Blackthorn wine at home according to the technology of winemakers

This year can be safely called a plum year – tree branches literally break under the weight of huge blue fruits. Where to put this good we already know. It is not easy to make wine from plums, but it is possible, and if the drink does not work out, then it can be safely sent for distillation. Homemade slivovitz is wonderfully good. But be sure to get wine from the blackthorn, which we will learn how to cook at home. Wine by all standards is considered tasty and of high quality, and it does not matter whether it is dry or dessert. Without exaggeration, blackthorn wine can compete with the best red grape wines.

In fact, a turn is a wild plum and differs from a domestic one only in its size, thorny branches and … unbearable astringency, which makes it almost impossible to eat small dark fruits. But the wines they make are excellent. According to the composition of the juice, which is about 13% sugar, 2,4-2,7% acids and 1,3% tannins, the blackthorn is very close to some grape varieties. In general, an ideal plum for winemaking, but very capricious in processing. It is very difficult to extract juice from dense, fibrous pulp, which contains a carload of pectins. However, this is the only problem – further the technology for making wine from blackthorn is not much different from the technology for making any other fruit and berry wines.

Juice, as in the case of chokeberry wine, can be obtained in two ways: through fermentation and using Cahors technology. It is difficult to say which one is more suitable. The people cook this way and that. If you prepare a drink without yeast, then it is more logical to use the fermentation technology and, conversely, for a recipe with yeast (and here I mean not only purchased yeast, but also various yeast starters), it is better to choose Cahors technology, which in any case will give the wine more saturated. I provide both recipes.

Turne wine recipe without yeast using fermentation technology

To start from something, I propose to pay attention to the following table, where there are proportions for making blackthorn wine at home of all varieties. You should have met it in the plum wine recipe, but I corrected the table and counted it into smaller volumes (that is, I simply divided everything by 10).

Table for compiling 10 liters of must for making 8 liters of medium-quality blackthorn wine (acidity – 2,7%, sugar content – 13,5%)

Now let’s move on to the recipe. Of course, yeast is necessary for making wine, but when people talk about a recipe for a drink without yeast, they mean wild yeast. Wild yeast colonies live directly on blackthorn fruits – like grapes, this is a “dusty” coating that should never be washed off.

After harvesting, the turn does not need to be washed, but it is advisable to dry it a little. This can be done in the sun or in a cool room, for which it is enough to spread newspapers and evenly distribute the fruits on them. In order for the yeast colonies to become sufficiently strong, 2-3 days are enough. After that, pour the turn into an enameled or glass bowl and crush them with a wooden pestle or clean hands (feet). It is important that each berry is crushed. It is equally important that all utensils and related equipment are clean and dry, so as not to inadvertently introduce unwanted bacteria into the future wort. The resulting puree should be transferred to a container with a wide mouth, add clean, warm water (approximately in the same volume as the puree, that is, 1: 1) and close the neck with a cotton plug. The container must be placed in a warm dark place.

Fermentation usually lasts 2-3 days. During this time, the pulp should separate from the juice and float to the surface, and the juice should remain below. There should also be signs of fermentation: a sour smell, foam, etc. At this time, it is important to regularly, preferably every 2-3 hours, knock down the hat so that the puree does not turn sour and windy. After 3 days, you can safely take the juice. To do this, it is enough to drain the contents through a colander to remove the bones and large fibers, and then through a medium sieve. It is advisable to squeeze the pulp with gauze or a special wine press.

In the resulting juice, you need to add the amount of water that is indicated in the recipe (in the table), minus the volume of water that has already been added at the previous stage. You also need to add sugar, which can first be dissolved in a small amount of the resulting wort. If you do not look at the plate, to get semi-sweet wine from blackthorn, it is enough to add 3,5 g of sugar and 800 l of water to 0,5 liters of the resulting juice. Next, pour the finished must into a fermentation tank (fill it 2/3 or ¾ – blackthorn wine ferments violently and releases a lot of foam) and put a water seal. The container must be placed in a dark place with a constant temperature in the region of + 18-22 ^оC.

The people have long deduced the optimal amount of sugar for blackthorn wine. If you want to get dry or semi-dry – add 200-250 g of sugar per 1 liter of must. For semi-sweet and dessert wines, you need to take 300-350 g / l.

Blackthorn wine ferments for about 40 days. At this time, it is advisable to follow him, but do not touch, so as not to disturb the emerging yeast sediment. If you want to get strong wine and are guided by the proportions from the table, it is better to add sugar in portions. For example, first add a third part, then after 5-7 days, when the fermentation weakens, add another third, and after 5-7 days the last part of sugar. This way your wine will ferment better and be stronger. When the drink ferments, it must be carefully drained without disturbing the sediment. To do this, you need to put the container with wine higher and use a silicone hose to drain the wine into another clean, dry dish.

Then comes the so-called quiet fermentation. It is better to pour young wine up to the very neck and at least for the first 2-3 install a water seal on the container. After 2-3 days, the bottle can be tightly sealed and removed to the basement or any other place with a temperature of + 10-12 ^оC. It is advisable to drain the wine from the sediment every two weeks, but not necessarily – it should not be bitter. In about 3-4 months, the drink should completely clear itself. After that, the blackthorn wine, prepared without yeast, can be safely bottled, tightly corked and stored for as long as patience is enough, because the longer this bottle lies, the tastier its contents will become. It is a fact!

A simple recipe for blackthorn wine with yeast

We cook according to the Cahors technology. You can take the proportions from the table, or you can be guided by the following proportions from craftsmen:

Berries should be washed well and mashed. Then pour half of the hot water indicated in the recipe (+ 70-80 ^оC) and put on a quiet fire, maintaining a temperature of + 70-80 ^оFrom 5-10 minutes. Drain the water and juice and repeat the procedure. Drain again and combine both drains. Add sugar (if necessary, break it into portions) and mix well. When cooled down to +35 ^оYeast can already be added from the wort. You can take wine from the store, or you can make raspberry or raisin sourdough (raspberry sourdough recipe is described in the chokeberry wine recipe). After that, everything is very simple and prosaic. The wine is poured into a bottle and there it ferments as much as it should be under a water seal. Then we work according to the scheme described in the previous recipe.

Blackthorn wine is very similar to plum wine. Dessert and liquor have a slightly “port wine” taste, but plum is still felt in the aroma. The color is different, from bright ruby ​​​​to dark brown shades. It makes sense to age such a wine in an oak barrel, for example, from sherry, but these are already delights that not everyone will go for. Here it is, homemade blackthorn wine, which, as I recall, was prepared even by my grandmother. Due to the war and other circumstances, she never learned to read, so she did not make other wines. And you read, since you already know how. There are more and more recipes on Roma. See you soon!