Cherry Wines, Sherries, and/or Meads
Some of the best non-grape wines I have ever tasted were cherry wines. While freshly picked cherries of any type are preferred to those purchased at the market, if you have to purchase them, be sure you select the ripest and most blemish-free specimens you can. Leo Zanelli claims that morello cherries make the best wine. While I cannot contest his claim, I can attest that black cherries make a wonderful wine. A friend of mine swears by sour cherries, while another always uses the bing variety. Whichever type you use, make sure you have enough. If you’re going to make weak wine, you might as well not make it at all. I have many recipes for cherry wines, but will only include four here–two dry and two sweet. These recipes offer a wide leeway in the quantity (from 4 to 8 lbs) and types of cherries required.
- 8 lbs sweet eating cherries
- 3-1/2 lbs sugar
- 1-1/2 tsp citric acid
- 1/2 tsp tannin
- 1 tsp pectic enzyme
- 7-1/4 pts water
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- Port wine yeast
Bring water to boil. Meanwhile, destem, wash and crush the cherries in the primary without breaking any stones. Pour sugar over cherries. Pour the boilling water over the sugar and cherries and stir well to dissolve. Cover and set aside until cool. Add remaining ingredients except yeast, cover and set aside for 12 hours. Add activated yeast and ferment 5 days. Strain juice into dark secondary and discard pulp and stones. Rack after 30 days and again when wine clears. After two additional months stabilize, sweeten if required, wait 10 days, rack into bottles, and store in dark place. [Adapted from Leo Zanelli’s Home Winemaking from A to Z ]
- 1 lb dried cherries (sweet)
- 1 11-oz. can Welch’s 100% White Grape Juice Frozen Concentrate
- 1-1/2 lb finely granulated sugar (to S.G. of 1.090)
- 1 tsp malic acid
- 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
- 1/4 tsp tannin
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- 6.5 pts water
- 1 pkt Montrachet or Champagne wine yeast
Soak cherries in 2 quarts water for 24 hours. Bring water to a boil, lower heat and simmer 8 minutes. Strain, stir sugar in liquid until dissolved, cover and set aside to cool. Add remaining ingredients except yeast, stir and recover. After 12 hours, add activated yeast, recover, and stir daily until specific gravity drops to 1.010. Transfer to secondary, attach airlock and ferment to dryness. Rack when fermentation ceases, top up and reattach airlock, Rack, top up and refit airlock every 60 days for 6 months. Stabilize and sweeten to taste, wait additional 3 weeks and rack into bottles. Age another 6-12 months before tasting. [Author’s own recipe]
- 4 lbs honey (it’s the size jar I had; 3 1/2 lbs should have been enough)
- 2 lb 5 oz jar of Mezzetta’s maraschino cherries
- 4 oz Hershey’s Cocoa Powder
- 2 1/4 tsp acid blend
- 1 1/4 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1/8 tsp yeast energizer
- 3/16 tsp grape tannin
- 1/16 tsp potassium metabisulfite
- water to 1 gallon
- 1 pkt Gervin Wine Yeast Varietal B (
- S. cerevisiae
- ) [alternate: Lalvin 71B-1122]
Mix the honey with a quart of water in a large pot and bring to 140 degrees F. for about 25 minutes to kill any compromising organisms; skim foamy scum off surface (the higher the quality of honey, the less scum there will be). Set it aside to cool. Open jar of cherries and strain the syrup into the cooled honey. Chop the cherries, place in nylon straining bag, tie closed and set aside in bowl. Measure the cocoa powder in dry ounces and add to one pint of warm water in a blender until thoroughly mixed. Added tannin and other dry ingredients (less the yeast) to ensure all are well mixed, and then added this to the honey. Bring liquid to one gallon in primary and add activated yeast in starter solution. Add bag of cherries and cover primary. Punch down the bag of chopped cherries several times a day, checking their condition after several days. When they start looking ravaged by the yeast, remove the bag and gently squeeze it to extract readily available liquid — do NOT squeeze hard or the mead may not clear. When fermentation slows down, regardless of s.g., transfer to secondary and cap with an airlock. Allow fermentation to finish and rack it, but if it is still fermenting after 3 months rack it anyway. After 60 days rack again and top up with distilled water (this will not noticeably affect the flavor or alcohol level). Wait 60 days and rack again, topping up as before. Set aside one year to bulk age and allow the essential oils to break down. Bottle and age an additional 9 to 12 months before tasting. [Author’s own recipe]
- 4 lbs honey (it’s the size jar I had; 3 1/2 lbs should have been enough)
- 2 lb 5 oz jar of Mezzetta’s maraschino cherries
- 4 oz Hershey’s Cocoa Powder
- 2 1/4 tsp acid blend
- 1 1/4 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1/8 tsp yeast energizer
- 3/16 tsp grape tannin
- 1/16 tsp potassium metabisulfite
- water to 1 gallon
- 1 pkt Gervin Wine Yeast Varietal B (
- S. cerevisiae
- ) [alternate: Lalvin 71B-1122]
I began a yeast starter the night before, using one cup of lukewarm water (98 degrees F.) into which I added 1/2
teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of nutrient. I sprinkled the yeast onto the surface, covered the jar with a napkin
and set it aside to culture.
