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My first visit to this forum was several months ago – I was looking for advice on clearing some courgette wine from summer 2010.
Goldseal provided some excellent info and the wine cleared. Not only did it clear, its flavour improved from "I’m gonna chuck this" to "damn, only one bottle left!".
Thank you! So, good advice + patience turned it around.
The wine still has an oxidised flavour, but now it’s like a fine sherry, instead of courgette slurry.
This year, more yellow courgettes have grown, and this year, I’m going to make 2 gallons, and tweak the original Berry recipe. To make it sound more alluring, I’ve also changed the name from ‘Marrow Wine’ to Zucchini Giallo (Italian for yellow courgette).
The sultanas are from Nature’s Larder and are packed in Launceston, Cornwall. No oil mentioned in the ingredients and I didn’t see any when I washed them.
Last year’s turned out quite sweet ‘cos I followed the CJJ recipe with its tons of sugar. This year I’m going to ferment to dry and back sweeten to taste. I’ll report back on that later...
Zucchini Giallo
For 2 Gallons
2ltr apple juice
2ltr white grape juice
5Kg Zucchini Giallo (Yellow Courgettes)
1Kg Organic Sultanas
Juice of 4 oranges
Juice of 3 lemons
3 inches of ginger (forgot to weigh it!)
12.5g French Oak Medium Toast
4tsp Pectolase
1/2 tsp tannin
Sugar to 1.070 (after 24hrs this was 1.074 so added 163g sugar to raise to 1.080)
4 tsp Tronozymol + Gervin ‘D’
4.5 tsp tartaric acid
2ltr white grape juice
5Kg Zucchini Giallo (Yellow Courgettes)
1Kg Organic Sultanas
Juice of 4 oranges
Juice of 3 lemons
3 inches of ginger (forgot to weigh it!)
12.5g French Oak Medium Toast
4tsp Pectolase
1/2 tsp tannin
Sugar to 1.070 (after 24hrs this was 1.074 so added 163g sugar to raise to 1.080)
4 tsp Tronozymol + Gervin ‘D’
4.5 tsp tartaric acid
Courgettes were grated in to the primary, sultanas washed and chopped, all juices added along with chopped ginger and the oak chips. Topped up with water (to around 9ltrs liquid) and sugar to 1.070. One crushed Campden tablet added along with yeast nutrient. Gervin ‘D’ starter prepared. Covered fermenter and left for 24hrs.
After 24hrs checked the gravity – now 1.074 so (using fermcalc at http://web2.airmail.net/sgross/fermc...lc_applet.html) 163g sugar added to bring it to 1.080.
Acid
- Acid test reveals 2.8 g/l measured as sulphuric (g/l H2SO4) (using Ritchie’s Acid Test Kit).
- This is equivalent to 4.2 g/l Tart.
- Because I want this to be a slightly sweet wine, I’ll bring the acid up to about 7.2 g/l Tart. (see http://www.winesathome.co.uk/downloads/TAtestsheet.pdf).
- Therefore, I need to add 3 g/l x 2 litres = 6g – I’ll use tartaric acid because it’s what I’ve got.
Added the Pectolase, tannin and tartaric acid plus the yeast starter (now bubbling nicely).
12 hrs later and the solids have risen and things are underway... 
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