Make the perfect autumn tipple with your excess feijoas. 

Words: Sheryn Dean

Federweisser sauser is a cloudy German wine, drunk young. This recipe is from winemaker Christine Grieder, courtesy of NZ Life & Leisure. All water used in this recipe needs to be filtered, or boiled, cooled to room temperature and stored in a sterile container. Christine uses 32-34 champagne bottles (other bottles can burst) and wires the corks down.

Makes: 20 litres (approximately)

INGREDIENTS

10kg feijoas, washed
3kg sugar
wine yeast
water

METHOD

Chop up feijoas using a food processor, then soak in a food-grade bucket with about 16 litres of water. Cover the bucket with a cloth and leave for four days, stirring occasionally.

Strain the feijoas through sterilised (boiled) muslin but don’t press the muslin or you’ll get pulp in the must. Dissolve the sugar in 2 litres of water. Add to the must. Strain into a sterilised 20-litre bucket and add water until the bucket is full.

Add wine yeast (I used CL23, a wine yeast for sparkling and still white wines). Place an airlock on the bucket and keep in a warm place.

Over the next two days, the yeast should start the fermenting process, which will take about two weeks. The liquid in the airlock will bubble; when it stops bubbling, siphon the sauser into bottles.

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