Dandelion Wine

Dandelion wine is one of my favorite white wines, bar none, and the flowers are already appearing here in Texas. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t recognize the bright yellow, many-rayed flowers of Taraxacum officinale at first glance. Most think of them as a weed but others look upon them differently. My wife actually planted dandelions in one of our flower beds, and the result was quite stunning when they bloomed en mass. Others look upon their leaves as salad or greens, and indeed they are quite edible raw or steamed until the flower appears, at which time its greenery becomes bitter. But for the winemaker, the dandelion simply makes the best flower wine there is.

I actually don’t know how many dandelion wine recipes I have, but I would guess between 200-300. I have only published 30. Even so, I have my favorites. Among them is the following.

• 9 cups dandelion petals
• 1 11-oz can Welch’s 100% White Grape Juice frozen concentrate
• 1 lb 10 ozs granulated sugar
• 2 lemons (juice and zest)
• 2 oranges (juice and zest)
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
• 1/4 tsp tannin
• 6 1/4 pts water
• Côtes-du-Rhône or Hock wine yeast

Prepare flower petals beforehand. Put water on to boil. Meanwhile, prepare zest from citrus and set aside. Combine flowers and zest in nylon straining bag and tie closed. Put bag in primary and pour boiling water over it. Cover primary and squeeze bag several times a day for 3 days. Drain and squeeze bag to extract all liquid. Pour liquid into primary and stir in sugar until completely dissolved. Stir in remaining ingredients except yeast, cover and set aside 10-12 hours. Add activated yeast and cover. Stir twice daily for 5 days. Transfer to secondary and fit airlock. Rack after wine falls clear, adding crushed Campden tablet and topping up and reattaching airlock. Rack again every 2 months for 6 months, adding another crushed Campden tablet during middle racking and stabilizing at last racking. Wait another month and rack into bottles. Cellar 6 months and enjoy a bottle. Cellar another 6 months and enjoy it all. [Jack Keller’s own recipe]