- 3 lbs ripe Nanking cherries
- 1-1/2 lbs granulated sugar
- 1 11-oz can Welch’s frozen grape (Concord) concentrate
- 6 pts water
- 1 crushed Campden tablet
- 1 tsp pectic enzyme
- 1/2 tsp acid blend
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- Burgundy wine yeast
Bring water to boil and dissolve sugar in it, stirring until completely clear. Meanwhile, wash and destem the cherries and tie them into a nylon straining bag. With hands, crush the cherries in primary fermentation vessel. Add acid blend and yeast nutrient and pour boiling sugar-water over fruit. Stir briefly to aid in dissolving additives, cover primary, and allow to cool to 70-75 degrees F. Add crushed Campden tablet, stir, recover, and set aside 12 hours. Add thawed can of grape concentrate and pectic enzyme, stir well, recover and set aside additional 12 hours. Add yeast, recover and allow to ferment seven days, squeezing bag twice daily. Squeeze well to extract juice, discard pulp, and transfer to dark secondary fermentation vessel or clear one wrapped with brown paper. Top up if necessary and fit fermentation trap. Rack after 30 days, top up and refit airlock. Repeat after 30 additional days and again two months later. Stabilize, sweeten to taste (if desired) and set aside 2-3 weeks. Bottle, store in a dark place and taste after six months to a year. Improves with additinal aging. [Author’s own recipe]
- 4-5 lbs ripe North Star Cherries
- 1-1/2 lbs finely granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp pectic enzyme
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- ˝-1/4 tsp acid blend or malic acid
- 1 crushed Campden tablet
- water to make up a gallon
- Red Star Premier Couvee or Lalvin 71B-1122 wine yeast
Dissolve sugar in 3 quarts boiling water ahead of time and set aside to cool. Meanwhile, using only ripe fruit, de-stem and pit cherries as soon after picking as is practical. Either (1) freeze the pitted cherries for later use (when thawed, it will be easier to extract their juice) or (2) crush and tie inside a nylon straining bag in primary. Add crushed Campden tablet, acid, and water with dissolved sugar to primary. Cover primary and set aside for 10-12 hours. Add pectic enzyme, recover primary and set aside additional 10-12 hours. Add yeast starter and recover primary. Punch down bag daily, squeezing gently each time, for approximately 10 days. Remove cherries, pressing lightly. Transfer to secondary, top up if required and attach airlock. Rack after 30 days and then every two months until wine clears, topping up and reattaching airlock after eack racking. After wine clears, continue racking every two months until no sediments appear on bottom of secondary. Stabilize, wait 10-14 days, and rack into bottles. Age at least 6 months before tasting, but 12 months is ideal. [Author’s own recipe]
You can buy 100% pure black cherry juice in two ways. First, you can buy the pure black cherry juice itself. You need a gallon. Second, you can buy a concentrate and reconstitute the juice. You need a gallon of the reconstituted juice. From there, the directions are easy. Please note that the amount of sugar specified below is an approximation only. You must measure the specific gravity with a hydrometer to determine the exact amount. If you do not have a hydrometer, use the figure below.
- 1 gallon black cherry juice, pure or reconstituted
- 1-1/2 lbs granulated sugar
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1/8 tsp tannin
- 1 tsp pectic enzyme.
