Joy of Home Wine Making (16 page)

In four to six months, check the PA. Taste it. I prefer this wine dry, but you might want to sweeten it. Use stabilizer, and add 2 to 4 ounces of sugar boiled in water. Keep it for a year. Very special! Make as much as you can afford to! Heck, says my partner, make more than you can afford—you won’t be sorry! Serve lightly chilled.

NOTE: You can use the pie cherry recipe for wild cherries and chokecherries. You might need to use half a pound more sugar.

SWEET CHERRY WINE

As always, local is best, but most of us depend on cherries shipped from Washington or Michigan. Any kind of sweet eating cherry will do. Be sure to get good ripe ones. The dark red ones give the best color, of course. Don’t be afraid to mix several kinds. Sweet cherry wine isn’t as fragrant as pie cherry wine is, but it is certainly worth making!

Back in the Depression my Grandmother Scearcy worked all day picking cherries for a farmer in exchange for some of the cherries. My grandfather got hold of them and tried to make wine, but failed. My mother says grandmother never forgave him. Maybe she would have if he had used this recipe.

3¾ quarts water

2 lbs. sugar or 2½ lbs. mild honey

4-5 lbs. fresh or frozen sweet cherries

2 tsp. acid blend OR juice and zest of 2 lemons

¼ tsp. tannin

1 tsp. yeast nutrient

1 Campden tablet, crushed (optional)

½ tsp. pectic enzyme

1 packet Montrachet yeast

Put the water and sugar or honey on the stove to boil. Pick over the cherries carefully. Watch for mold. Discard any bad ones. Stem. You don’t have to pit these either. Wash the cherries in cool water and drain. If you like, reserve a few of the pits, unbroken, to add to the fruit.

Put the cherries in a nylon straining bag and into the primary fermenter, then squish them with your hands. They are a firm fruit, so do a good job. The color should be great.

Pour the hot sugar water over the crushed cherries. You can chill and reserve half the water beforehand; if you’ve done so, you can pour it in now to bring the temperature down quickly. Add the acid, tannin, and yeast nutrient, but wait till the temperature comes down to add the Campden tablet if you choose to. Cover and fit with an air lock. Twelve hours after the Campden tablet, add the pectic enzyme. If you don’t use the tablet, then merely wait until the must cools down to add the pectic enzyme.

Check the PA and write it down.

Twenty-four hours later, add your yeast. Be prepared for a lot of foam. If it foams up into the air lock, scoop some of the foam out with a sanitized scoop, and clean out the air lock. Stir down daily. After two weeks remove the bag (don’t squeeze). After the sediment has settled down again, check the PA. If it is above 3 to 4 percent, let the must ferment for another week or so before racking the wine into your glass fermenter. Bung and fit with an air lock.

Rack the wine once or twice during secondary fermentation. Be sure to keep it in a dark jug, or put a piece of cloth around it to keep out light.

In four to six months, check the PA. Taste it. I prefer this wine dry, but you might want to sweeten it. If so, use stabilizer, and add 2 to 6 ounces of sugar boiled in water. Keep it for a year. Lovely. Serve lightly chilled.

CHEERFUL CRANBERRY WINE

Cranberries are almost always available in the frozen food section; freezing helps release the juice. You can use lingonberries for this recipe, too, if you can get them. Sometimes Scandinavian specialty stores carry them around Christmas. Expensive, but nice. This wine is on the thin side, hence the optional raisins.

3 lbs. fresh or frozen cranberries or lingonberries

3¾ quarts water

3 lbs. sugar or 3½ lbs. mild honey

1 lb. golden raisins (optional)

¼ tsp. tannin

½ tsp. acid blend

1 tsp. yeast nutrient

1 Campden tablet, crushed (optional)

½ tsp. pectic enzyme

1 packet Montrachet yeast

Pick over the berries. Discard any bad ones. Put them in some water and bring them
just
to the boil, then dump them into a nylon straining bag and let them cool down a bit in the primary fermenter.

Put the rest of the water and the sugar or honey on the stove to boil. If you are using the raisins, soak them overnight and chop
them up and put them in the bag with the cranberries. Mash the fruit with a sanitized potato masher.

Pour the hot sugar water over the crushed berries. You can chill and reserve half the water beforehand; if you’ve done so, you can pour it in now to bring the temperature down quickly. Add the tannin, acid blend, and yeast nutrient, but wait till the temperature comes down to add the Campden tablet if you choose to. Cover and fit with an air lock. Twelve hours after the Campden tablet, add the pectic enzyme. If you don’t use the tablet, then merely wait until the must cools down to add the pectic enzyme. Be sure to use the pectic enzyme! You don’t want cranberry jelly.

Check the PA and write it down.

Twenty-four hours later, add the yeast. Stir down daily. After about one week, remove the bag (don’t squeeze). After the sediment has settled down again, check the PA. If it is above 3 to 4 percent, let the must ferment for another week or so before racking the wine into your glass fermenter. Bung and fit with an air lock.

Rack the wine once or twice during secondary fermentation. Be sure to keep it in a dark jug, or put a piece of cloth around it to keep out light.

In four to six months, check the PA. Taste it. I prefer this wine dry, but you might want to sweeten it. Use stabilizer, and add 2 to 6 ounces of sugar boiled in water. Keep it for a year. Serve chilled. Wonderful for the holidays!

CURRENTLY CURRANT WINE

Currants deserve more notice in gardens than we give them. They are very popular in Europe. You rarely find them in stores in the U.S. or even in farmers’ markets, though they are easy to grow and make good wine or jelly if you have enough of them. Two or three bushes will produce a lot. You can grow white, red, and black currants. The white are sweet, the red tart, and the black, tart with a musky blackberry taste. Currants are very high in vitamin C.

The following recipe is for red and white currants.

1 gallon water

3 lbs. sugar or 3½ lbs. mild honey

3 lbs. ripe currants (don’t use more, as they are a high acid fruit)

no acid

¹
/
₈
tsp. tannin

½ tsp. pectic enzyme

1 Campden tablet, crushed (optional)