Friday, January 14, 2011

Pink Pink Whine....


It started so innocently. Picture a light bulb above my head as I excitedly told Mr. Mutt that I was going to make homemade wine! Picture Mr. Mutt trying not to roll his eyes.

Typical of my ideas, this one came from cruising the Internet and finding a site that touted the benefits of fruit wine made the "old fashioned way". No sulfites. Well, that sounded just fine with me. I love a good glass of wine (stressing g*o*o*d here) and what better way to "save" money and know exactly what is in my glass!?!

So the adventure began...6 months ago. Several pounds of cranberries and raspberries later, a bit of yeast and some sugar and the concoction was brewing. Literally... it stunk up the kitchen for a few days. Yeasty cranberries. Anyway, not being a particularly patient person, the past 6 months have been agony. Waiting, waiting for the bottled nectar to be ready to taste. I am sharing some pictures of it with you, so you can see the glorious pink color that it is. Isn't it pretty? Wouldn't you love some?

Well, I care about you too much to pour you a glass, you see I created 6 delicious bottles of cranberry/raspberry vinegar. Yup, aged 6 months. I have to say although my little experiment didn't turn out the way I had planned, it did create a fine vinegar! Sometimes when life throws you vinegary curve ball, you just have to embrace it and make a really good salad dressing. Hmmmm maybe I should try brewing beer, St. Patricks day is coming.....

Merci to Beverly for hosting such a grand fĂȘte! Be sure to visit her blog along with all the other PINK participants. Leave comments....we love'em!!

12 comments:

  1. That wine looks delicious and how wonderful that you made it yourselves-all the sweeter to the taste!

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  2. Homemade wine is really tricky. I have my mom's olden recipe for grape wine. It's made in a crock, with a balloon on top..as it ferments, the balloon fills up. You know the wine is ready when the balloon goes down. I've not tried to make it but she made some delicious wine...:))

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  3. Well, they do say if you have lemons - to make lemonade... Cranberries are pretty sour so perhaps you needed more sugar? Anyhow, flavoured vinegars (in the UK anyway) are not only The In Thing but also cost a fortune! So be glad you made it, decant into small fancy bottles and happily give to your friends with pride!

    Happy Pink Saturday, woof woof

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  4. My brother tried this when we were in high school with blackberry juice- it didn't come out either- way too strong in only a month. LOL
    Happy PS!
    Hugs- Tete

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  5. Sorry to hear about the vinegar - darn.
    Thanks for sharing. Happy Pink Saturday!

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  6. Oh no!! I have been thinking about making some homemade wine but I would probably get the same results!! It looks very pretty!! Happy Pink Saturday!

    ~Trisha

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  7. Sounds like you've been busy with all your projects! I don't drink so I can't comment too much about your adventure! lol But I do know about embracing life's curve balls! Have a happy weekend!

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  8. That sounds like what we did with "home brewing" beer. Happy Pink Saturday.

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  9. Niki, I wonder what went wrong? My grandfather (long since deceased) used to make homemade elderberry wine. It was so good that my friends used to offer to market it. LOL! It was very, very potent. He and my grandmother would make it in the kitchen and pour it into the old glass co'cola (as we say in the South) bottles with the srew on lids. If he were here, I would ask him for you. Don't give up, though. Maybe you should just switch berries. It could be that those require too much sugar hence the vinegar taste. But you can buy those beer brewing kits, and I think St. Paddy's is calling for the green stuff!

    XO,

    Sheila :-)

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  10. It is better to have tried and failed than never have tied at all. It might be easier to just buy some grape juice.

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  11. My dad used to make dandelion wine....as well as grape wine. He was real proud of them.....I, however, would not have called them "good wines"! :) Actually, they were probably more like vinegar, too!

    Hope you've had a great Pink Sat.!!! dana

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  12. oh fun! I say good for you for giving it a go! I bet you made fabulous vinegar dressings!!!
    My husband's friend brews beer, they were all over last week brewing. I've yet to even have a taste :(
    Happy PS!

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Merci♥ J'adore your comments & I'll be sure to get back to you tout de suite!