Homemade Grape Wine Recipe | Grape Wine | Christmas Special Recipes

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Homemade Grape Wine Recipe | Grape Wine | Christmas Special Recipes

Hello everyone, I am here with an unusual recipe in the blog and it is apt for this Christmas Week. Also, I am extremely sorry for posting this recipe a little late. I know you will not be able to make wine for this Christmas following this recipe. However, please bookmark this recipe and plan to make it for Easter. This process of wine making requires a minimum of 42 days to get a clear and matured wine. I started this preparation by November 1st week and being a first timer, I was very much scared about the outcome. As days past, I got the confidence and now, I am super excited with the result. The preparation is very easy and it is a no-fail recipe if we follow the steps carefully. The homemade wine and a piece of plum cake is a yum combo. The colour of the wine purely depends on the colour of the grapes used. I used light purple grapes and hence the colour of the wine is not very dark. Believe me, there is no compromise in the taste and I am waiting to get the feedback from our friends here.

Ingredients:

Black grapes - 1 kg
Sugar - 650 gms or approximately 3 Cups
Water - 1 litre (boiled and cooled completely)
Yeast - 1 tsp
Whole wheat kernels (gothambu) - 1 tblsp

Method:

1. Remove the stalk of the grapes and soak it in lukewarm water for about 10 minutes. Then clean the grapes under running water and allow it to rest in a colander, until the excess water drips off.

2. Boil the water and allow it to cool completely. Crush the grapes with your hands, just to open up the grapes. Put the crushed grapes into the glass jar or bharani.

3. Along with this add the sugar and yeast. Also, wash the wheat kernels and add it to this.

4. Mix it all together and finally, add the boiled and cooled water.

5. Close it tightly with the lid and leave it undisturbed in a dark place for a week. After a week, start stirring it with a wooden ladle every day until 21st day. You can slowly observe the change of colour.(See tile 2 and 3 in the below image)

6. After 21st day, don't stir for 2 days and on the 24th day, drain the clear wine leaving the sediments aside. (Make sure not to stir the wine before draining, on 24th day). Discard the sediments and transfer the clear wine to the glass jar. Allow it to ferment for another 21 days in a dark place without disturbing.

Finally, at the end of 42 days, you can get the clear fermented wine. Refrigerate after this and serve chilled. I followed the recipe from here.

Points to remember:

I used 3-litre glass bottle for making this wine. Before starting the wine making, clean the bottle well with hot water and allow it to dry completely. You can also place it under the sun after cleaning.
No worries, if you missed stirring some days. I too missed few days and there is no compromise in the result. Use clean and dry spoon while stirring.
The colour of the wine purely depends on the grapes used. I have used light purple Australian grapes for making this wine and hence the colour of the wine is light purple.
If you want to increase the colour, you can add caramelised sugar syrup. I have not tried it.
The water used should be boiled well and cooled completely.
The sugar quantity is based on the sweetness of the grapes. Adjust the sweet as per your need. Initially, I added 2 cups of sugar and after a week I taste checked it and found it needs more sugar and hence added another 1 cup.
Clean bottle and cleaning handling of the wine in the preparation is the secret for getting perfectly matured wine.
Don't squeeze the sediments while draining. It will ruin the taste if squeezed, discard the sediments.
This wine can be stored in airtight jars for years. If you prefer strong wine, you can ignore adding the boiled and cooled water.
I got around 1.25 litres of wine from the mentioned quantity