Thorny wine, prepared at home, has an exquisite taste and rich aroma, combining tart and spicy notes with a pronounced smell of ripe plums. It seems that a glass of this transparent red thorn wine, even on a cold winter day, is filled with memories of the past summer and dreams of the future ...
The blue-violet strong berries of the thorn, and in fact wild prickly plums, are endowed with the original taste that they convey to the drink made from them. The fruits contain from 2.5 to 10% sugar, 1.3% tannins, 2.4% acids. The chemical composition of tern wine is close in its characteristics to grape wines, so there is no doubt about the usefulness of this low-alcohol drink . The manufacturing process captivates with its simplicity, the only difficulty is that the berries are reluctant to give away the juice, so you have to heat them. But more experienced amateurs-winemakers know how to make wine from thorns without preliminary heating, so if the crop is harvested, then you can start making a wonderful drink.
Stage 1 . The berries of the turn dry in the air for 2-3 days, you do not need to wash them. During this time, yeast appears on them , which make the wine ferment. After this, the fruits should be carefully pounded, turning into a smoothie. Pure water is added to the crushed berry mass in a ratio of 1: 1. The mixture in a container covered with a mosquito net or gauze is left in the air.
Stage 2 . As soon as foam and bubbles appear on the surface of the mixture, and the pulp begins to separate from the liquid, all this mess must be filtered through a fine sieve or net, use insoluble particles and bones on compost or discard, and pour the wort into sealed vessels, filling them no more, than on ¾ volume. But first, sugar should be added to the juice from 200 to 350 grams per 1 liter and mix. It depends on the amount of sugar which wine will turn out: dry, semi-dry, semi-sweet or sweet. Vessels after filling are closed with a water lock.
Stage 3. At this stage, the wort is fermented, which at an ambient temperature of +20 ° C and above lasts about a month and a half. It is necessary to carefully monitor the process, and when gas bubbles cease to stand out, the young wine from the turn should be carefully separated from the sediment and drained into another sealed vessel for ripening. This is usually done with a small diameter PVC hose.
Stage 4 . Waiting for the ripening of wine from the turn is a long process, as it is very slowly clarified. It contains insoluble particles of berries so small that they cannot be filtered out at home with any filters. In thorny wine, even two or three years of aging, there always remains a certain turbidity, similar to a light haze. It’s not worth it to be upset, this does not affect the taste. The ripening of the wine from the turn lasts several months and ends when the drink becomes transparent or when the remaining light turbidity ceases to settle on the bottom of the dishes.
After the end of the process, it can be filtered and bottled for further storage, so that later on occasion you can surprise your guests with an unusual taste, rich color and unmatched aroma of homemade thorny wine.
Instead of an afterword
Collect, squeeze, drain into the dishes,
Then it must roam.
A lot of work is laid, but
Glorious wine has ripened.