Winter is the season when fresh fruit for winemaking is hardest to find. However, that doesn’t have to be a reason to put your demijohn away in a dark corner of the cellar. A little imagination, dried flowers, fruit, or leftovers from summer preserves are enough to conjure up delicious, aromatic drinks at home. Here are our proven recipes for wines you can easily prepare in winter.

Recipe for pumpkin wine... in a pumpkin, or in a fermentation vessel

10 kg pumpkin
6 L water
4.5 kg sugar
Madeira yeast
5 g yeast nutrient
6 lemons (or limes)
pectic enzyme

Peel the pumpkins, wash and cut into smaller pieces. Place in a fermentation container or demijohn, add half the amount of sugar (sugar syrup) and water. Add the lemons (you can squeeze the juice), pectic enzyme, and yeast with nutrient. Leave to ferment for about a week, then press the pulp to separate it from the liquid. Pour the liquid into a demijohn for further fermentation. Add the remaining sugar syrup. If you have already added all the water, you can dissolve the sugar in a small amount of racked wine. If a significant amount of sediment forms, you can rack the wine again and leave it to ferment further until it clears nicely and fermentation is finished.

Recipe for semi-dry wine from dried elderflower - 10 L

0.9 L of elderflowers (loosely packed)
Fermivin yeast
yeast nutrient 7 g
0.8 kg chopped raisins
3 L orange juice
10 g black tea
2.7 kg sugar
2 lemons

Using a potato peeler, remove a very thin layer of zest from two lemons (without the pith). Then peel the lemons and slice them. Pour in the prepared yeast starter and add the elderflowers, sliced lemons, lemon zest, and the remaining orange juice to the chopped raisins. Ferment the pulp for 3–5 days. When the yeast has consumed the sugars in the pulp (sugar in the raisins and sugar in the orange juice), press off the pulp. Prepare a sugar syrup from 2 kg sugar in 1 L water and a strong black tea infusion. Pour all ingredients into a demijohn: the must from the raisins and orange juice, the tea infusion, the sugar syrup, the nutrient, and top up with water to 11 L. Mix well. When the sugar level drops by 8 °Bx, add a sugar syrup made from 0.7 kg sugar in 0.6 L water to the must. Fermentation should take about three weeks. Rack the wine when the sugar level drops to 0 °Bx or below.

Recipe for wine from boxed juice

6 L grape juice from a carton; check that the juice is not sulfited; other juices can also be used, e.g. apple
3 kg sugar
3 L water
yeast such as Malaga or sherry
5 g yeast nutrient

Bring the water with sugar to a boil, add the juice, let it cool, and then add the yeast and nutrient. For red fruit juice we recommend Malaga yeast, while for white grape juice—sherry-type yeast. Pour the mixture into a demijohn, fit with a fermentation lock and stopper, and leave for 4 weeks. After this time, carefully rack the wine off the sediment, pour into a clean bottle, and set aside for another month. Remember that the time given is approximate, and fermentation at lower temperatures may take a little longer.

Recipe for raisin wine - 10 L

2.6 kg raisins
1.5 kg sugar
1 L apple juice from a carton
3 g yeast nutrient
pectic enzyme
3 g acidity regulator
Madeira yeast

Pour hot water over the raisins to rinse them. When the raisins are clean, cover them with water again, add pectic enzyme, juice, nutrient, acidity regulator, and the yeast starter. After 3 weeks, strain the must and leave it to continue fermenting. The wine is ready to drink after about 3 months of aging.

Recipe for hibiscus wine - 5 L

50 g hibiscus
1 kg sugar
3 g yeast nutrient
4.4 L water
200 g raisins
1 g acidity regulator (needed if the must has less than 6 g/L acids)

Steep the hibiscus several times in 2 L of water, each time pouring the resulting infusion into one container and dissolving 750 g of sugar in it. When the liquid has cooled, pour it into a demijohn, add the raisins (pre-rinsed with boiling water), 1.4 L water, and the nutrient. Leave for a week, then add 250 g sugar.

Recipe for banana and orange wine - 5 L

1 kg bananas
juice from 5 large oranges
0.5 L grape juice (from a carton)
0.8 kg sugar
Burgundy wine yeast
1/3 packet yeast nutrient
lukewarm boiled water (to top up the demijohn to 5 L)

Slice the bananas and put them into a demijohn, then pour in the orange and grape juices. Dissolve half the sugar in 1 L of water, cool, and pour over the bananas. Then add the yeast, nutrient, and top up with water to 5 L. After a week, add the next portion of sugar (you can rack a small amount of liquid from the demijohn and dissolve it in that). After 2 weeks, separate the pulp from the liquid and leave for further fermentation.

Recipe for rice wine - 15 L

1.5 kg rice
4.5 kg sugar
11 L water
3 lemons
200 g raisins
2 nutmegs (40 g)
12 allspice berries
a pinch of cinnamon, thyme, and mint
Tokay yeast (or any for white wine)
yeast nutrient

Rinse uncooked rice thoroughly in batches under running water until the water runs clear. Pour the rinsed rice into the demijohn. Peel the lemons of zest and pith, tear into smaller pieces, and add to the demijohn. Add the spices and raisins. Once all the spices are in the demijohn, pour in the sugar solution in two portions: the first at the start, the second after a week of fermentation. Add the sugar as syrup—after mixing all the ingredients, add the nutrient and yeast. Leave as is for about a month. Then rack and leave for further fermentation.

Enjoy! ...because homemade is better!