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I remember last summer. It’s hot, we’re traveling through Moldova. Friends invited us to the tasting room, located in an old building, in the basement.
The walls, built of natural stone, exude coolness. On the tables in front of each visitor was a tray with 10 tall glasses. At the bottom of each of them was poured a little wine.
We are simple guys from Russia, gushing wine with full glasses. And here we are offered to sniff first. Then, taking a sip, roll it over your tongue and only then swallow it. They’re just being bullied, aren’t they?
Gathering all the strength of will, we obediently endured this execution. And what would you think? We liked Moldovan wines so much! Especially with the smell of herbs.
Have you tried wine with a magical aroma and a bewitching name “Bouquet of Moldova”? It is distinguished by the unforgettable smell of forest meadows.
Pouring some of this exquisite wine into a glass, I add a couple of ice cubes. Served with fruits and chocolates. Guests are always delighted. I decided to make a similar wine myself from familiar plants.
The story was shared by my subscriber Victor.
How to make wine from tea
On the shelves of supermarkets there is wine with an exquisite taste, made from leaves from the tea bush, without the use of grapes.
Tea wines are made from different types of tea. It happens:
- red (from hibiscus);
- green;
- white;
- black
- mate (Paraguayan).
To make hibiscus wine in your home cellar, you will need:
- spring water 2 l;
- dried hibiscus flowers 90 g;
- 610 granulated sugar;
- Raisins – 210 g;
- fresh juice from a couple of limes;
- wine yeast 1g
Stages of preparation:
- Before brewing strong tea, I breed yeast in a separate bowl with a small amount of sweet, warm water. Approximately half an hour is required for their activation.
- Pure flowers are placed at the bottom of a glass bottle of sufficient volume, with a wide neck, pouring boiling water for almost a quarter of an hour.
- I remove the flowers from the solution, add the remaining components and fermented yeast to the vessel, mix gently.
- I close the bottle with a water seal, leave it warm for almost 6-8 days.
If the gas is no longer released, a layer of sediment forms at the bottom, the drink has become transparent, I consider it almost ready.
I increase the purity of wine by filtering it, carefully draining it from the sediment 1-3 times. I keep the drink in a clean, washed, disinfected container for about 60 days, with a tightly sealed cork.
After the expiration of the designated period, real nectar with a refreshing smell and a light alcohol content is ready!
The following components are included in an alcoholic drink made from black tea:
- drinking water – 3, 45 l;
- granulated sugar – 900 g;
- squeezed grapes – 345 g;
- leaf black tea – 45 g;
- lemon juice of 1 citrus;
- wine yeast – 1 g.
Cooking step by step:
- I keep the yeast in advance in sweet water for half an hour.
- I pour boiled water over tea with sugar, in a large jar. Waiting for the solution to cool.
I add all the other ingredients.
- I leave the resulting wort in a vessel with a hermetic seal for 7-9 days where the air temperature is 27-30 degrees Celsius above zero.
When the precipitate falls, the bubbles disappear, the drink is carefully drained. Poured into glass bottles, hermetically sealed. I leave it in the refrigerator for 45-60 days and wait for the guests.
Wine with an unusual shade will wonderfully quench your thirst in the heat, if you “splash a little of this “witchcraft” into the crystal darkness of the glass and throw ice cubes on top.
Mint wine: interesting and unusual
In winter, on the basis of a greenish, with a golden tint, fragrant wine, I make a hot punch. In summer, I drink it chilled, with ice and a sprig of fresh mint for decoration.
Ingredients:
- fresh mint leaves 220 g (part of the pepper and a little chill variety);
- filtered water – 3 l;
- grated lemon peel – 30 g;
- sugar 1-3 kg (to taste);
- juice from two large lemons;
- washed raisins 250-500 g (optional);
- a packet of yeast.
I take the amount of sugar and sweet raisins depending on the desired result. Some of my friends like the sourness in wine, others like a semi-sweet drink.
