# Marigold wine



## MedPretzel (Mar 22, 2005)

First of all, I'll start you off with a picture taken a few weeks back:









And now for the recipe (makes a gallon):


<A name="marigold wine">*marigold wine*</A> 


1 qt marigold petals, firmly packed 
½ lb chopped golden raisins 
2½ lbs granulated sugar 
1 medium orange 
7½ pts water 
1 tsp yeast nutrient 
1 pkt wine yeast 
Put water on to boil, stirring sugar in until dissolved. Prepare zest of orange peel and then extract the juice from the pulp. Put marigold petals, chopped raisins and zest of orange in nylon straining bag and tie closed. Put in primary with yeast nutrient and pour boiling water over bag. Cover primary and set aside to cool. When room temperature or slightly warm, add activated yeast. Recover primary and gently squeeze bag twice a day for 5-6 days. Squeeze bag to extract liquid, discard contents of bag, and recover primary. Allow to settle overnight and rack into secondary. Fit airlock and set aside to continue fermentation. Rack, top up and refit airlock after 30 days, then again after additional 60 days. Set in cool place 4 months, checking airlock periodically for seal. Rack, stabilize and sweeten to taste if desired, but this wine is very good dry. If sweetened, set aside additional 14 days to check for signs of refermentation. If none or if wine is not sweetened, carefully rack into bottles and cellar 12 months before tasting. [adapted and tweaked from Jack Keller's recipe]





Now for the taste testing I did while degassing today. Okay, not WHILE I degassed, but before and after. When I degassed, a lot of CO2 seemed to come out of suspension, and it almost creeped over the top of the carboy, but it didn't. I will do this in a few days or weeks again. Keep in mind, I am not a great taster:


It was good. It mellowed out quite a bit since the last time I tasted in January. It's been sitting in a carboy since 10-29-04 (fermentation had ended 2 weeks prior). I had noticed some strange bubbling in January, and was told to sulfite it, add acid blend and everyone thought it was a MLF (malo-lactic fermentation). I don't know if that's bad or good, quite honestly, because I thought it tasted excellent today. There was a hint of sweetness, the acid _tasted_ fine to me (I have no way of testing it). It tastes fruity, but I don't think you could put your finger on that it's marigold if you didn't know. The smell was not overpowering, nor was the taste. There was no "hotness" to it whatsoever.


It seems clear, but I will probably filter a few weeks before I have the bottles together. This is a 6-gallon carboy.


----------



## Hippie (Mar 22, 2005)

Looks and sounds very good. The raisins and the orange might give a fruity taste, since they are fruits.


----------



## MedPretzel (Mar 22, 2005)

Oops, you see, I guess I sorta lied. Instead of the raisins (because it's such a mess), I used 3 cans of welch's (against my better judgement, actually....). I like to try to keep the recipe "clean" (it must be that Reinheitsgebot/OCD of mine) to really taste the thing I'm making, not some store-bought stuff. Oh well.





Sorry about the lie. I didn't mean to.


----------



## Hippie (Mar 23, 2005)

Welch's Niagara or Concord?


----------



## MedPretzel (Mar 23, 2005)

concord. I did it for color reasons only. I didn't want another white.It turned outrose-ish.


----------



## Hippie (Mar 23, 2005)

I am way turned off with concord. Had some bad experiences.


----------



## MedPretzel (Mar 25, 2005)

Me too normally, but I think the body on this one is perfect.


----------



## MedPretzel (Jul 20, 2005)

I bottled on July 19, 2005. (FINALLY!)


The label, which I posted in another topic as well, is here:


----------



## kaizen (Jul 22, 2005)

nice label. What is wrong with using raisin? I used them with my strawberry wine.


----------



## MedPretzel (Jul 24, 2005)

I don't like using raisins because it's such a mess. You have to chop them (I did that once, never again) which is a long, difficult process, I though. I also prefer using concentrate over raisins since there is no pulp to take out. I think it's a matter of personal preference, actually. 





Sorry for the late response!





Martina


----------



## kaizen (Jul 24, 2005)

cool


----------



## MedPretzel (Jul 25, 2005)

The final product: Hope for me that I don't get any popped corks in the near future!


----------

