Magnolia Petal Wine 2020 - The Making Of...

After last year's Magnolia Petal Wine was a surprising success, I decided to repeat it this year. 

St John the Baptist's Petals

Since the Great Covid 19 Lockdown of 2020 began, I have been going on hour-long walks early every weekday morning, and many of these have taken me past Angie and Phil's house. I noticed that their magnolia tree was not as prolific with its petals as last year, so on these long walks I have been trying to spot magnolia trees elsewhere. One of these was outside St Edmund's in Roundhay, where I surreptitiously gathered fallen petals (which remain in our freezer). Another was at St John the Baptist's Church in Adel, which was the halfway point of my 7-mile walk on Good Friday. This magnolia tree was of the 'small, delicate' petal variety which meant an age gathering enough to make it worthwhile. But I can think of worse ways to spend a sunny Bank Holiday.

Magnolia Petals outside Phil & Angie's

That evening, Angie came past our house on her run and stopped to tell me (at a safe distance!) that her tree was now discarding its petals and I was welcome to collect these at any point. This I did on Saturday morning, 11th April. I meant to make the wine that afternoon and evening, but instead Claire and I cut each other's hair (I am now completely bald!) and then she seduced me into drinking a bottle of champagne rather than make wine. Therefore, I have made wine this Easter morning whilst listening to Classic FM's Hall of Fame.

I measured 6 pints of petals and put these in my pan with the thinly peeled peel of two lemons and one orange. I poured in 7 pints of water and put this onto boil. When the water was getting close, I added 2lb 8 oz of sugar and once it reached the boil I let it do so for 20 minutes.

Petals that I used

I squeezed the orange and lemons and put the juice into my bucket along with 500g of minced sultanas (yes, I am mixing Imperial and Metric, for which I make no apologies). I then poured the contents of my pan (petals now brown and sludgy) over this and stirred it all around.

The mixture in its bucket

Later that night I put in the yeast and a teaspoon each of tannin, pectolase and nutrient. On Friday night, 17th April, whilst Claire was out processing Covid 19 samples, I put the wine into its demijohn. It is a murky beige.

 

An arty shot of the demijohn.

Having racked this on 7th June, I cannot tell whether it is going to be good or not. It has yet to clear properly. I fit 2 oz sugar and three-quarters a pint of water into the demijohn.

If you want to see how this wine turned out (and for a comedy photo!), click here.