Sour wines are better suited to barbecue, hot dishes, semi-sweet to cold appetizers: cheese, cold cuts.
I prepare mint wine in my kitchen as follows.
- I pour well-washed sprigs of mint with boiling water for an hour.
- In a deep vessel I add sugar, zest, raisins and lemon juice, mixing well. Some housewives put a tablet of Campden at this time so that the drink does not deteriorate from exposure to harmful microorganisms. If tannin is added, the drink acquires a tart aftertaste.
- After a day, I filter the composition and add yeast prepared in advance. I add sugar to taste. I remove the container, closed with a hermetic lock with a tube for removing carbon dioxide, in a dark, warm corner for a week, until sediment forms.
- After a week, the solution is poured into a clean vessel, for another week.
- After 7 days, the filtered drink is poured into sterile bottles. I clean in a cool basement for 60-90 days.
- I stand mint wine for no more than a year.
How to get alcohol from oak leaves and make cool wine at home
The mighty oak is widespread in the vastness of Russia. This long-liver lives for 3-4 hundreds of years. All parts of it are used in folk medicine.
The structure includes:
- oak leaves – 500 g;
- orange with peel – 2 pcs.;
- lemon with zest – 2 pcs.;
- granulated sugar – 1,5 kg;
- wine yeast – 5 g;
- spring water – 4,5 liters.
I cook step by step.
- I wash the leaves well from dust, small insects, dry twigs, put them in a container with a water seal.
- I add grated lemon zest and orange.
- I fill it with water for 4 days. I shake twice every day.
- I filter the solution, add juices of oranges and lemons to it.
- I add sugar, stir until completely dissolved.
- Wine yeast, aged in advance for half an hour in sweet water, is combined with oak mortar.
- I tightly close the bottle with the wort with a water seal and hide it in a place where the temperature is 27-32 degrees Celsius for several days.
- At the end of fermentation, I filter the drink and pour it into beautiful bottles or oak barrels.
Experiment lovers: coltsfoot wine
To create an original drink from medicinal herbs, I collect flowers.
Ingredients:
- liter jar of flowers, without stems;
- spring water – 3,5 l;
- lemon – 1-2 pcs.;
- raisins – 50 g;
- granulated sugar – 1 kg;
- yeast 1 g
I make wine in the same way as mint. Be sure to add flavorings in the form of lemon or orange zest.
My wines turn out no worse than Moldovan ones, recognized as one of the best in the world.
The English queen loves Moldovan wines.
- It is important during the fermentation of the wort to avoid contact with the atmosphere, the ingress of dust particles and microflora into the dishes.
- If the house does not have a special shutter for the working container, I put on a clean rubber glove on the neck, piercing its fingers with a thin needle.
- To avoid excess fermentation and to stop the development of pathogenic microorganisms, I sometimes add a powder or tablet of a drug that stops excess fermentation (Campden) to the container.
- Astringent wine lovers add tannin to the composition. I count the amount on a specific volume of liquid according to the instructions of the drug.
- I choose a bottle for fermentation with a small margin in volume so that the foam and solution do not spill onto the floor. Sometimes I install vessels on a pallet.
- To increase the transparency of the drink, I drain the solution from the sediment several times.
- I advise: always wait for the end of fermentation and store the wine in the cellar.
It turned out funny
One day, without waiting for the full maturation of the drink, I opened the keg. A jet of pink fountain hit the ceiling. In a second, a good half of the young wine poured out. Have you ever experienced this?
How much money do I spend on the production of all this
Homemade wine is cheaper than store-bought wine, especially if the herbs are collected in your own summer cottage. The concentration of alcohol in it is easy to regulate.
Personally, I prefer to make original wine at home, which allows me to save money and get an unforgettable pleasure from making it myself.
The price includes only the cost of sugar and yeast, one lemon, a handful of raisins.
Who has their own wine in the cellar? What did you make it from? Tell me?