Beautiful, wild, plentiful, easy to pick—what more could one ask for in a fruit? Well, edible might be nice. But maybe that's being greedy. Actually, chokecherries and wild black cherries aren't inedible, in fact, an occasional tree will offer an almost pleasing fruit, if you're in the right frame of mind. But in general, these wild cherries are downright puckery. We're blessed to have them as close neighbors, and they are what led me into the fun world of wine making.

Making wine can be simple and down-to-earth, or complicated and esoteric. As I lean heavily toward the former, so does my wine. Though I've refined my technique over the years, and now make a better and more consistent wine, those first batches were high on my list of happy outcomes on the homestead, when even a small success was a major accomplishment. This was while we were living and working in our small 300 square foot cabin. If you want wine, you can find room for it, it doesn't take much space or time.

Tastes for wine are as varied as wine drinkers. Most of my experience is with non-grape fruit wine on the sweet side, which often ages towards something more like a liqueur. Although one year's cherry wine turned out light and bubbly, like a cross between champagne and wine cooler. If you want your wine to be exactly so with no surprises, my way of making wine is probably not for you.

Fruit

I've found recipes for wine made from grapes to parsley to pea pods. But just because you can do something, doesn't mean you need to. Though I admit, I tried the Pea Pod Wine. Compost piles are great for things that don't quite make it in the edible world, including wine. But there are so many fruits that make good wine, and most people will have a good number of options, that there is little need to look for the obscure and outlandish. Unless you want to, of course.

Sue siphons the wine into screw top-type bottles for easier opening.

Wild black cherries and chokecherries are my main wine fruit, for the reasons listed above. And because they make a wine we like. The fruit from the two have similar characteristics, being usually quite astringent, and I use them interchangeably.

Wild plum and gooseberries have also made a good wine for me, using a recipe similar to the one for wild cherry. I've also experimented with blackberry, raspberry, strawberry, pin cherry, sour cherry, rhubarb, apple, apricot, autumn olive, and grape—with varied results. Once you become fascinated with making wine, it's hard not to try new fruits. In general the process is the same. To get you started, I'd like to take you through the steps of how I make Chateau ManyTracks Vintage Wild Black Cherry Wine. Or at least one version of it. Most years I try something a little different, and most years it all turns out just fine, so don't be afraid to branch out and experiment.

To begin

Gather your fruit. Around here, this is the latter part of August, which fits my schedule nicely. The black flies and mosquitoes have abated, and it's a great time to take off and pick cherries. Though we've had some sparse years due to late frosts and freezes, and I've had to travel on down the road to find a few good bushes, usually I wander around our property looking for small trees with enough cherries within reach to bother picking. In a poor year I make sure to take only a portion of the harvest, since the other wildlife will need those cherries more than I do. But usually there is plenty for all. It doesn't take long to fill a couple of baskets. If I'm feeling ambitious (or I ran out of wine last year), I'll go back for another load.

Back in the kitchen, I wash and measure the cherries, pouring them into a stainless steel, glass, glazed or enameled container such as a stock pot, crock, or canner. No aluminum. You can also use a clean polyethylene bucket. Crush and squeeze the cherries with your hands.

Pour over the crushed cherries boiling water equal to the initial measure of cherries.

I used to simmer the cherries in water, which worked fine, but now I just squeeze/crush the berries with my hands and pour boiling water over them. This works just as well, and saves a lot of fuel.

Add and stir in one cup of white sugar per quart of cherries.

Add the same amount again of cold water (equal to the original measure of cherries). You could very well add all the water, hot, to begin with, but this cools things off enough so you can add the yeast right away without waiting for it all to cool down.

Dip out some of the liquid and adjust to about 95 degrees. Add wine yeast, dissolve, then stir back into the "must" (the unfermented juice). Make sure there is enough room in the container for the must to foam and ferment, which it will, without foaming over. Not that it will hurt the must, but it does make a mess.

The amount of yeast to use depends on the instructions that come with your wine yeast. I use the common packets of Red Star Montrachet Active Dry Wine Yeast available locally. The instructions say there is enough in the packet for five gallons of wine, which turns out to be 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of wine. I figure about one gallon of wine per two quarts of cherries. This doesn't have to be exact, a little more or less won't hurt.

A fruit press isn’t necessary, but it is nice to have.

Cover with a cloth and let the must work for about five days or until the fermenting slows down. Stir twice daily.

Strain the must through a colander, then through a clean cloth. Squeeze to get as much liquid out as you can, or run through a fruit press if you have one.

Add white sugar to equal 1.5 cups of sugar per quart of cherries. Stir till dissolved.

