Plum Wine 5L

PLUM WINE

Plum wine can be very aggravating to make, but once made, can well be one of your most satisfying fruit wines. It tends to lack body, and for that reason it is often made with raisins added. But if you use plenty of plums, the raisins are unnecessary. It is also notoriously slow to clear, but it does clear. The flavour, aroma and bouquet of finished plum wine is really a treat, so please don't be discouraged by my words of caution.

The recipe below makes a dry table wine.

Recipe – makes approx 5L

• 3.5kg plums
• 200g raisons (Blend in food processor before adding to the fermentor)
• 750g fine granulated sugar
• Water to 5L
• 1 Campden tablet
• 1-1/2 tsp acid blend (Citric, Malic and Tartaric)
• 1 tsp pectic enzyme
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• 1/8 tsp grape tannin
• MJ R56 Red Wine Yeast

Wash plums, cut in half to remove seeds then put in a bag to freeze.  (This helps to mash and extract flavour).

On brew day put water on to boil.  Put fruit in primary and pour boiling water over fruit. Add the sugar and stir well to dissolve. Add Camden tablet then cover and allow to cool to 25 degrees C. Add acid blend, pectic enzyme, tannin, and nutrient then cover, and wait 12 hours before adding yeast. Recover primary and allow to ferment 5-7 days, stirring twice daily. Strain, transfer to secondary, and fit airlock. Rack after 30 days, de-gas and stir in wine finings.  Top up, refit airlock leve to clear. 

I add another crushed campden tablet after each rack to prevent oxidisation and to prevents infection.

Repeat racking every 30 days until wine clears. Wait two additional weeks, rack again, stabilize wine, bottle.

This wine can be sampled after only 6 months. If not up to expectations, let age another 6 months and taste again.

It is amazing how time makes a great wine.