Homemade Red Wine
This vegetarian builds dark black grapes, wine yeast and raisins into a proper meal you can have ready in about 75 minutes. You'll find the full ingredient list (with a scaler to change the servings), 8 steps of method, substitutions, and ideas for what to serve alongside.
You'll mainly reach for pan and large pot. At medium difficulty across 8 steps, it's manageable with a little attention. As written, it's meat-free.
What you'll need
Shopping list (3)
Pantry staples (you likely have these)
🔁 Unit converter
How to make it
- Sterilize a large food-grade fermenting bucket, a glass demijohn and all utensils with boiling water, as cleanliness is the single most important factor in home winemaking.
- Rinse the grapes, pull them from their stems and crush them thoroughly by hand or with a clean potato masher in the bucket, then stir in the water, the chopped raisins and the lemon juice.
- Dissolve the granulated sugar in a little warm water until clear, stir it evenly through the must, then cover and let it rest for 1 hour before sprinkling the wine yeast over the surface.
- Cover the bucket with a clean cloth and leave it at room temperature for 5 to 7 days, pressing the floating cap of skins down twice a day so it does not dry out or spoil.
- Strain out the skins and pulp through muslin, transfer the liquid to the sterilized demijohn, fit an airlock and let it ferment in a cool dark place for 4 to 6 weeks until bubbling stops.
- To clear the wine, whisk the egg white with a splash of the wine, stir it gently into the demijohn and leave for several days so the solids settle, then rack the clear wine off the sediment into a clean vessel.
- Make a caramel by melting the white sugar in a dry pan until deep amber, cool it slightly, then stir a small amount into the wine to deepen the colour to taste.
- Bottle the finished wine in sterilized bottles, cork securely and age in a cool dark place for at least 3 months before drinking, decanting off any further sediment as it forms.
You'll use: Pan · Large pot · Saucepan · Whisk
Ingredient substitutions
- Lemon
- lime · 1 tbsp white wine vinegar per lemon
Tips & common questions
How long does Homemade Red Wine take to make?
About 75 minutes from start to finish — an estimate based on the 8 steps and 8 ingredients. Times vary with your kitchen and how much prep you do ahead.
What can I use instead of lemon?
Try lime. See the substitutions section above for more swaps.
Can I scale this recipe up or down?
Yes — use the servings control above the ingredients and every quantity rescales automatically (fractions included). Cooking times stay roughly the same; very large batches may need a little longer.
Is Homemade Red Wine vegetarian?
Its ingredients contain no meat or fish, so it's suitable for vegetarians. Check any cheeses for animal rennet if that matters to you.
Related recipes
Homemade Red Wine is an original recipe developed in-house by Consomee. Photo: Pizza Bread - Sausage and Red Wine.jpg by Manfred&Barbara Aulbach, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. We add the serving scaler, ingredient tools, timing and structure on top — how we source recipes.