North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Mark Lee" <markl@nytec.com>]

Don,
I have never made wine before, but I am looking for uses for my bumper
crops of sour cherries.  I like your idea of turning them into wine, and
I especially like the fact that you don't need to pit them.  Next year I
may have 2 or 3 gallons of surplus sour cherries to experiment with.  Is
wine making practical for this small quantity of fruit, or should I wait
until I can devote 5 gallons or more to wine making?
-Mark Lee, Seattle zone 8a

-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Don Yellman
Sent: Friday, December 10, 2004 6:45 AM
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [NAFEX] Cherry Wine

Michelle:

I have made wine with sour cherries several times over the years, and it
is quite good.  Very fruity.  No need to pit the cherries for this
product.  I used nearly pure cherry juice, starting with over 5 gallons
bulk ripe cherries,  straining out skins and stones after primary
fermentation, then topping up a 5-gallon carboy with less than one
gallon water.  Leave plenty of space in your primary fermenter as the
cherries will foam quite a bit initially.  I used ten pounds granulated
sugar per carboy, and champagne yeast.  This will produce a moderately
sweet wine of about 13-15% alcohol.  It is ready to drink or bottle at
about 3-4 months, after it has settled out to a clear dark ruby color.

I don't think sweet cherries would have quite the character and flavor
to carry through in wine as do sour cherries.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA
-- 
Please note that my email address has changed.  It is now
don.yellman@webformation.com
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