Apple, Parsnip and Raisin Dry Sherry

• 2 lb. apples
• 1 lb. parsnips
• 1 lb. golden raisins
• 2 lb. granulated sugar
• 1 oz. gypsum
• 1/2 oz. cream of tartar
• 1/2 oz. pectic enzyme
• 1/2 oz. tartaric acid
• 1 gallon water
• Sherry wine yeast and nutrient

Before beginning, core and slice apples, scrub and chop parsnips, chop raisins. Dissolve sugar in 2 cups boiling water. Allow sugar syrup to cool and store in jar for future use. Boil parsnips in 5 pt. water for 10 minutes. Strain over sliced apples and chopped raisins in primary fermentation vessel. Add all ingredients except yeast, pectic enzyme and half the sugar syrup. Cover and allow to cool, then add pectic enzyme and activated yeast, cover, and ferment on the pulp four days, stirring twice daily. Strain through fine nylon sieve and add 1/2 cup sugar syrup. Cover and add remaining sugar syrup in 1/2 cup increments whenever S.G. drops to 1.005 or less (approximately every three days). When all sugar syrup is added, add sufficient water to bring to one gallon. When fermentation is complete (additional 10-14 days), rack into large enough secondary fermentation vessel (1-1/2 to 2 gallon) to allow fair amount of air above wine. Plug opening with cotton. Normally, that is the only racking in sherry production, but if pulp particles appear in sediment, rack again after two weeks and plug again with cotton. Store secondary fermentation vessel in cool (55-60 degrees F.) place and leave undisturbed. Flor may form in 3-4 weeks or as late as 4 months. If flor forms, leave undisturbed until all flor has sunk to bottom. Carefully siphon off lees through double layer of fine muslin into bottles. If flor does not form, allow to sit six months, carefully siphon into clean gallon bottle, sweeten with sufficient white grape concentrate or sugar water (1/3 lb. sugar dissolved in one cup water) to top up to one gallon, and then bottle. Allow two or more years to mature. [Adapted from Bryan Acton and Peter Duncan’s Making Wines Like Those You Buy]