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Autumn is the time for vine pruning. Leaves and shoots, of which there are many, are usually discarded. But in vain. Few people know that good wine can be made from them, and if you try hard, it will turn out sparkling, akin to everyone’s favorite champagne.
The palm in the manufacture of this original drink belongs to the gardener Yarushenkov. It was he who began to make wine from grapes with the addition of shoots and leaves. The recipe has been improved. Now the green mass of grapes is the main, and sometimes the only component of the future wine, not counting sugar and water.
At home, you can make wine from grape leaves, both white and rose.
White wine
It will require:
- 7 liter of water;
- 2 kg of green mass of grapes;
- for each liter of the resulting wort, 100 g of sugar;
- a handful of unwashed raisins;
- ammonia 3 g.
To prepare the drink, boil water in a large saucepan with a volume of at least 10 liters. We put there a green grape mass, consisting of leaves and shoots. The mass must be well kneaded so that it is completely immersed in water. We warm the pan removed from the fire well. In this form, it should stand for 3 days. During this time, the leaves will give juice to the water, and it will turn brown and sour in taste. We received must for further preparation of wine from grape leaves.
Now it needs to be well drained into another dish. Squeeze the leaves in there and throw them away. They have done their job and will no longer be needed. The amount of wort must be measured and for each liter add about 100 g of sugar.
When adding it, the wort must be tasted. The quality of the future wine depends on how the proportions are correctly adjusted. By sweetness, the wort should resemble compote.
In order for the fermentation process to proceed correctly, the sugar content of the wort must be at least 21%. If there is a special device, the so-called sugar hydrometer, it is easy to measure the sugar content. It makes sense to purchase such a device when wine is prepared in large quantities. There is an old folk way of measuring the sugar content of the wort.
How to Adjust the Sugar Content in Wine Must
Pour a small part of the wort into a separate bowl. My fresh chicken egg and immerse in the wort. With a sufficient concentration of sugar, it does not sink and always turns wide side up. By the area that is visible on the surface, they judge whether sugar needs to be added and how much. If the area of the visible part of the egg is the size of a five-kopeck coin, then there is enough sugar and nothing needs to be added. If it is with a coin worth 3 kopecks – you need to add from 100 to 150 g of sugar per 10 liters of wort. If its size is even smaller and does not exceed 1 kopeck, you need to add 300 g of sugar for the same amount of must. It is clear that we are talking about coins of the Soviet period.
Let’s return to the process of making wine from grape leaves. Throw a handful of dried raisins into the must.
Homemade raisins will do. If this is not available, buy Central Asian raisins, which are sold by private traders. The “correct” raisins can be recognized by the bluish bloom; the store-bought dried fruit does not have it.
Be sure to add 3 g of ammonia to the wort. This seemingly strange additive is necessary in order to increase the nitrogen content in it, and thereby enhance fermentation. Strong fermentation is the key to delicious wine. It will start in 1-2 days. At first, it needs oxygen access. Therefore, we do not cover the container with anything. The process of rapid fermentation takes from 8 to 12 days, depending on the temperature.
If the cap on the wort has decreased in size and become darker, this is a signal that rapid fermentation is over. It’s time to pour the wort into containers for further quiet fermentation and close them with a water seal. When this is not available, you can use a clean rubber glove with a couple of punctured holes. It needs to be well fixed so that it does not break.
Quiet fermentation lasts until the wort brightens. By this time, sediment has formed at the bottom of the container. And we pour it and the wort into plastic bottles with a capacity of 1,5 – 2 liters. We close with stoppers.
Gases are strongly released at this stage. If the bottle is very hard to the touch, release the gas to keep it from bursting.
As soon as the contents of the bottle become transparent, it’s time to drain the wine from the sediment, that is, carefully pour it into another bottle, leaving the sediment in the old one.
The process of draining the sediment can be repeated three times, each time waiting for the clarification of the wine.
Store the finished wine should be in a cool cellar.
The alcohol content in the resulting wine is 10-12%.
Pink wine
Its preparation as a whole does not differ from the previous recipe. Pink color and a pleasant taste shade will give it the addition of raspberries. It must be crushed and allowed to wander for three days, while the grape leaves are infused.
Strained raspberry starter is added to the finished wort.
In this case, raisins can be omitted. The wild yeast needed for fermentation will be provided by raspberries.
The further cooking process is similar to that indicated in the previous recipe.
Sparkling wine based on grape leaves
Everyone loves sparkling wines. Light fizzy drink creates a sense of celebration. This wine can also be made at home.
To make it, you will need two voluminous pans.
Ingredients:
- water – 12 l;
- green grape shoots and leaves – 2 kg;
- sugar;
- dry yeast in the amount of 3-5 teaspoons or crushed grapes – 2-3 kg.
At the first stage, we proceed in the same way as in the previous recipe. We measure the strained wort and add a glass of sugar for each liter of it.
After its dissolution, the wort is poured into bottles, on which rubber plugs with punctured holes are installed. They must be stored strictly horizontally and in a cool room. Every day, the bottles are turned 1/10 around the axis. The fermentation process lasts about a month.
The finished wine should be kept for maturation for at least 4 months, but it acquires a real bouquet only after a year.
Homemade wine is not only a great alternative to store-bought wine. It does not contain any impurities and preservatives, so it brings much more benefits. It just needs to be consumed in moderation.