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Traditional Cottage Recipe
Ingredients
4 lb. grapes
3½ lb. white sugar
1 gallon water
Method
In this recipe water is added to reduce the natural acidity of the juice, but at the same time the fruit flavour is correspondingly reduced.
Strip the grapes from their stalks and bruise well in a clean earthenware bowl or wooden tub. Pour cold water over the pulp and leave covered with a thick cloth for three days, stirring frequently. Strain through muslin and to each gallon add 3½ lb. sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves and then pour into a clean jar or cask. Insert an air lock or a loosely fitting bung and leave in a warm room until fermentation ceases. Remove to a cold room and leave one or two weeks and then syphon or decant the wine into a clean jar without disturbing the yeast deposit. Make sure the jar is filled when the cork is inserted, wax over the top and leave six months. Syphon or decant again, bottle, cork and wire. Store the bottles on their sides in a cellar for a further six months before sampling.
This recipe gives a dry wine, the colour varying from white to pink, depending on the type of grapes used. If a sparkling wine is preferred add two raisins to each bottle before corking. For a sweet still wine add 5 to 6 lb. of sugar to each gallon of juice instead of 3½ lb.
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