Today is a day of taking stock of what I have made.

I have made:

1. an apple wine
2. sweet still apple cider
3. another apple wine
4. an apple cranberry cinnamon cider

They are all bottled and aging now

I still have in bulk storage:

1. a bell pepper peach wine
2. cherry mead
3. blackberry mead
4. strawberry wine
5. dry apple cider that needs to be bottled.
6. 5 gallons apfelwein
7. and most recently a carrot apple ginger wine

That is a lot of jugs, bungs, and airlocks! I keep running out of airlocks and bungs.

Yesterday, I started two half gallons of a cranberry whey wine using two different kinds of whey, one from an acid based cheese and one from a rennet based cheese. I did them up as small batches because I’m not sure they will work.

What do I have waiting to be made?

• I found some frozen raspberry puree, and I was given 5 lemons which I juiced and froze, so I’m pondering a raspberry lemonade wine of sorts.
• I have a few cans of Bartlett pears that could be fermented.
• People have been recently getting rid of candy canes, which I have been taking because I know can be made into a wine.

However, none of these things are fresh and therefore need me to start fermenting right away. I’ve been pondering what to do next, but since wines can take a year, I keep phrasing the question, “What kind of wine would I want to be drinking this time next year?” My list is really a summer or winter list, and nothing pops into my head of something spring like. Mind you, I do have ideas of things I definitely want to ferment this summer. For instance, our yard has a lot of mint, and I think that would make a lovely wine, especially if a splash of lime was added. I just have to wait for the mint to grow!