Gooseberry Wine
Gooseberry wine is the perfect way to enjoy these tart, short-season summer fruits. Add honey to turn this recipe into a rich gooseberry mead (or gooseberry melomel).
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 lbs gooseberries 7-½ cups
- 5-½ cups sugar
- Water
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1 tsp Pectic Enzyme
- ¼ tsp tannin powder
- Wine Yeast see note
- Optional ~ Campden Tablet and Potassium Sorbate for Stabilizing I do not use these
Instructions
- Freeze gooseberries for one week beforehand to help break down their pectin.
- When ready, thaw gooseberries and place in a wide-mouth carboy (a brewing bag can be used as well).
- Gently mash the berries. Cover with water and add the sugar, pectic enzyme, tannin, and yeast nutrient. Stir until dissolved.
- Add the wine yeast last. If needed, pitch the yeast by rehydrating it in a small amount of room-temperature water for 10 minutes before adding it to the wine.
- Top with more water so that 2 inches of headspace is left and seal the carboy with a waterlock.
- Allow to ferment for 7 to 10 days, until fermentation slows.
- Siphon to a clean carboy for secondary, leaving the fruit and sediment behind. Top with water to bring the level up to the neck of the carboy and seal with a waterlock.
- Ferment in secondary until clear. A secondary ferment of at least 4 months is recommended. (You may wish to ferment in secondary for 4 to 6 weeks and then rack to a clean container to ferment for another 2 months to clear sediment.)
- If needed, rack the wine again to help clear the sediment and ferment until clear.
- Once clear, sample your wine. For backsweetening, see notes below.
- When ready for bottling, siphon to clean bottles, and bottle with wine corks.
- Bottle age for a year for the best quality wine.