Spiced Beetroot Wine 2021 - The Making Of...

I last made Spiced Beetroot Wine ten years ago. 2011 seems like a foreign country: they did things differently there. It is worth revisiting this flavour from time to time, not least because of its alarming colour. Also, on the whole my reds are better than my whites - and whilst this is not a traditional red (what with it being made from beetroot) it has the appeal of the unusual.

Not quite enough beetroot

I came home from Chapel Allerton on Saturday noon with not quite enough beetroot. Claire wanted two for her 'Beetroot, Goat's Cheese and Caraway' Bread, leaving me with 2½ lbs rather than the 3 lbs set out in my recipe. However, the bread was superb and I was deviating from my recipe in other ways, so this was no sacrifice at all.

Beetroot, Goats' Cheese and Caraway Bread

I began my wine-making on Easter Sunday, 4th April. Often at Easter we are in Newcastle or hosting Claire's siblings here but those options were impossible for obvious reasons. Instead I spent most the day in the kitchen baking (peanut butter cookies and lemon meringue pie, thank you for asking) and making wine to Classic FM's Top 300 Countdown. I chopped the beetroot into small-ish chunks and put these in my biggest pan with 6 pints of water. This was brought up to the boil and left simmering for 35 minutes.

Chopped Beetroot

Meanwhile, I sliced 2 oz of ginger thinly and put this, the juice of one lemon, 2 lbs 12 oz sugar, 8 oz minced sultanas and 2 pints of cold water into my bucket. Adding sultanas is new - and has been done to give the wine additional body. I put in six or seven shards of clove - some bits looked like really tny cloves - and this is certainly less clove than I have used on past occasions. I also added less than half a teaspooon each of ground cinnamon and mixed allspice. When the beetroot had finished boiling I poured in the water and discarded the vegetable.

Monday morning I added a teaspoon of nutrient and pectolase. I started a teaspoon of yeast in half a pint of sugary lukewarm water and once that was going put that in too.

Fermenting Beetroot Wine

After stirring once a day, I put the wine into its demijohn on Friday, 9th April whilst listening to the extensive coverage of Prince Philip's death. It was a quick job (the wine, not the death) (though that might have been too) and the wine is a pleasing colour. I have wrapped the demijohn in newspaper, however, so that the colour does not deteriorate (which apparently happens with beetroot wine).

A pleasing colour
(NB - I haven't altered the wine colour, just 
removed the green grass from the photo)

Spiced Beetroot Wine - Final Bottle (6), 3rd November 2013

There is something very English about cheap fireworks. They blaze for a few seconds at no great height and then go phut, returning to darkness. Bonfires, however, are far more satisfying. They flame and glow and heat a cold autumn night.

Spiced Beetroot wine seemed like the right choice for a bonfire party. It has a warming taste of cloves that goes well with standing around outside in hat, scarf, gloves and five layers of clothing.

Earlier in the day I had helped Julia build the bonfire, and as it was formed by Julia, it was as much Art as a pile of wood for burning. She created a stage in homage to Opera North's production of Beatrice and Benedict, complete with poppies, a flaming arch and a nun on a bicycle. Catherine wheels gave an illusion of movement before fire asserted its authority and the whole thing burnt. It was a memorable evening.

Spiced Beetroot Wine - Fifth Bottle (2), 25th-28th August 2013

I can barely remember Sunday, which is the day I opened this bottle. I think much of it was spent sat outside, finishing The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks, our latest Book Group book. It is not a jolly affair, and anyone who likes rabbits or small children is discouraged from reading it. Its humour is of the darkest black, but the imagination is breath-taking.

I opened the wine to a spread of curries, all made by Claire and all wonderful - the Mutton Rogan Josh being particularly good. Spiced beetroot is a good wine for Indian food: the spice and sweetness hold their own against all other strong flavours.

We finished the bootle on Wednesday after I had helped Isabella move from a house in Little London to one in Burley - my reward (other than catching up with her life) will be home-made pasta in ten days. I shall take a bottle.

Spiced Beetroot Wine - Fourth Bottle (3), 5th May 2013

Spiced Beetroot used to have an exciting magenta colour. This bottle was a dull pink. However, what this has lost in colour it has made up in taste. Even Ann finished her glass and declared it drinkable. There is a strong clove taste, but the overall experience is more than that and everyone agreed it was nicer than Exotic Tinned Fruit.

We drank the bottle to a large leg of lamb, advertised as capable of feeding ten to twelve. The six of us made short work of it. Still, we had done an 8.5 mile walk, so we deserved a reward. And our reward was more than the lamb - there were also several bottles of red wine and a yoga session.

