Simple Summer Plum Wine Recipe

Now is the perfect time to be getting out there and using summer fruits to create some delicious fruit wines. You can enjoy your wine straight after fermentation when the flavours are young & bright or aged and matured to be enjoyed in the cooler months when you’re dreaming of summer fruits! We guarantee you’ll love this plum wine recipe and those you share it with won’t believe it’s a homemade wine! We make our wine with Greengage plums, but any variety of sweet ripe plums can be used in this recipe.

EQUIPMENT

• 5L Demijohn fitted with airlock
• 5L capacity pot
• Muslin cloth
• Mangrove Jacks Wine Yeast strain VR21 OR BV72 (both suitable for plums)
• 2.5kg of sweet ripe plums
• 1.5 to 3.5 cups of granulated sugar (see note below)
• 3 cups of water
• 0.5 teaspoons of lemon juice
• Steriliser of choice

NOTES ON SWEETNESS LEVEL

Dry wine: 1.5 cups of sugar

Semi-dry wine: 2 cups of sugar

Semi-sweet wine: 2.5 cups of sugar

Sweet wine: 3 cups of sugar

Dessert wine: 3.5 cups of sugar

RECIPE

1. Begin by using steriliser of choice to sterilise all your equipment. Cleanliness is key to ensuring your hard work doesn’t go to waste!
2. Begin by washing and pitting plums and dice into small cubes, leaving the skins on. Skins will add natural tannins, providing astringency & flavour to the wine.
3. Add plums to the pot, along with the sugar, water, and lemon juice.
4. Boil and mash plums until all sugar is dissolved. Once this is completed, remove the pot from the heat and allow it to sit for an hour, this will allow to flavours to develop.
5. Strain into demijohn using muslin cloth and once liquid is at room temperature add chosen yeast.
6. Seal lid and gently swirl to incorporate yeast into mixture.
7. Leave demijohn in a dark warm (24-27deg) place for 5-7 days. Your wine will begin to bubble within the first 1-2 days. You will know your ferment is complete when bubbling drastically reduces. When in doubt, taste-test your plum wine for sweetness, go onto the next step when your wine tastes dry enough for your liking. If it still tastes too sweet, let it keep fermenting for several more days until it tastes more dry.
8. Once fermentation is complete move it to the fridge for 48 hours. You can remove the airlock and set the original swing-cap on your demijohn. Leaving your wine in the fridge helps the yeast to fall to the bottom of your demijohn.
9. You will now want to carefully rack (pour) your wine off and leave all the lees (sediment) at the bottom of your demijohn.
10. We recommend bottling your wine in glass bottles.

Some people enjoy the taste of young fruit wine while other prefer the taste of an aged fruit wine. Try both and see which you prefer. Cheers!