Homemade Rose Petal Wine (Not Rosé)

Homemade rose petal wine is a heady wine drink with the aroma of roses. After some experimentation, we made this earthy wine with dried rose petals, and it’s perfect for celebrations or regular days in.

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Give me a bouquet of organic flowers and don’t be surprised if you catch me munching on some of them. Especially roses. I love roses. They taste milky sometimes, and sometimes they taste like a handful of deliciously scented earth.

Of course, different people find rose petals taste like different things. Some think they taste like strawberries, some like apples, some like spices.

Taste is really subjective.

Anyways, I’ve got so much stock of dried rose petals at home, it’s difficult not to reach for them and make some delicious rose and peppermint cookies, or some rose and coconut barfi.

Of course there are times I feel like drinking in the flavor of the rose. That’s how I got to making rose wine at home.

Rose petal wine, not rosé! Have to say that because there was the time we were Skyping a friend on another continent and I told him that we’d just made the best rose wine. And he was like, ‘Oh, we have that over here’. And I was like, ‘does it taste like roses?’ And he goes, ‘No, it’s rosé. It just tastes like wine’. And I’m like, ‘Exactly! I wasn’t talking about rosé! That’s common over here too. But I was talking about rose wine. Delcious, earthy, heady homemade wine made with rose petals’.

So my rose wine is one of my favorites. Well, along with my fresh ginger wine, chili wine, and all the other wines I make. The currant wine and pineapple wine are not so high on my favorite list. They’re just wines we have to make for Christmas and other events. But the rose wine is just perfect!

What Do You Need To Make Rose Petal Wine At Home?

Rose petals of course! You’ll also need some black currants, yeast, lemons, sugar, and water. You can use sultanas or raisins instead of the black currants.

Steps To Make Homemade Wine with Rose Petals

Note: Before we start with the rose wine recipe though, please note that here in Mumbai, India we’re allowed to make wine or beer at home as long as it’s for personal consumption. Just remember to check the legal requirement in your state or country before attempting to make wine at home.

So the steps to make our rose petal wine are the same as the steps to make almost every other home made wine. The only difference is, we replace the ginger or other fruit with dried organic rose petals. You can use fresh rose petals too if you want to.

Start by sterilizing all the equipment.

Was everything with boiling hot water – ceramic jars, demijohns, steel or wooden spoons, sieve, and anything else that you might use.

Next proof the yeast, if you need to.

In a small pot, warm a little of the water and stir in a teaspoon of sugar. (Measure this sugar out of the main sugar that you use.)

Add in the yeast, mix well, and leave it aside for some time. After about 5 to 10 minutes, the yeast will be bubbling wildly. So you’ll know that it’s ready to add to your wine barni, wine bucket or ceramic jar.

Of course, this step for proofing the yeast is not really necessary. If you’re certain the yeast is active, you can just throw it into the wine must later after adding all the other ingredients.

Now to prepare the rose petal wine must.

While the yeast is proofing, add the sugar, rose petals, chopped lemons, and sultanas or raisins to a barni or demijohn. Fill it with water and then add the proofed yeast and mix together. (We don’t boil the water because the local water in our area is good. But if you live in a country where the water is impure, please boil it before using.)

Cover the jar with a loose lid that allows the carbon dioxide to escape and leave overnight.

For the whole week, stir the rose petal must daily every morning. Or pick a particular time that you prefer and set it aside. Whatever time you do it is fine, as long as you remember to do it once a day. That being said, homemade wine is really forgiving. So if you skip a day or two, don’t worry about it.

On the 7th or 8th day, use a muslin cloth or a fine sieve to strain the wine into a glass or stainless steel pot or another demijohn. If you prefer to siphon the wine, you can do that. We prefer to use the easier style of just straining it like the grannies used to do.

The rose wine is technically ready to serve now, so you can drink it straight away. Or chill and serve!

What does the homemade rose flower wine taste like? It tastes like a bouquet of roses, a bit heady, sweet, and intensely floral. It makes for a really good dessert drink too.

But we prefer to rack it for a few weeks or months to give the dregs more time for sedimentation. Racking also gives this rose petal wine more time to deepen in flavor and taste.

So we bottle the strained wine and forget about it for some time while we enjoy one of the other wines we made, especially the ginger wine.

Who says you can’t wait with a glass of wine in your hand? Drink responsibly and enjoy!

And if you’re looking for an excuse to drink rose petal wine, just remember rose petals are good in antioxidants. Do you need any more incentives?

Cooking Tips

• You can use raisins or sultanas if you want, but we prefer the taste with black currants.
• Remember to deseed the lemons before adding them to the must, or they’ll give it a bitter aftertaste. Trust me, I know. One of my wine batches was only drunk by 50% of the family. Still a good ratio. 😉
• Fresh rose petals work as well as dried rose petals. Preferably use organic rose petals.
• Try to use lemons and not sour limes as they’re more zesty and less acidic than sour limes.
• Rerack the wine after a month to remove the dregs. That means, change wine bottles and get rid of that stuff that settles at the bottom.
• The longer you leave the wine to rest after making it, the better it tastes.

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