Oak Leaf Wine

[Anglezarke]

I've just had first taste of this year's oak leaf wine. Although still young it shows potential to be really great after a few months maturing, and I strongly recommend trying it. As the only ingredients besides the actual leaves are sugar, yeast, nutrient and citric acid (or lemon juice) it is really cheap to make, which makes the final result even more impressive. The young leaves are best harvested in June.
The recipe:
Oak leaves: 1 gallon
Sugar: 1 kilo
Juice of 2 lemons or equivalent quantity of citric acid
Water:1 gallon
Yeast and nutrient.
If anyone tries it, let me know what you think.

 

[tonyhibbett]

Often wondered what it's like. I did try folly, made from vine prunings, which was not at all good, and birch sap, which was surprisingly good.

 

[Anglezarke]

Often wondered what it's like. I did try folly, made from vine prunings, which was not at all good, and birch sap, which was surprisingly good.

I tried to do birch sap one year but some scrote swiped my demijohn and tubing.

 

[tonyhibbett]

Most unfortunate. The main reason I tried it was my neighbour had her birch rather crudely hacked and the sap was dripping from the wounds at a very steady rate. I strategically placed jars with funnels and over a period of days collected 5 gallons of the stuff. I did my best to cauterize the wounds with a blowlamp followed with Arbrex. The tree was none the worse for it and within 2 years it had completely recovered its shape. The following year I tried to tap it with a bored cork and tube, but this didn't work at all.
The sap is strange stuff - clear, slightly acidic and no real flavour. I used the usual 250 g of sultanas and 800 g of sugar per gallon + citric acid and was most pleasantly surprised with the resulting wine.

 

[Anglezarke]

I might give it another go next year. The tree is at the back of my house and on common land unfortunately. Thanks for the recipe advice btw.