Wine Sanitation

[CookieOnMyFace]

I've done a few batches of beer thus far and I understand the necessity for sanitation there. I have several cherry trees from my farm that were picked last weekend and I want to make a batch of wine with some of them. After reading (mostly on here) about it, I haven't come across much sanitation recommendations for wine making. Why is this? I assumed the fruit would be boiled but it seems that some are not. How would fresh fruit wine not get contaminated? Mood here...

 

[CookieOnMyFace]

*noob (damn iPhone!)

 

[Yooper]

You don't want to ever boil fruit. It changes the fruit in several ways (giving a cooked fruit taste), but it will also set the pectins which you don't want. Setting the pectins is great for jelly and jam, but not for wine.

Most people who use raw fruit will use campden tablets (potassium metabisulfite) to kill any microbes on the fruit before beginning the fermentation.

Here's a good read on the basics: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/adding.asp

And a good recipe for cherry wine: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques61.asp