Heavy Loire Style – Sweet White Wine

NB: If you are new to winemaking, it is worth checking out our guide to success.

Ingredients

• 350ml White Grape Concentrate
• 600g Rhubarb
• 200g Bananas Ripe (Pulp)
• 425g Canned Peaches
• 100g Dried Apricots
• 200g Strawberries
• 540g Granulated Sugar
• 340g Sugar for Sweetening
• Sufficient Pectolytic Enzyme
• Gervin No. 3 Yeast
• 1-3g / ½ Teaspoon Yeast Nutrient
• 10ml / 2 Teaspoons Glycerol
• Water to 4.5 Litres

Method

It is questionable, of course, whether a wine with this weight of flavour and sweetness can be considered a table wine at all, as at its best it is drunk as a ‘pudding’ wine or kept for post meal slurping!  This wine is likely to be around 14% on completion.

I have enclosed a little glycerol (glycerine) in this recipe.  It increases the sweetness marginally, but more importantly helps to improve the mouthfeel.  Of course, the yeast itself produces some glycerol, to the extent of 5 or 6g per litre, so let the yeast do its job first and add the extra glycerol at the end.

Be patient with this wine and keep it for two or more years, and even then only open a bottle on a special occasion!