Let set for a few hours to clear some of the fines or sediment. Use a clean plastic hose to siphon the clearer liquid off the sediment into glass jugs or carboy. Cap with a waterlock (or a strong, wide mouth balloon). Set in a secure spot (where it won't be kicked or knocked over) in a not-too-hot, not-too-cold spot (about 60 to 70 degrees). Leave until fermenting quiets (when little bubbles stop rising to surface), which is usually December for me.

Racking

A few weeks after the wine quiets, rack it (siphoning off the cleared wine, leaving the lees or sediment that have settled in the bottom behind) into clean jugs or carboys. Replace water locks (or balloons) and set aside in a dark, cool spot (ideally about 50 degrees).

A number of sources recommend racking again in March, June, then October—or about every two months. Try to rack on a clear day when the barometer is high, especially at full moon.

I more or less follow that schedule, except that I bottle my wine the end of August instead of waiting until fall, which frees up space, carboys, and jugs for the new batch. In my early years I didn't rack at all, but started the wine in August and bottled it in December. This made adequate wine, but it is much finer with the wait and the racking, and worth the extra trouble.

You can also let it go for another year, racking three to four times the second year. I've never done this, as we're usually out of wine, or close to it, and ready for that new batch by the end of the first year. Good homemade wine makes great gifts so it disappears fast. It's nice if you can make enough to save some bottles to see how it ages in the years ahead. I've found two or three years aging makes a deeper, stronger wine, though much more than that doesn't seem to make a lot of difference with this sweet wild cherry wine. Long aging is probably more important with dryer wines.

Equipment notes

Used glass gallon jugs are fairly easy to come by and make good fermenting vessels for small amounts of wine, and various trials within a batch. But if you want to make multiple gallons, glass carboys are handy. They are surprisingly inexpensive (less than $15). I prefer the three gallon size, as that is plenty heavy to handle.

The polyethylene tubing for siphoning can be found at a local hardware store—about five feet of 1/4 inch ID. Most areas will probably have a store within driving distance that caters to the home brewer and will have waterlocks, yeast, bottle brushes, and carboys. If not, there are many mail-order sources. The equipment for wine making is nicely inexpensive. Even a hydrometer doesn't cost much, and if you have grapes to make into wine you will probably want one.

For many years I used large balloons over my jugs instead of waterlocks, which made for a rather unique display when the wine was fermenting! Though fun, they only lasted a few years and it was hard to find those with large enough and strong enough necks to go over the jug openings. When I discovered a store in a nearby town sold waterlocks, I happily bought a supply. If treated well, they should last the lifetime of the winemaker and then some.

Fruit press

This isn't necessary for small scale wine making, but I always thought it would be nice. We had purchased an old cast iron and worn plated steel lard/fruit press at an auction many years ago. But with all that iron and steel exposed to the acid juice, it wasn't appropriate to use for fruit. Then one year, prompted by the old "if we can't find a use for this, we're going to get rid of it" incentive, Steve took it out to the workshop and came back with a renewed, rebuilt fruit press. He replaced the plated steel inner basket and outer shell with a wood slat basket, the upper iron pressing plate with a wooden one, and the bottom plate with a routed out wooden plate with carved lip. I had visions of the gallons of extra wine I'd be able to press out of the pulp.

In reality, for cherry wine, I'm not sure it's worth the mess. In a six quart cherry batch (about three gallons wine), after adding water and fermenting, then straining through a colander, pressing the pulp added only about five cups more juice. However, for other fruit such as grapes and blackberries, I find it nice to have. It really comes into its own for me when making blackberry jam—for which it gets top honors.

There are, of course, larger presses available that might be worthwhile for large scale wine making.

Bottling

If you have any wine left in your jugs after a year or so of racking and "taste testing" it, you will want to bottle it. I prefer used screw top wine bottles for this as they are easy, and you don't have to buy (or fuss with) a corking machine and new corks every year. Let the word out that you are looking for screw top wine bottles and you'll probably have no trouble collecting a good supply. Parties and receptions are a good source, as might be restaurants and bars that sell wine. Wash well, dry well, store with lids on and they'll be ready when the wine is ready. You'll need four or five bottles per gallon of wine.

When the time comes, carefully lift your jugs and carboys onto the counter (this is where you'll be glad you stuck to the three gallon size instead of going for those five gallon brothers). Let them set awhile if any sediment has been stirred up, though by now (if you've been racking your wine) you will probably have little to no lees. Set your clean bottles in a row on a chair or on the floor, the caps in boiling water, a towel or two nearby, and get ready to siphon. If you haven't been making periodic taste tests all along, this is where you get to find out how that new vintage tastes, since it's hard to get the siphon going without getting a bit in the mouth. How much depends on you, and how much else you want to get done that day.

Used glass jugs are easy to find and make great fermentation vessels.

