Back in September I was coerced into doing something with my abundant grape crop by one of my rather large and scary Spanish neighbours. Then in February I dried orange peel because when making orange juice to try and get through the carrier bags full of home grown oranges we'd been given I couldn't bear to put all the peels in the bin (I don't put food in rubbish and they can't go in the worm compost bag).
I'd been feeling rather pleased with my domesticity (see post
Becoming More Españolised - drying orange-peel domesticated) waste not want not, recycle everything and all that and I'd need the dried orange peel for this years batch of wine (or vinegar) and for firelighters, (although I can't for the life of me remember where I've stored the jars right now).
So from September I'd been having impatient glances at the demijohns and thought waiting for May was going to be unbearable. Well May came and went in a whirl of activity, so did June and just last night we finally got around to testing the big jar (the partial one was fantastic vinegar).
Carefully, as instructed, (non of that sterilizing everything, racking off, siphoning off stuff of my past experiences)just pouring it into bottles, then rather apprehensively we tasted the tiniest of sips (we knew what a slurp of vinegar was like) and looked at each other. Another taste and oh my, amazing. Wine. We'd made wine and not just any wine but a nice dry sherry-like wine. Ok it's a bit cloudy at the moment but it is niiiice.
First bottles getting a cork, rest in 5 litre containers
So we now have organic wine, vinegar and dried orange peel on the menu. There'll be no nagging this year, the grape crop will be eagerly awaited and soon harvested.
