Requested Recipe:

Coffee makes a novelty wine. In Orange, Texas the Piney Woods Winery makes a Pecan Mocha Wine that is simply out of this world. I have never determined the recipe for making that particular beverage, but have figured out how to make a couple of coffee wines. The first recipe below uses freshly ground coffee. The second uses an instant mocha mix. Both wines are best made sweet or semi-sweet, but they can be made dry if you so wish. For the second (mocha) recipe, you may use flavored mocha mix (such as hazelnut or French vanilla), but I do not recommend using one containing chocolate. It simply tastes horrible after fermentation.

• ½ lb freshly ground coffee
• 2½ lbs dark brown sugar
• 1½ tsp citric acid
• ¼ tsp tannin
• 7½ pts water
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• Sauterne wine yeast

Pour water in pot and put on to boil. Stir in sugar until dissolved. When sugar is completely dissolved, stir coffee into water and wait until it boils. Remove from heat, cover and allow to cool. To a sanitized secondary, combine citric acid, tannin and yeast nutrient. Strain coffee through double layer of muslin into secondary, discarding the grounds. Add activated yeast and cover mouth of secondary with napkin held in place with rubber band. When fermentation is vigorous, fit airlock. Rack three times, 60 days apart, topping up and refitting airlock each time. If desired dry, rack into bottles. If desired sweet or semi-sweet, stabilize, sweeten to taste, wait 10 days, and rack into bottles. [Recipe adapted from Leo Zanelli's Home Winemaking from A to Z]

• 1¼ cup instant mocha coffee
• 2½ lbs light brown sugar
• 1½ tsp citric acid
• ¼ tsp tannin
• 7 pts water
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• Pasteur Red or Côte des Blancs wine yeast

Pour water in pot and put on to boil. Stir in sugar until dissolved. When sugar is completely dissolved, stir instant mocha mix into water. When water boils, remove from heat, cover and allow to cool. When at room temperature, stir in citric acid, tannin and yeast nutrient. Transfer to secondary, add activated yeast and cover mouth of secondary with napkin held in place with rubber band. When fermentation is vigorous, fit airlock. Rack three times, 60 days apart, topping up and refitting airlock each time. If desired dry, rack into bottles. If desired sweet or semi-sweet, stabilize, sweeten to taste, wait 10 days, and rack into bottles. [Author's own recipe]