At the Walkerland homestead we have a passion for creating unique recipes. One of my favourite culinary ingredients to work with is the rose.

I've shared how to Dry Rose Hips and today I wanted to share a recipe for making Rose Hip Wine. We've just recently enjoyed a bottle (a little young still) and it was quite delightful: dry, mildly fruity with a vanilla undertone. For those of you that worry about making things that taste "unpleasantly floral" don't worry! No one would ever guess this wine came from a rose bush.

The recipe is quite simple, you don't need a lot of ingredients to make it. The recipe I used was based on one found in a book called 'River Cottage Handbook No. 12: Booze'. These books can be hard to get your hands on but if you do, I highly recommend them. I've been buying them used whenever I see one available.

I changed a few things from the original recipe. The original does not use the lemon zest. I also converted the recipe from kg to lb and adjusted the weights a bit (a bit more sugar, more rose hips).

About the Roses

You can use any type of rose hip just make sure they are clean and free of chemicals. On our homestead we grow Rosa Rugosa which provide nice big rose hips. We have them in a pale lavender and a bright fuchsia. This isn't a fancy rose but it's such a wonderful producer and it's extremely hardy. We don't have any pest issues. We love that it grows like a hedge so you end up with walls of roses wherever you plant it.

Helpful Tip: Wait for the first frost before harvesting your rose hips. This tends to sweeten them just nicely.

Ingredients

This recipe makes 5 bottles of wine

• 2.5lb to 3lb Rose Hips
• 3 lb Sugar
• 3 Lemons (juice and zest)
• 1 tsp Pectic enzyme
• 1 Crushed campden tablet
• 1 Sachet of white wine yeast
• 1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
• 4.5 Litres of purified water

Supplies

• Fermenting pail (food grade bucket)
• Large tea towels
• Long handled spoon
• Siphon tube
• Food strainer
• 1 Gallon demi-john (glass jug with narrow opening)
• Airlock
• 5 Wine bottles/corks

Directions

Wash the rose hips thoroughly and remove the stems and tails. Pick through the hips and remove any that look bad or that are still green.

Here's how the rose hips should look when you've finished cleaning and removing the tops and tails.

Place the washed rose hips in a sterilized fermenting bucket. Boil2.5 litres of water and pour over top of the hips. Allow to cool and then crush the hips by squeezing them through your fingers.

Add the crushed campden tablet and pectic enzyme and cover with a large dish towel. Leave covered for 24 hours.

Make a sugar syrup by gently heating 2 litres of water with the sugar until it's dissolved. Pour this mixture into the fermenting bucket with the rose hips. Let cool.

Aerate by stirring vigorously. Add the lemon, zest and yeast nutrient.

Once the mixture in your fermenting pail has cooled, rehydrate the yeast by following the directions on the yeast package. Once the yeast is rehydrated add it to the bucket and give it a quick stir.

Cover the fermenting pail with a dish towel and allow to ferment for five days. Aerate by stirring once per day except for the last day. You want to leave the sediment on the bottom of the pail so be careful not to disturb the pail on the last day.

This is what the wine will look like after you stir it. You'll hear some fizzing and there will be plenty of bubbles.

Carefully strain out the solids leaving the sediment in the bottom of the fermenting pail. Siphon into a 1 gallon demi-john, add an airlock and set aside in a cool dark location.

Rack off into a fresh demi-john when fermenting (bubbling) appears to have finished: about two weeks. Add a fresh airlock and store in a cool dark location until the wine has cleared: About two months.

Bottle in sterilized wine bottles and allow to mature for at least six months before drinking. The wine really does change and improve in flavour with time.

More Recipes

If you are interested in more floral inspired recipes you might like:

Carrot Wine Recipe
Spring Flower Jelly Recipe
Beautiful & Simple Spring Lilac Recipes
Easy Homemade Yogurt Cheese Recipe
Parsnip Wine

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