowers, when the leaf oils are at their strongest.

Method

1. 1

   Sanitise. Mint makes a clean, aromatic wine, but a little goes a long way — too much is medicinal.

2. 2

   Pour just-warm boiled-and-cooled water over the leaves and steep only 24 hours; do not boil, which dulls the aroma.

3. 3

   Strain onto the sugar, chopped raisins and the lemon juice (mint is low in acid); top to 4.5 L (reading ~1.085).

4. 4

   Pitch the yeast and nutrient when cool; ferment cool.

5. 5

   Ferment out, rack and clear.

6. 6

   A pale, cool, aromatic wine — restraint is the whole trick.