Name: Homemade Red Wine
Ingredients: 4 kg dark black grapes; 4 L water, boiled and cooled; 4 kg sugar; 2 egg whites; 2 ounces (60 ml ) liquid yeast or 2 Tbsp (15 ml) dry yeast granules; 1 handful whole wheat; ½–¾ cup (120–180 ml) white sugar for colouring

Why it works: Grape and wheat work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 300 recipes. Both carry 1-hexanal, which smells fruit. The science ↓

Homemade Red Wine

Time21 days

Ingredients

4 kg dark black grapes
4 L water, boiled and cooled
4 kg sugar
2 egg whites
2 ounces (60 ml ) liquid yeast or 2 Tbsp (15 ml) dry yeast granules
1 handful whole wheat
½–¾ cup (120–180 ml) white sugar for colouring

Directions

Prepare the must

Clean and wash grapes well, removing stalks and any debris.
Crush the grapes until you get a good purple colour.
Place the crushed grapes in a ceramic jar and mix with 2 kg sugar.
Mix in the water, egg whites, yeast, and wheat until well-combined.
Cover with an airtight lid and let ferment in a cool place for 21 days, stirring well every other day.

Ferment and strain

Strain the mixture and discard the solids.
Stir the remaining sugar into the liquid and place back in the fermenting container.
Mix well and keep airtight for another 21 days to ferment.
Filter the wine using a muslin cloth.

Colour and store

Place the sugar for colouring in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat.
Stir until the sugar melts and becomes a dark brown caramel. Do not let it burn.
Remove the caramel from the heat and gradually and carefully stir in 5–7 Tbsp hot water. Let cool slightly.
Stir the caramel syrup into the wine.
Transfer the wine into a jar for storage.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

644Calories

20 gProtein

7 gFat

124 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 6 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Water	not in our table	0
Wheat	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Grape + wheattop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together300 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
Egg + wheattop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,225 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,490 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + wheattop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,071 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Grapes: Provide the juice, sugar source and colour for the wine.
Sugar: Feeds the yeast to produce alcohol and adds sweetness.
Yeast: Converts sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide during fermentation.
Egg whites: Help clarify the wine by binding particles that are later removed.

The step that matters

Caramelising the colouring sugar. Sugar darkens quickly once it passes golden and turns bitter if it burns. Adding hot water to the caramel must be gradual, because the mixture can splatter and seize.

Swap the grape

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, wheat):

Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Raisinfits better
Grapethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, wheat. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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Homemade Red Wine