Quince Wine

Getting confident

In season October · makes 4.5 L · target OG 1.090

Teaches that quantity is judged by intensity — with a powerful aromatic, less fruit makes a better wine.

Before you start. Quince is inedibly hard and astringent raw — grate and cook it. Discard the core and do not crush the pips.

You will need

Quince
Ready when it turns from green to a strong gold and becomes intensely fragrant — you will smell it across a room. Still-green quinces are not ready.

1
Sanitise. Quince is rock-hard and inedible raw, but it is one of the most intensely perfumed fruits there is — a single ripe quince can scent a whole room.
2
The lesson is restraint through intensity: you use LESS quince than you would any other fruit, because a little carries a very long way. Wipe off the grey down, grate or chop the fruit (discard the core, do not crush the pips), and simmer briefly to soften.
3
Strain the fragrant liquor onto the sugar, lemon juice and pectic enzyme (added when cool); top to 4.5 L (reading ~1.090).
4
Pitch yeast and nutrient; ferment out under airlock.
5
Rack and clear. The result is a pale gold wine with an astonishing honeyed-apple-and-rose perfume out of all proportion to the small amount of fruit.
6
Age a year; the aroma keeps beautifully.

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An original MakeWine recipe.