In July I went to a pick-your-own farm and carried off 4.5kg of blackcurrants and 7ish months later I have just bottled it ready for 18 months of aging. The berries initially had a cold water maceration for 5 days before yeast and lemon juice were added to extract as much colour as I could.

CLICK HERE FOR BLACKCURRANT WINE RECIPE

CLICK HERE FOR BLACKCURRANT WINE MAKING pt1

CLICK HERE FOR BLACKCURRANT WINE MAKING pt2

This Gentleman’s Ribena is surprisingly light in colour with a very clear wine being produced. I was expecting it to be far more like the deep opaque reds of Elderberry wine but this allows light through and it really looks good in the glass. The taste still has a while to mature but it is very pleasing even at this young age, while there is a definite blackcurrant taste it has retreated from the overly cordial sensation when it was initially pressed. Compared to my blackberry wine the fruit is far less pronounced with a rounder edge to it. Mouth feel is good and suites the darker rosé appearance… can you get a dark rosé? Acidity seems spot on and as it has oak I am expecting a light but decently complex wine.

As I have not make this before I have bottled totally dry and I may sweeten per bottle when I do eventually drink it. There was a worry I could over do the sugar and simply push it back to being Ribena with alcohol.

This year I will certainly ferment another 10 litre batch and imagine it will be a fixture every year. As I can harvest the fruit in July it is the first red wine I can make in the year and means I do not have the blackberry, elderberry and elder and black wines bunched up with it when preparing the fruit and monitoring through the fermentation.