I recently borrowed this whole series from Lovefilm and enjoyed it. Except, that is, Oz going on and on about French wine makers coming to the south of England, buying up acres of land to grow grapes, and making the most fabulous champagne style wines etc (or whatever other pretentious descriptions he came out with). Wasn't that all covered in the very first series, albeit in France?
Anyway, other than that, I am very disappointed that there was absolutely NO mention whatsoever of fruit wines. Fruit (or Country) wines have been made in England for many, many years, as grapes weren't grown. So, wine was made with whatever ingredients could be found or scrounged. There are numerous good fruit wine producers in the UK from Cairn 'o' Mohr in Scotland, to the Lurgashall Winery in Sussex.
Another disappointment was the lack of homebrewers. They did pop in on a lady that brews beer in her garage, but she produced gallons of the stuff each week and it was sold in pubs local to her. That's nice to see, but if they'd edited out all the boring French wine nonsense, they could have found room to fit in a homebrewer that makes beer in his or her shed like me, and many others like me, for the fun of it.
I believe the programme would have been a fairer representation of Britain's ability to produce it's own quality drinks, rather than aspiring to be something it's not (and never will be).
I was reading a forum post a couple of weeks back entitled 'What To Do With Rhubarb'. There are many suggestions I'm sure, but the amount of ridiculous wine recipes that cropped up astounded me. Freeze the Rhubarb to break down the flavours, add this that and the other, boil the Rhubarb etc etc. I'm sure most of these recipes have their place, but this was not a wine making forum, far from it. Rhubarb is one of the easiest wines to make, always consistent, and ideal for beginners or non-wine makers (which frequent the forum in question). So, thanks to C.J.J. Berry for this recipe, I'd never do it any other way;
Makes 1 gallon
3lb Rhubarb
3lb Sugar
Wine yeast & nutrient
Wash the Rhubarb under the tap and cut in to smallish pieces.
Put in plastic fermenting bin and cover with all the sugar
Leave for 24 hours or until all the sugar has dissolved. It may need a quick stir to get more of the Rhubarb covered.
Strain all the juice off into a demijohn. Fill to shoulder with cold water and add the yeast & nutrient. After about a week (or once the frothing has subsided), top up with water.
No boiling, no messing around, and makes a great wine.
I recently asked the Scottish fruit wine producer Cairn 'o' Mohr why they stopped making Rhubarb wine and was told that it was too much grief with all the boiling. I can't understand that as I have made many gallons using this recipe and it is consistently good.
And if you've never heard of C.J.J. Berry, I really do suggest you Google him.
