The first time I made it, my reason for getting a kit was to see "how wine is made", so I followed the kit directions except with honey added... so basically your first option.
The first time, I split the kit in two at the offset -- 2 gal juice, 1 gal water, 1/2 gal honey -- for about 3 1/2 gallons each, plus 6 lb unpitted frozen & thawed cherries in one. I was following the kit instructions (kind of sort of) so both buckets also got bentonite, pectinase, & yeast nutrients/energizer. I switched the yeast to D47, and I fermented at 62 deg. I used SNA and de-gassed. At secondary I switched in new frozen & thawed cherries a couple of times in the batch that had cherries (these are really tart & acidic cherries from my own tree). Both batches followed the same schedule except for the cherries, and the oak (the pyment got light oak chips and the cherry got dark Am. oak cubes). I followed the finings directions that came with the kit too. And I added the reserved small grape juice pouch before I stabilized & backsweetened to semi-sweet.
The second time I made it I used one 6 gallon batch and added 1 gallon honey, then I stirred it up and split it after a week into two batches, and added cherries to one. The same process after that. It was much easier to get started this way, and the results look & taste the same.
I hadn't used the bentonite/isinglass combination before and I was really surprised to be adding the bentonite at primary, but all batches cleared very quickly. But since they were stored in my garage in kegs through two winters, they would have been cold crashed to just above freezing anyway. They probably would have cleared eventually without the finings. But it is nice that they were so drinkable within just a few months and yet seem to be aging well too, so using the finings worked out... just fine.
Good luck!
