Back in October, I was sitting at the bar of the Mountain Club on Loon sipping a glass of Pinot Noir during the Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner and I started talking to Sheila Fabrizio, owner of Windy Ridge Orchard. We got to talking about wine and I mentioned that I was making some at home. “Interesting” she said. Coincidentally, I had brought a few bottles as gifts for our speakers, so I pulled one out to show her. Happened to be the sweet apple wine from earlier this summer.
Windy Ridge Orchard is a terrific, family owned operation in North Haverhill, New Hampshire, a place we visit every year during harvest season. They grow several varieties of apples and pumpkins, blueberries and other fruits. They have a nice little cafe, the “Cider House Cafe” that serves seasonal breakfast and lunch and all with some homegrown fruits in their food.
The conversation turned quickly to her desire to do “something” with her left-over frozen apple cider, and perhaps other juices accumulated over the season. I told her how I was learning about how to make wine and that I’d be happy to work with her. A few weeks later, she delivered 6.5 gallons of frozen cider from this past harvest, to try and turn into apple wine.
So, on December 1st, I embarked on another batch of apple wine. This time, from real cider, that I’ve learned is simply apple juice that has not been pasteurized. The juice itself was frozen in 7 x 1-gallon containers with the Windy Ridge Orchard label. It had a brownish, cider color with a strong apple smell and powerful taste. You could just tell how fresh the juice was and how great it will ferment into some awesome wine.
I let the juice thaw slowly overnight, then started the must in a 6 gallon primary fermentation vessel.  I immediately added 6 crushed campden tablets, 6 tsp of acid blend, 10 tsp of pectic enzyme, 9 tsp of yeast nutrient, and 1.5 tsp of tannin powder. The juice alone measured a specific gravity of 1.060 before adding sugar.
It took 7 lbs of granulated sugar to bring the juice up to 1.090 a good starting point for apple wine. With all of that sugar added, I actually had nearly 7 gallons of must to start with. The bucket is really meant to start with around 6 gallons. Nevertheless, I proceeded, knowing it was a bit full.
After setting and sanitizing for 24 hours, I added 1 packet of Montrachet yeast. The recipe I was following from Jack Keller’s site, calls for champagne yeast. Not having any, I decided to go ahead with Montrachet. Curious to see how it ends up.
After 2 days, on December 4th, I opened the bucket and tested the must which has begun to ferment. The SG was at 1.080, down slightly. We are on our way.