I have heard that a mix of sweets and sour cherries has a good acid/sugar balance for winemaking, and I would have thought straight tart cherries would have been too acidic. Not true? I suppose it it finishes sweet it can mask some acid though.
What variety/varieties are you using?
Dave
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.