Recipe: A Whole Lotta Rosé

Duh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh,
Never had a wine,
Never had a wine like you,
Doing all the things,
Doing all the things you do.

I'm on a roll with the Rosés, so this is what I call Cheapskate Rosé light, and it's earlier incarnation Cheapskate Rosé. This wine was probably the favourite when my Dad and Sis visited last year. It was less than a year old at the time and is great for a beginner, tho you'll have to buy a kit first ....

So start with a decent red wine kit. I was curious to try one of these kits after hearing such good reviews in various places. The Beaverdale range was the one I happened to hear about most often, and Shiraz is my favourite red, hence the no-brainer choice I made. Having spent good money on the kit (it works out around £1.50/bottle) I wanted to ensure that I got the most from my investment.

Recipe for 1 Gallon of Cheapskate Rosé Light.

3.5 Litres Pressed Red Grape Juice
1/2 Litre Sugar Solution
Nutrient
1 Teaspoon Citric or Tartaric Acid
Lees from a decent red wine kit (I used Beaverdale Shiraz)

Method

Get your kit wine going according to the instructions. Follow the instructions but with this single exception - when the fermentation has almost stopped (just a few bubbles/minute passing through the airlock) then rack it. Make sure that you carry over plenty of sediment so the ferment will finish. Then top up the newly filled DJ and follow the kit instructions again.

You'll be left with some sediment in the original DJ (or fermenting bin is you made more than 1 gallon). Add all the ingredients from the recipe list to this. You'll want an OG or around 1070 -1080. The grape juice will be about 1070, so you won't need to use much sugar in the sugar solution. Fit an airlock and in a day or so it'll be fermenting vigorously. After a few days, when the ferment has quietened down a bit top up with sugar solution of similar gravity to the original must. Then treat it as any other wine, rack, degas, fine if needed, stabilise etc etc when needed.

Result & Observations

This wine will be good for drinking from about 4 months old. the original version was exactly the same except that I fermented with 4.5 litres of red grape juice with a little sugar added to take OG to 1095. It was good to drink after 6 months. It was quite a big rosé and came in at 13.2% ABV, so I decided to make a lighter version that could be drunk sooner. So less grape juice, and a lower OG (1072) bringing it in at around 11% ABV. It works. Both work.

So if you like your wines light then do the recent one, if you like more body and more ABV then do the original. Either way you'll be getting a neat wine on the back of a decent kit. Which means you'll have a good yeast, probably some oak chips, and a minimal outlay for other ingredients. Not bad really considering the time and effort the kit makes will have put into selecting a yeast and oak chip that is perfect for homebrew.