‘Give me the homemade wine…’

By Lara Pickford-Gordon

snrwriter.camsel@catholictt.org

Homemade wines are traditional at Christmas. Just ask Scrunter (Irwin Reyes Johnson) who in the Christmas song ‘Homemade Wine’ names 16 wines produced by ‘Miss Gloria’, among them: hibiscus, passion fruit, aloe, cane, cashew, and hog plum.

Keith and Wendy Patrick have been sharing and selling their homemade wines for the past six years. Carambola, Mango, Java apple, Jackfruit, Tangelo, and Cherry are available this Christmas season. They have made many other flavours.

Keith’s interest in homemade wine started in the 1990s when a colleague at work shared some with him. “I went home and tried my little thing and that was alright…I realised it was a basic, simple step: fruit, sugar, yeast, water, equal fermentation, equals wine. I did that and found I was doing it alright and along the line I remember making and having close to a gallon of carambola wine.”

That was in 1998. He said circumstances did not allow him to continue making wine but some of the first batch was kept.

Years later, he met and courted Wendy and on their wedding day in 2004, the carambola wine, “close to a gallon”, was brought out. It was the only alcohol at the nuptial reception.

Keith became aware of how good his aged carambola wine was after sharing with a chef friend who asked where he got it from. The idea of pursuing wine-making seriously came after another friend visited to request fruits to use in a wine-making course. Keith shared with him how wine was made using pommecythere.

“After he left, I said to Wendy, ‘Imagine I know how to do this and you hear people trying to get it and we are not doing anything’, and that was the spur, that started us very small making a few bottles of wine and sharing it.”

After pommecythere, there was carambola and pommerac wine.

They do not buy fruits to make wine. Wendy said, “Whatever is in season that is what we harvested and use from the garden.” She added, “When we harvest the fruit, we sort it out and we get the best looking and fresh fruit.”

Keith explained that the fruit must be fresh and firm contrary to the adage that over-ripe fruit would be good for wine because it was already starting to ferment. “There are certain transformations that take place that render it not acceptable”, he said.

Keith honed his wine-making skills through reading and research. Three books were given to him on wine-making from a resident of a home he and Wendy visited while doing outreach with Sr Glenda Rodriguez OP (now deceased). Those books were unused for 15 years until he went fully into wine-making.

“I had made a decision in my mind, if I am going to do this, I’m gonna have to do it well. I’m gonna have to do it right…I went after the process, upgraded what needed to be upgraded, imported the things that needed to be imported,” Keith said.

One item is wine-making yeast because baking yeast is not “appropriate”. He wanted to understand the rationale behind the quantity of ingredients used. The “old rule of thumb” was three pounds of sugar, three pounds of fruit and a gallon of water.

“I needed to understand why; when you need less, when you need more, so I got the equipment for testing. The hydrometer to test alcohol levels, sugar levels and so on. I did it scientifically.”

Wendy added that he had the process “down to a science”.

While the purists will say only grapes are suitable for wine, the Patricks have enjoyed wine from other fruits. Keith has experimented with Dragon Fruit and Jabuticaba or Brazilian grape.

He remarked the Dragon Fruit made a “fantastic wine”. Tangelo, a cross between grapefruit and tangerine, is one of their favourites. Keith explained that some fruit, because of their natural acidity, are better for wine making than others.

“You’re not gonna get a good wine out of ripe guavas unless you add all the acid you need and that affects the flavour. Some fruits have too much acid like oranges.”

Patrons of their wines enjoy mango, carambola and pommerac. Other flavours they have sold are pumpkin, aloe, acerola cherry, Jackfruit.

The alcohol content in the wines comes from the fermentation process and is not added, as in “fortified wines”. No additives or colouring are used.

Pimento wine?

Wendy recalled three years ago when a friend who had just started in agriculture shared some pimentos, they made wine. “As it was fermenting and I taste it, I realise this thing hot,” Keith said.

He asked his friend if the pimentos were planted with hot pepper, but they said ‘no’. He suspects there was some cross-pollination. “We end up with hot pimento wine of which we have one bottle remaining. It is interesting to taste a drink that has pepper in it but is alcoholic.”

Wendy said their chef friend said the pimento wine would go well in cooking.

Sharing some of the experiments in wine-making, Keith said they made tamarind wine which is highly acidic but turned out to also be good for cooking.

The name of their wine brand is Sling. That name came after they asked God for help with a word. They opened the Bible, and the pages were the book of Samuel when David was fighting Goliath. The word that stood out was “sling”.

While they are not in the business of export, their wine has been taken to England and the United States by patrons of the business.

The Patricks asserted that wine -making is secondary to their purpose of being in service of God.

“We also use much of the wines made to celebrate the love of God with others and aid towards evangelisation,” Keith said. Sharing wine with others can be an entry point to sharing their Catholic faith. “The act of giving is a demonstration of our Christian values,” he added.

There are many references to wine in scripture. According to Keith, “Psalm 104 says a little wine gladdens the heart, even in Genesis when Abraham came back from his battles and he was greeted by Melchizedek, the high priest, two things he brought out, bread and wine.”

St Paul told Timothy to use a little wine for his stomach and Jesus’ first miracle involved wine at the Wedding in Cana. He noted that scripture also cautions against abuse of wine. “If you understand and responsibly deal with it (wine) then it is beneficial to you. Abuse of it of course is going to send you down the drain…”

The Patricks are on the Parish Council and Ministry Animation Team at the St Philip and St James RC Church, Chaguanas. Wendy is an Extraordinary Minister of the Holy Eucharist and religious instruction (RI) teacher at a private school; Keith is a Lay Minister and RI teacher also.

They are foundation members of Jesus Explosion. “We both preach the gospel whenever we are called to,” Keith said.

To find out more about the Sling wine contact Wendy, 776-0202.