wining

Before the feijoa can be jugged, the blueberry must be bottled.

That's not a world wide wine rule, but I have a limited supply of one-gallon jugs so I'm frequently forced to juggle batches of wine at various stages of readiness.  I started both feijoa and elderberry last weekend, and the feijoa was ready to be jugged this morning.  (The elderberry needs another week in the primary.)  Alas, there was no empty jug, so I checked the notebook and saw that last year's blueberry was a good candidate for bottling.

It was crystal clear, with almost no lees at the bottom of the jug.  And what color.  I stole a sip as I siphoned and it's already good.  I'll let it age for about a year, opening half bottles at six-month intervals to check on its progress. 

The feijoa is now bubbling away in secondary fermentation.  It's cloudy today, but as the yeast and fruit settle, I expect it to turn a clear, pale yellow.  I kind of made up the recipe for this one; if it's tasty, I'll post it.

 

(This should have been the opening photo:  feijoa solids being strained from the must.  But it looks so much like vomit, I couldn't bear to lead with it.  If you've read this far, you can probably handle a little vomit.)