Hi folks,
I've never made wine but I've been making beer for several months, now. I was thinking about cherry wine because I've got a tree full of ripe cherries, but I don't know what kind they are. They're sour and not really good for eating. Would they be OK for wine? Anyone got a recipe?
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Sour/tart/pie cherries should make better wine than sweet cherries, they have more flavor. I only have one cherry (total) on my trees this year, had a late frost. Maybe next year. Here's a link for recipes. They all seem to be similar, except for the cherry type. Morellos are a sour cherry, that recipe might be your best bet.
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Remember one unassailable statistic, as explained by the late, great George Carlin: "Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider!"
Sour Cherries will make great wine. I'd use the Jack Keller Morrello recipe that David linked. It's pretty much an 'all purpose sour cherry' recipe that should work very well.
I'll be needing a few extra supplies for this. Probably won't be able to do this before next weekend. The cherries are ripe now. Should I harvest now,crush and freeze, or maybe pick and refrigerate, or maybe they'll still be good on the tree next week? Any thoughts?
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If I'd known I was gonna live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself!
I'll be needing a few extra supplies for this. Probably won't be able to do this before next weekend. The cherries are ripe now. Should I harvest now,crush and freeze, or maybe pick and refrigerate, or maybe they'll still be good on the tree next week? Any thoughts?
Freezing breaks the cell walls, so you'll get more juice, while keeping the fruit good. Just pit and freeze, you may not even need much crushing, but that's probably easier done partly frozen.
Good luck, I need to get my folks to save me sour cherries, if there is ever a year they don't eat them all!
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SpinDance
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Well I made the wine. It's been in secondary for two weeks, now, and I can't believe how good it is already. It's almost crystal clear and tastes better than any wine I've ever tasted. The recipe says to bottle after 3 months and age 1 year, but I'm afraid I won't like it as much by then. Of course, I do have 5 gallons, and I'm not that much of a wine drinker, so I guess some of it'll still be around in a year. The OG was 1.095 and it finished at 0.992
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If I'd known I was gonna live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself!
I promise you'll like it after a year! The reason you wait 3 months (or longer) before bottling is to allow all the sediment to drop out completely. You can rack it every month or two if it's dropping lees. My blackberry is bulk aging in the carboy. I'll probably bottle it in the fall. It's only 3 months old right now.
Cherry wine gets better with age, and in a year you'll wish you made 15 gallons! After bottling, you can start enjoying the wine in a month or so.
Lorena
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Thanx, Lorena. I'll take your word for it and wait. Sorry for the delayed response, I was at the GreyFox bluegrass festival til today. Had a blast, as usual.
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If I'd known I was gonna live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself!
I thought about making some cherry wine, but I only got one cherry this year. Three trees, one cherry. Not getting many blueberries either. Late frost, d@mn global warming!
Lots of blackberries and hot dry weather, though. Should be sweet!
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Remember one unassailable statistic, as explained by the late, great George Carlin: "Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider!"
Cherry Wine
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