Fill the bottles to within an inch or so of the top, then screw on the clean caps. Line them up on the counter, then wash the jugs, carboys, and waterlocks so they'll be ready for the next harvest. Now, stand back and admire that row of glistening bottles of the best homemade wine you've every tasted, if you do say so yourself.

But what if it isn't? What if it is, well, downright yellingly harsh or yucky? That depends on just how awful it is. If it seems harsh but has promise, don't throw it out yet. Let it age a year and two and see how it does. I find dryer wines in particular have to age awhile to be drinkable. If it's okay but just not to your liking for one reason or another, maybe it can be blended with another wine, either homemade or store bought. Try a little at a time, so as not to ruin another good wine. If it's really bad, consider it wine for the compost and dispose of likewise. Look at your notes (you did keep good notes, right?) and decide what you'll do different next time.

But most vintages will be between drinkable and delectable, so label the bottles simply or elegantly, then store them in a pantry or closet, in a cool, dark place, and enjoy the fruits of your labors in the months to come.

Books and references

The best books I've found have been those old enough to have been written before the chemical craze (adding chemicals to your wine to make a good brew is as much an oxymoron as adding chemicals to your garden to grow good food, or chemicals to your system to make a healthy body), yet new enough that the equipment mentioned is easily adaptable to what is now available, and the recipes are in more or less "modern" language. I search libraries, used book stores, garage sales, and the like for reference material, reading all I find and gleaning a few gems from them all.

My first reference books weren't wine making books at all, but the venerable old Joy of Cooking (1976 edition), and Mrs. Restino's Country Kitchen (first edition). Plus some copies from friends from obscure old references. Mostly I went by trial and error and experimentation. Since then I've read many books—one of my favorites being Winemaking at Home by Homer Hardwick, copyright 1954 by Wilfred Funk, Inc.—and tweeked and fiddled with my original recipes, but the basic procedure is still the same.

Of course, sharing recipes, hints, and ideas (and wine) with other winemakers is big part of the soul and fun of making wine.

Odds and ends of notes

• • 2 cups of white sugar = 1 pound; adds 1 cup liquid to batch
• • For sweet wine use about 3 pounds of sugar per gallon of wine
• • 1-1/2 liter bottle = about 1/3 gallon
• • Best yeast temperature = 75°F
• • Best early fermenting temperature = 75°F (60 to 80 is okay)
• • Best later fermenting and storage temperature = constant 50°F

Other recipes:

Chokecherry/Wild Black Cherry

This is my original recipe, which made good wine for many years, though not as much volume as the recipe outlined in the article.

4 cups (1 qt.) cherries (about 1.5 lbs.)
10 cups water (2.5 qts.)

Simmer until soft (or crush cherries and add boiling water)

Stir in 3 cups (1.5 lbs.) white sugar

Cool to 95°F, add wine yeast

Cover with cloth and set aside to ferment for 5 - 7 days

Stir in 2 cups sugar

Strain and jug with waterlock or balloon

Set in cool, dark spot until Winter Solstice (Dec. 21)

Drink, bottle, or rack (which makes a finer wine)

Blackberry

This makes a fairly strong, sweet wine with a definite blackberry flavor.

Clean and crush blackberries

Add equal amount of warm water

Cover and let set one or two days

Strain, squeeze, or press out juice

Add sugar to equal 3 pounds per gallon of juice

Add wine yeast

Cover and let ferment about 5 days

Jug with waterlock

Rack in December, March, early summer, early fall

Bottle, or continue racking for another year

Wild Plum

This is how I made it one year.

3 qts. wild plums (4.25 lbs.)
5 tablespoon lemon juice
7 qts. water

Simmer for a bit

Stir in 6.5 cups white sugar

Cool to 95°F, add 1/2 teaspoon wine yeast

Cover and ferment 6 days

Stir in 5 cups sugar

(continue as with cherry wine)

Gooseberry

Usually I don't harvest enough gooseberries to make a strictly gooseberry wine, since I have to share them with the squirrels and chipmunks. So I generally pick what is available when picking wild cherries and include them in that wine. But one particularly fruitful year I made a very nice sweet gooseberry wine using the following ingredients and the same procedure as above.

2.75 qts. (2.75 lbs.) gooseberries
4 tablespoons lemon juice
6.75 cups water
6.75 cups white sugar
1/2 teaspoon wine yeast (or enough for 2 gallons of wine)
Plus 4.75 cups sugar after initial fermentation.

Other fruits

Either adapt one of the above recipes as a starting point, or check out a few books and try one of their recipes. Almost every recipe will be different, so it's just a matter of choosing one and going with it. Make a lot of notes as you go along and start adapting the recipe to your own preferences.

Each year's wine will be a little different even if you use the same recipe and same procedure every time, which is the magic of things of nature and makes winemaking so much fun.