If your kids are anything like my kids, then they love going to the apple orchard every year. For many parts of the country, this is prime picking season for several types of apples. Every year we fill our baskets with Jonathans, Golden Delicious, Granny Smiths, Cortlands, and Galas. We keep a ton of them in the fruit basket on our kitchen table for munching (both of my toddlers love that they can reach up and snag a snack all by themselves). We make a few pies, we make our fair share of caramel apples, we’ve even made apple bread - but without fail - we always have extra apples.

I’ve made apple wine and apple cider before, and while both are delicious, this year I wanted a recipe that was a bit more representative of the spirit of fall. I was thinking festive and spiced The idea of being able to serve it in a mug, warm, with a cinnamon stick around the fire after a family Thanksgiving, was a vision I couldn’t get out of my head. I also thought it would be a fantastic choice to put in a small bottle and give as holiday gifts or to stuff in stockings this year.

I wanted to make something in the spirit of mulled wine or spiced apple cider. I wanted homemade apple pie in a glass. After doing a bit of digging into the literature and recipe books we have around the shop, I stumbled upon this:

Homemade Apple Pie Wine

Makes One Gallon

Ingredients: 1 Gallon Apple Juice / Apple Cider(Make sure your juice or cider is without preservatives such as sorbates, as this will render your yeast useless!) 2 Cups White Table Sugar 1 lb. Golden Raisins ½ tsp. Pectic Enzyme 1 tsp. Yeast Nutrient 1 ½ tsp. Acid Blend 1 Satchel Wine Yeast (Red Star Premier Blanc or Cotes de Blanc are our favorites) 2 Cinnamon Sticks 4 Whole Allspice 2 Whole Nutmeg ¼ tsp. Ginger ½ tsp. Potassium Sorbate 1 Campden Tablet, crushed

Instructions:

1. Pour gallon of fresh juice / cider into primary fermenter. Take 2 cups of juice off the top to make room for your simple syrup solution.
2. Dissolve 2 cups of sugar in 2 cups of warm water. Add to primary fermenter and stir well.
3. Place raisins in a nylon or muslin bag, tie off the end and place in bucket fermenter.
4. Add pectic enzyme, acid blend, and yeast nutrient.
5. Crush your campden tablet, dissolve in a small amount of warm water, and add to your juice / cider mixture.
6. Cover your primary fermenter and wait for 24 hours.
7. After 24 hours, add your yeast packet. Cover your primary fermenter and attach your airlock. Wait 3-4 weeks.
8. After 3-4 weeks, siphon wine off sediment into a clean secondary fermenter, a clear jug is preferred.
9. Add spices: 2 whole cinnamon sticks, 4 whole allspice, 2 whole nutmeg, ¼ tsp. Ginger.
10.  Cover fermenter and attach airlock. Wait 2-3 more weeks.
11. After 2-3 weeks check the taste and clarity of the wine. If it has reached a clarity that you are happy with, add potassium sorbate and stir well. Wait 48 hours. If your wine is not as clear as you would like, repeat the “racking” or siphoning process until desired clarity is achieved. You can add a fining agent such as SuperKleer or Isinglass to speed up the clearing process.
12.  Backsweetening: If your wine is not as sweet as you would prefer, you may add sugar or wine conditioner to taste.
13.  Bottle, age, and enjoy!