Rhubarb (Dry)

• 4 1/2 lb fresh rhubarb
• 1/2 pint white grape juice concentrate
• 1 kg sugar
• 1 teaspoon nutrient
• 1 teaspoon pectolase
• Gervin D yeast
• Campden tablet
• Finings
• Water to 1 gallon

Trim off both the white base of the stalk and the leaves at the top and wipe the stalks clean. Chop the rhubarb into small pieces and put them into a sterilised white food grade plastic bucket and pour on 5 pints of boiling water. When cool add the pectolase, white grape juice concentrate, nutrient and the yeast.

Cover loosely with the lid and ferment for 3 days. Strain the juice into a demijohn. Dissolve the sugar in 1 pint of boiling water, allow this to cool and add it to the demijohn. Fit an airlock and continue to ferment, topping up with water to one gallon when the frothing dies down.

When fermentation stops and the specific gravity reaches 1.000 or less syphon the wine off the sediment into another sterilised demijohn and add 1 crushed campden tablet. Add the finings and when the wine is crystal clear it can racked off again before being syphoned into bottles and corked. This wine is best made with the young fruit around May.

As this fruit is usually quite sharp no additional acid should be required. This wine makes an ideal base to produce a sparking wine, and it is also good to use for blending.