Fruity Cali Chardonnay

The wine shop had no Gewurztraminer, so I settled for Californian Chardonnay.

Ingredients

• 2 litres Californian white (from a Beaverdale kit)
• 245g white wine concentrate
• 500ml lychee juice
• Bentonite
• Gervin D German-style wine yeast

Method

Mix up juices, and top up to 5 L with dechlorinated water. Measure OG. Add bentonite and leave for 15 minutes before mixing in (as per instructions - never heard of this before). Pitch yeast, and keep in a warm place for 5 days, then move to demijohn to complete fermentation. Stop when desired with sulphites, add kieselsol and chitosan finings, and rack for 2 weeks before bottling. Sweeten with white grape juice.

OG: 1087

anticipated FG: 994 (12.5% abv)

Kenridge classic intro Chardonnay instructions

Stage 1 - Primary fermentation

Sanitise all equipment.

Pour 2.2L of grap concentrate/juice into fermenting pail. Pour a cup of warm water into the grape juice container, slosh around and empty into pail again, getting it all out. Sprinkle bentonite into pail, and mix using racking tube. Add oak dust into pail; mix. Add chlorine free water to bring volume up to 5L. Add wine yeast into pail, but don't mix it. Put the lid on but don't clamp it down. Leave to ferment at 21-24°C for 7 days, or a little longer if it's a little colder.

Stage 2 - Secondary fermentation

Siphon wine into glass carboy leaving sediment behind (the racking tube cap helps here). Put water in airlock, and attach it to the stopper, then put the stopper in. Leave at 21-24°C for 6 days to complete fermentation.

Stage 3 - Degassing, stabilisation and clarification

Remove airlock and stopped, and sprinkle potassium metabisulphite in; mix thoroughly for 2 minutes to drive off unwanted CO2. Sprinkle in potassium sorbate and mix again. Shake fining agent into vessel, and mix thoroughly. Put the carboy on a table so no further movement's required for bottling. Put the stopper back on, and let it clear for up to 14 days.

Stage 4 - Bottling

This wine's designed so no filtering is required. If it's hazy, you can add more sodium metabisulphite.

Kit instructions - Siphon wine into provided bag. Remove any extra air space from the bag, then seal it. Drink wine from box. Can be stored for up to 3 months.