Spiced Beetroot Wine - Third Bottle (4), 20th January 2013

Claire was adamant that only Spiced Beetroot would be right for tonight's meal, though she would not tell me what would be served. I had just come home from playing in a concert at Saltaire and so was too exhausted to make more than a token protest. But we are drinking this flavour more quickly than I would generally allow.

The concert was a family friendly one, including Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra and many movements from the Nutcracker Suite. By the end of it both my lips and my bassoon were objecting. Half a bottle of Spiced Beetroot wine later and I am ready for bed.

Claire was right (she generally is). The wine went well with Haggis, roast potatoes and cauliflower in an onion sauce. And it is a fabulous colour.

Spiced Beetroot Wine - Second Bottle (1), 20th-22nd December 2012

On my way out to Madeleine's for wine quintets, Claire asked which bottle of wine it would be acceptable to open. I told her "any" and genuinely believed it. I had not expected her to open Spiced Beetroot. Oh well.

By the time I got back, about half the bottle had gone and Claire was in a jolly mood. The two may not be unconnected. I had a small glass but save the rest for later, and 'later' proved to be Saturday night.

Saturday was an exceptionally wet day - I wore waterproof trousers to pop round the corner to buy a Guardian whilst Claire looked up suppliers of gopher wood on the internet. We finished the bottle after a Christmas Open House at the Bridgewaters and to a selection of vegetable curries, followed by a ridiculous and entirely satisfying Midsomer Murders. It is so camp.

Spiced Beetrot Wine - First Bottle (5), 17th November 2012

I liked this wine. Of all the bottles opened at the Wine Party, this was one of my favourites. The guests did not agree. It was awarded last place by a convincing margin. Gunnar was most damning, declaring its smell 'horrible' and writing 'WORST' in big letters. Julia was kinder, but thinks it needs a longer maturation period. In fact, she is threatening to come with a crate, kidnap several bottles and keep them in her cellar for five years. A small part of me thinks this is a good idea, but the rest does not understand the concept of delayed gratification.

Elderberry - Bottle B1, 18th-21st December 2011

When I started drinking this bottle on Sunday, I noticed a slight sore throat. Nothing to worry about, and certainly nothing to interfere with the lamb (actually, mutton) teginne and sour-dough pitta-bread meal that Claire had been intermittently preparing all weekend. As I had earlier bottled the Spiced Beetroot wine, leaving a generous helping for us, we did not finish the bottle and left it as a tasty snifter for the coming days. That night, though, I woke with the feeling someone was sawing into my larynx. And then the shivering began.

So, the week before Christmas has been mostly alcohol-free. Claire had one of the two remaining glasses on Tuesday whilst I was feeling sorry for myself in bed. I finished the bottle on Wednesday, again whilst feeling sorry for myself in bed. Though it helped me sleep between 7-10 p.m., I then lay awake most the night.

Being ill sucks.

Making Spiced Beetroot Wine ...

Despite starting this on 5th June, this is my November wine. I have decided to dedicate November's article in Home Farmer Magazine to Spiced Beetroot, but as its colour is the most dramatic thing about it I needed to begin this in June so that suitable photos can appear (and I will post some on this blog once they are taken and uploaded!). This will be my first 'cheat' of an article.

The place where I bought the beetroot, Noshis in Harehills, has an interesting approach to pricing. If in doubt, they charge a pound. So on Saturday I bought three oranges that were priced six for a pound, and was charged one quid. I also bought the beetroot, which was unpriced, and again paid a pound. I like this method: "Some fruit? That will be a pound please. Some veg? Call it a pound." Our fruit and veg bills have dropped since Paul's greengrocers closed. I definitely miss him, but also like the ethnic atmosphere of Noshis.

I began the wine on late Sunday afternoon, 6th June, after making my elderflower and racking my dandelion. Keeping the beetroot till last seemed sensible - I did not want its purpleness leaching into my other brews. I chopped 3 lbs of beetroot into chunks after washing, but not peeling, it and I let it come up to the boil in 6 pints of tap water. Whilst it boiled for half an hour I put 3 lbs sugar, 2 pints cold tap water, juice of one lemon, 5 cloves (down one from last time I made this), not quite 2 oz root ginger sliced thinly, half a teaspoon of all-spice and a small amount of grated nutmeg into my bucket. I hope the spice does not impede fermentation. I then poured the boiling liquid over all this and threw out the beetroot, which strikes me as a waste, and stirred until the sugar was dissolved.

I added the yeast and 1 teaspoon of nutrient on Monday late afternoon. The man in the wine shop suggested that a Madeira yeast would be best, but didn't have any, so I used a 'High Alcohol' yeast instead (the label of which is pleasingly purple). I put this into its demijohn on 10th June, after playing quintets in Harrogate. It was a rapid job, and I could have used half a pint less water in my ingredients. The demijohn is now in the bath, wrapped in silver foil, and bubbling away happily to itself.