This a recipe that I use for an orange wine. It’s very enjoyable and rather strong. I make it once a year in January when the new Spanish oranges come through.

  • 8 sweet oranges
  • 2 lemons
  • Sugar to Specific Gravity (SG)1.124 (approx 1.7kg)
  • Yeast (I usually use SN9 Mangrove Jack’s)
  • Yeast Nutrient
  • 3.5 litres of water

Wash the fruit to remove any wax and then zest it (peel off the outer layer of skin with a potato peeler). Peel off as much white pith as possible and discard.Roughly chop the fruit and put it in a sterilised bucket with the zest. Pour on 3.5 litres of boiling water and leave for 5 days, stirring twice daily. Strain off into a large pan (I use a jam pan) and check the SG. Add enough sugar to take it to 1.124 and stir until dissolved while heating. Check the acid level, it should be approximately 4.5 ppt sulphuric. If not then adjust with tartaric acid, the last batch I made needed about 17gm of acid. Let cool and add the yeast and nutrient.

Fermentation should start within 24 hours (lots of bubbles rising through the mixture). Allow to ferment for a week and then transfer to a demijohn with a fermentation lock, topping up with cold boiled water if needed.

Once the fermentation slows down and the yeast and sediment starts to drop out then rack off (siphon off the clear wine from the sediment) into another demijohn. Thereafter rack every couple of months until the wine settles out clear.

It’s ready for drinking after 6 months or so but be careful. The alcohol content is about 15%, so quite strong. It’s better as an aperitif or after dinner rather than with a meal.