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A close up view of a wine glass with with a deep red wine. There are cranberries and orange peels at the base of the glass, against a white background.
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5 from 6 votes

Cranberry-Clementine Christmas Wine

Making Cranberry Clementine Wine is a Christmas day tradition in this house. Beautiful seasonal flavours come together for something to drink NEXT year!
Prep Time2 hours
Cook Time30 minutes
Resting Time365 days
Total Time365 days 2 hours 30 minutes
Course: Beverage
Cuisine: French
Servings: 5 Gallons
Calories: 6696kcal
Author: Marie Porter

Equipment

  • 7.5 gallon pot (or bigger)
  • 1 6.5 gallon fermenter bucket and lid
  • 1 or 2 6.5 gallon glass carboys
  • 1 air lock and stopper
  • Siphon, siphon tubing.

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Chop cranberries, set aside
  • In large stock pot – we used a 7.5 gallon turkey fryer – combine orange peels, water, and sugar. Heat to boiling, stirring until sugar is dissolved.
  • Add chopped cranberries, stir and continue to cook for 5 minutes.
  • Add acid blend, pectic enzyme, and yeast nutrient. Stir well, turn off heat. Cover with a lid, allow to cool to room temperature – overnight.
  • Place raisins and yeast in a freshly sanitized 6.5 gallon fermenting bucket. Use sanitized equipment to rack the liquid out of the cooking pot, and into the fermenting bucket.
  • Using sanitized equipment – take a gravity reading. Keep track of the number! (This is an optional step, but will allow you to calculate your final ABV %)
  • If you’d like, use sanitized equipment to add some of the remaining cranberry-orange pulp to the fermenting bucket, if it will fit. (Totally optional!).
  • Cover with sanitized lid and air lock. Within 48 hours, you should notice fermentation activity – bubbles in the airlock, carbonation and /or swirling in the wine must. This means you’re good to go!
  • Let sit for about a week, stirring (sanitized paddle!) every couple of days or so.
  • After a week or so, use your sanitized siphon setup to rack the must into a freshly sanitized 6.5 gallon carboy.
  • Put the carboy somewhere cool (not cold!), and leave it alone for 2 months or so.
  • Using sanitized equipment, rack the wine off the sediment, into a clean, freshly sanitized 6.5 gallon carboy. (At this point, we added 2 lbs sugar for added sweetness. Cap with sanitized airlock, leave it alone for another 2-3 months.
  • Rack one more time, leave it for another 3 months or so.
  • When your wine has been racked a few times and shows NO more fermenting activity for a month or so (no bubbles in the airlock, no more sediment being produced, you can move on to bottling.
  • Follow the instructions on your selected type of wine stabilizer to stop fermentation. For potassium sorbate, this needs to be done 2-3 days before bottling.
  • Using sanitized equipment, take a final gravity reading, then rack the wine into clean, sanitized bottles. Cork. (We like to use these for corking our homemade wine. Easy to use – no special equipment needed! – easy to uncork, and – should you have any wine left in your bottle after serving (pfft!), the “cork” is easily replaced for temporary storage!).

Notes

I’m not going to lie – the wine you bottle is going to be a little harsh. Drinkable, but definitely unrefined. Put the bottles into the cases they came in and forget about them for at least a few months– you’ll have a much tastier wine at the end of the wait!
Our wine was smooth and tasty to drink 1 year to the date we made it, and has been a tasty hostess gift this holiday season!
IMPORTANT:
Software generates nutritional information based on the ingredients as they start, and is unable to account for the sugars consumed in the fermentation process. As such, the calories, sugars, and carbs are shown WAY higher than reality.
Additionally, the listed value is for the entire recipe, NOT per serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 6696kcal | Carbohydrates: 1738g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 261mg | Potassium: 3351mg | Fiber: 48g | Sugar: 1602g | Vitamin A: 435IU | Vitamin C: 108mg | Calcium: 378mg | Iron: 9mg