Gaby
Apricot wine is known for its rich yellow color, sometimes with a reddish tint, a delicate fruity aroma, and a smooth finish. Fallen fruit is unsuitable for winemaking because it can give the wine an earthy flavor. When you prepare the fruit, discard any moldy or rotten flesh. Unripe apricots have too much pectin, which makes the drink cloudy, while overripe or cracked fruit breaks down into tiny particles and fibers that are hard to remove, leaving cloudiness even after filtering and chilling. Use fruit that is optimally ripe.
Because apricots are low in natural acidity, diluting the must with water lowers acidity further; that can make fermentation sluggish, encourage bacterial contamination, and shorten the wine’s shelf life. Raise the must’s acidity at home with citric acid or lemon juice (one lemon equals about 6–7 g of acid). Use chlorine-free water (chlorine inhibits yeast) and don’t boil it (boiling removes trace elements and the oxygen yeast needs to get started). Spring water or bottled drinking water works best.
Ingredients (for 15 liters of wine): apricots (with pits) – 4 kg; citric acid – 6 g per 1 kg of fruit; water – 12 liters (3 liters per 1 kg of fruit); sugar – 265 g per 1 liter of filtered must; wine yeast or starter culture – calculated for 20 liters.
Sort the apricots, remove the pits, mash the flesh, and put it into a wide-mouth enameled, stainless steel, or food-grade plastic container (a pot or bucket works).
Rehydrate the wine yeast: in a sterilized jar, mix 10 ml of water and 2 g of sugar for every 1 g of yeast to make a syrup. Add the yeast, stir, and leave the jar uncovered at room temperature for about 25 minutes, until it foams.
Pour the sugar syrup into the mashed apricots, add the citric acid, mix well, and introduce the rehydrated wine yeast or starter culture.
Cover the container’s mouth with cheesecloth and leave it in a dark place for 4 days, stirring every 8–10 hours and breaking up the pomace (the layer of fruit solids on the surface). If you don’t stir periodically, the must can sour. Keep the must at 18–26°C.
Strain the must through cheesecloth or a fine sieve, squeeze the pulp dry, and discard the solids.
Use a household refractometer to adjust the sugar content in the filtered juice to 18–20%.
Transfer the juice to a fermentation vessel and fill it to about 75% capacity, leaving room for foam, carbon dioxide, and any added sugar.
Seal the vessel with an airlock (you can use a clean medical glove with a finger pricked to let gas escape).
Move the fermentation vessel to a dark spot with a steady temperature of 18–27°C, avoiding sharp fluctuations.
Five days after fitting the airlock, add a second portion of sugar to the must (70 g/l). Pour off an equal amount of fermented juice, dissolve the sugar in that juice, then return the syrup to the fermentation vessel and reseal it with the airlock.
Repeat this process two weeks later when fermentation slows (you’ll see the glove drop slowly and gas released less frequently). Add the remaining sugar (45 g/l).
Fermentation typically lasts 35–55 days. By the end, the glove will puff up and tilt, foam will subside, and the must will begin to clarify. Young wine tastes sharp but will mellow with aging.
Transfer the wine to aging containers and fill them to the brim to minimize oxidation. Seal tightly and move the containers to a cool place (2–14°C) to mature for 3–6 months.
When a layer of fluffy sediment about 3–5 cm thick appears, siphon the wine into another container to filter it. Do this every two weeks at first, then once a month. If no new sediment forms within 45 days, the wine is ready for bottling.
Store unpasteurized homemade apricot wine in a cellar or refrigerator; at room temperature, the drink can restart fermentation without preservatives.
The alcohol content of this wine is about 11–14%, and it will keep for up to three years.
Life Hack
Fermenting apricots with the pits can give the must an almond note that may overpower the delicate fruit character, and damaged pits can add bitterness. To avoid breaking pit shells, mash apricots by hand rather than mechanically. Fermenting with pits can also increase methanol levels, so take care with pit handling. For steady fermentation with low foam, use wine yeast formulated for white grape juice. If you use distiller’s, baker’s, or brewer’s yeast, the result will taste more like neutral alcohol than wine. You can also use a wine starter made from raisins or fresh berries—prepare that starter 3–5 days before processing the apricots.
P.S. As you learn winemaking, remember that excessive alcohol consumption is harmful to your health.
