Oak Leaf Wine

You will need

• Young oak leaves, unsprayed2 L loosely packed
• Sugar1.3 kg
• Raisins, chopped250 g
• Oranges and lemons, juice of1 each
• Waterto 4.5 L
• White wine yeast + nutrient1 sachet

Picking it at the right moment

• Oak leaf

  Use young, soft, fully expanded leaves in early summer; leathery mature leaves are past it.

Method

1. 1

   Sanitise. Gather young, tender oak leaves in June, before they toughen; avoid any near a sprayed field or a road.

2. 2

   The lesson: this is where a country wine gets tannin from a LEAF rather than from fruit skins. Tannin gives grip and ageing potential, but oak is generous with it, so the measure matters — too much and the wine is drying and harsh.

3. 3

   Pour boiling water over the leaves and steep just 24 hours — longer pulls too much tannin.

4. 4

   Strain onto the sugar, raisins and citrus juice; top to 4.5 L; pitch yeast and nutrient when cool.

5. 5

   Ferment out, rack, and age. Young it is astringent; a year rounds the tannin into something dry, firm and unexpectedly wine-like.

6. 6

   A useful blender, too — a little oak-leaf wine adds backbone to a soft fruit wine.