Imagine yourself in the winter darkness and a winding snowstorm outside the window. You sitting in front of the fire with a glass of “summer scented “cherry wine”.
And not like any other wine, the wine you made yourself with your little hands. Picked each little cherry and carefully treated for a few months ago. I call it joy … In fact, it’s not that difficult to make your own cherry wine. What you need is some time for harvest and preparation. I can easily go with everything for 1 day. And you need some accessories like an old “wine bubble” and a siphon. The reward comes when the wine bubbles cozy for 2-4 months. All I do is make sure it ferments well. Make your own cherry wine now!!!
It is when the sugar is added to the yeast particles that the alcohol is created which gives the wine a taste. Alcohol is a flavor carrier.
Personally, I like a drier wine with a little more alcohol content. Therefore, I add a little extra yeast and sugar in the beginning so the fermentation gets started properly. Otherwise, it is perfectly excellent to “naturally ferment” the wine. Yes, actually a bit like making a “sourdough mother”. As we have the “yeasts particles” all around us in the air, thanks for that mother earth! Therefore, it is also not advisable to rinse the berries as the yeasts are in / around the skin. However, without the extra yeast there is also a risk. Because the “must” itself will not be able to start fermentation and the bacteria will take over and all the work you put into picking the berries will be lost.
The fact that the cherry is well suited to making wine is that it has a good acidity and tannins naturally in itself. Which in itself creates the good “wine taste” and also protects the must from fermentation bad and bacteria takes over the process and the wine becomes undrinkable.
As always when cooking, the starting point for succeeding is the RAW MATERIAL. Make sure to use fresh and rip cherries.
Recipe:
Here’s how to do it!
10 liters of ripe cherries
8 liters of water
3 kg of sugar
( 1 package of yeast for winemaking, available here)
- First, make sure all equipment is clean, sterilized and carefully shielded. Ordinary detergent etc are not sterilizing enough. I use chlorine. Or buy specialty cleaners for breweries.
2. Clean the berries, remove the stems and any damaged berries. Mash the berries in a large saucepan or large mortar so the juice runs out. Then pour all of it in a “wine bubble” siphon or yeast bucket. Pour in the water and wine yeast (if you do not want to try natural fermentation). Wait for the sugar, let the natural sugar ferment first. Let the siphon stand at room temperature for a few days. Press down the “hat” berries to get as much flavour as possible out of the cherry.
2. After 3-4 days I remove the must from shells and kernels and pour the must in a siphon. Now I add 1/3 of the sugar and put on the “rubber cap”on the top.
3. Place the siphon to room temperature, now the magic process starts. Look at the wine and check for bubbles in the rubber cap. In the beginning, it bubbles well.
4. After about 2-3 weeks the fermentation decreases and it is then time to add another 1 kg of sugar. Then the fermentation starts again.
5. After another 2-3 weeks or when the bubbles decreases (1-2 bubbles per minute) it is time for the last sugar dose of 1 kg
6. Now I keep an eye of the wine and let it ferment out properly (the bubbles decrease to 1-2 / minute). It can really vary from 4-8 weeks depending on room temperature etc. Some pour in chemicals to stop fermentation, but I want it natural.
Then it’s time to start clear the wine. Carefully I soak up the wine in another container without getting the bottom set. I pour the bottom set out of the siphon and rinse it clean. Then I drop the wine back and put on the “rubber hat again. Most to see if the fermentation has stopped. Repeat the process again, repeat until the wine is clear. Here, too, there are chemicals to add to “clear” the wine, but like I said – I want it natural.
7. When the wine is 100% clear, it’s time to bottle up. Equally important here too, is that bottles and accessories are clean. After bottle up – put on a cork and labels and down in the wine cellar. The first bottle opens for Christmas to be enjoyed – and suddenly summer comes back with memories of flowers and bees, as well as a few hours of climbing on a ladder…