- 1/2 tsp citric acid
- Lalvin RC212 (Bourgovin) wine yeast
Start with a gallon of juice or juice reconstituted from concentrate. Float your hydrometer in it and record the reading. Compare that to the table at my hydrometer page and calculate how much sugar you will need to attain an initial specific gravity between 1.085 and 1.090. Put that amount of sugar in a primary, along with pectic enzyme, citric acid , yeast nutrient, and tannin. Add black cherry juice and stir very, very well to dissolve sugar. Cover and set aside 12 hours. Add activated yeast and recover primary. Stir daily until s.g. drops to 1.010. Transfer to secondary and fit airlock. Rack after 30 days, top up and refit airlock. Wait 60 days and rack again. When s.g. indicates dryness (0.990), stabilize wine, sweeten to taste, allow to sit for 2 weeks to ensure fermentation does not restart, and rack into bottles. Store in cool, dark place at least 6 months before tasting. Improves with age. [Author’s own recipe]
- 2 16-oz cans of pie cherries (NOT cherry pie filling)
- 1-3/4 lbs granulated sugar if in water; 2 lbs granulated sugar if in light syrup; 1-3/4 lbs granulated sugar if in heavy syrup
- 3-1/2 qts water
- 1 tsp acid blend
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
- Montrachet wine yeast
Heat water, but do not boil. Drain syrup from cherries and set syrup aside. Put cherries in nylon straining bag, tie end closed, set in primary. Add sugar to hot water and stir well to dissolve sugar. Add syrup (or water) from cherries. Pour the water/syrup over cherries in primary, cover with clean cloth and allow to cool to room temperature (about 4 hours). Add remaining ingredients except yeast and recover primary. Wait 12 hours, add yeast and recover. Ferment 5 days, punching bag down twice a day. Measure specific gravity. When S.G. reaches 1.020, drip drain (but don’t squeeze) the bag of cherries. Discard cherries. Allow wine to settle overnight and rack into secondary. Top up and fit airlock. Rack every 2 months for total of 3 times. Stabilize wine, wait 10 days, rack into bottles or into clean secondary to be sweetened to taste before bottling. This wine may be tasted in 6 months, but ages well.
[Author’s own recipe]
- 4-5 lbs fresh or frozen sweet cherries
- 1-3/4 lbs finely granulated sugar
- 7-1/2 pts water
- 2 tsp acid blend
- 1/4 tsp tannin
- 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- Montrachet wine yeast
Stir sugar into water and put on to boil. Meanwhile, sort, destem, and wash the cherries, rejecting any that are unsould or moldy. Put the cherries in a nylon straining bag, tie, and place in primary. Without breaking the stones, crush the cherries with your hands or other means. Pour the boilling water with dissolved sugar over the crushed cherries. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to cool to room temperature. Add all remaining ingredients except yeast. Stir well, recover, and set aside for 12 hours. Add activated yeast and recover. Stir daily. After two weeks, remove bag and drip drain (do not squeeze). Transfer to a dark secondary and fit airlock. After two weeks, rack, top up, and refit airlock. Rack again in two months and again two months later. When specific gravity registers dryness (0.990), rack into bottles and store in dark place for one year. Server slightly chilled. [Adapted from Terry Garey’s The Joy of Home Winemaking ]
- 6 lbs black cherries
- 3-1/4 lbs sugar
- 7-1/4 pts water
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- wine yeast
Bring water to rolling boil. Destem, wash and crush the cherries in the primary without breaking any stones. Pour the boilling water over the cherries. Cover and set aside for 48 hours. Strain through nylon straining bag. Bring water to a boil and pour over sugar. Stir until dissolved and add remaining ingredients. Cover thoroughly and ferment in warm place for 14 days. Pour into dark secondary and fit airlock. When clear, rack again. After two months, stabilize, sweeten if required, wait 10 days, rack into bottles, and store in dark place. [Adapted from C.J.J. Berry’s First Steps in Winemaking ]
- 8 lbs morello cherries
- 2-1/2 lbs sugar
- 1/2 tsp tannin
- 1 tsp pectic enzyme
- 7-1/4 pts water
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- Port wine yeast
Bring water to boil. Meanwhile, destem, wash and crush the cherries in the primary without breaking any stones. Pour sugar over cherries. Pour the boilling water over the sugar and cherries and stir well to dissolve. Cover and set aside until cool. Add remaining ingredients and ferment 5 days. Strain juice into dark secondary and discard pulp and stones. Rack after 30 days and again when wine clears. After two additional months rack into bottles and store in dark place. [Adapted from Leo Zanelli’s Home Winemaking from A to Z ]