Apricot, Raspberry and Elderberry Rose Wine

  • 3/4 lb. chopped dried apricots
  • 6 oz. raspberries
  • 3 oz. dried elderberries
  • 1-1/4 lb. granulated sugar
  • 1/2 pt. white grape concentrate
  • 1 cup mixed red and yellow rose petals
  • 1 tsp. pectic enzyme
  • 1 gallon water
  • crushed Campden tablets
  • Burgundy wine yeast and nutrient

Before you start, dissolve sugar in 6 pts. warm water, then chill the water overnight in refrigerator. Chop or mince dried apricots and elderberries, crush raspberries, and mix together in primary fermentation vessel with chilled sugar-water, nutrient, pectic enzyme, and two crushed Campden tablets. Stir well, cover and set aside 24 hours. Add activated Burgundy yeast, cover and ferment on pulp three days, stirring daily. Strain pulp in fine nylon sieve and press lightly to extract juice without pulp particles. Add grape concentrate, cover and ferment additional four days. Add rose petals and ferment additional three days before straining and add sufficient water to bring volume to 1 gallon. When S.G. drops to 1.000 or lower, add another crushed Campden tablet and rack, without splashing, to secondary fermentation vessel as soon as fermentation restarts or a heavy deposit of yeast forms, whichever is sooner. Fit airlock and store bottle in cool place (65-70 degrees F.) without disturbing for three months. However, check after two weeks and, if pulp debris is detected in sediment, carefully rack again without splashing and add another crushed Campden tablet. After total three months in secondary fermentation vessel, rack again, being careful to avoid splashing, add one crushed Campden tablet, and top up with water before refitting airlock. After additional three months, rack again as before, add another crushed Campden tablet, top up with water, and bottle. May taste after six months but matures at 18 months. [Adapted from Bryan Acton and Peter Duncan’s Making Wines Like Those You Buy]