Years ago Tommy James and the Shondells wrote and sang a song called Strawberry Wine. In its time it was a smooth song that alluded to “strawberry wine, so very fine”. Now bounce forward to today.
I decided to move my first batch of raspberry wine from the primary clearing vessel to the second clearing jug and pulled about 4 ounces of the red stuff off as a sampler. My daughter was here along with Carole and they hovered over me until I handed them the glass. The aroma of raspberries was super evident. The sip started with a very good raspberry flavor followed by the need to suck air. This stuff is potent. The girls were all smiles and asked when I was bottling so they could get another sneak preview, then they wanted to know when they could split a bottle. The answer was simple: all in time my dears. Said, of course, with a big smile.
Before I sealed up the second clearing jug I ran my hydrometer into the wine and came up with right around 18.2% alcohol. I made this with a real durable champagne yeast and it paid off going that route. I’m sure glad I sweetened this wine a little when I added the clarifier to it.
At any rate I’m calling this batch very good wine and like the song says its “so very fine”. Christmas dinner 2013 is the opening date but I haven’t told them that yet.
