I’ve just bottled the plum wine that I started making back in January. If you think the waiting in beer making is bad, try making wine! Five months until it’s even bottled, then a minimum recommended aging of at least six months. But as I do when bottling beer, I took the opportunity at bottling time to sample the product. And, well, I’ve got to say I’m pretty impressed at this point. Ok, it’s not the smoothest, finest wine but it’s more than drinkable in it’s current state. And if aging brings significant improvements, it’s going to be bloody good. The problem though is that it’s so drinkable right now that I reckon a lot of it’s going to be gone before the recommended aging period.
It looks good too, nice and clear, colour somewhere between a rosé and a red. Taste-wise it’s not far removed from a grape wine but in the aroma and taste there’s a subtle pluminess that gives it a real nice character. I’ve never actually had plum wine before this and now that I’ve tasted my own first amateurish effort, I’m wondering why plum wine isn’t more common. I’ll definitely be making more next year and with the knowledge that I’ve gained from doing it I should be able to improve over this batch.
Prior to bottling I stabalised the wine with potassium metabisulphite and potassium sorbate. I back-sweetened with some concentrated fruit cordial and a little sugar syrup. I like a dry wine so I went easy on the back-sweetening but a little bit definitely improved it without making it actually sweet.
2 pings