Cherries are my favorite stone and summer fruit. They are not only nice to look at, photograph and eat, but also nutritious. We have reached peak season and that means that after eating kilo after kilo of fresh fruit we can now move on to drinking liter after liter of cherry wine.
I’ll be honest, up until a few days ago I had no idea cherry wine existed. We stumbled upon it while out for an exploratory walk around town. Being that both hubby and I love cherries and the local young wine, we had to stop for a glass.
It was no surprise that upon our first sips we both declared how wonderful it tasted. Lucky for us the wine bar also offered bottles of cherry wine for sale, we bought one.
The colour, as you can see, is dark like red wine. The smell is a sweet cherry scent with minimal hints of alcohol. Though it is a young fermented wine, the consistency is thick, when swirled in the glass it sticks and slides down slowly, like that of a good aged red wine. Much like its grape Burčak relative this wine too is slightly carbonated. It was served chilled which on a hot summer day was perfect. The taste can simply be described as a cherry lovers paradise! It tastes like you are drinking freshly pressed cherries — sweetly delicious.
I wasn’t able to find out what the alcohol content is, but I can’t imagine it’s much more than grape Burčak ; 1% to 7%. So while a glass or two won’t leave you feeling drunk or even buzzed it is easy to over drink before sneaking up on you.
Cherry wine will now be my summer alcoholic drink of choice, I only wish we had discovered it years before — so I have some catching up to do. Thankfully there is a wine bar not too far from home that also offers cherry wine. Or we could also try making our own cherry wine.
Have any of you ever made cherry wine or other fruit wines at home? I did some research and found so many recipes. Here’s one that aroused my curiosity.
- 6-8 lbs black cherries
- 2-1/2 lbs granulated sugar
- 1-1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
- ½ tsp citric acid
- 5-1/2 pints water
- 1 crushed Campden tablet
- Wine yeast and nutrient
- Pick only ripe berries. Wash and destem cherries, discarding any that are not sound and blemish free. Chop the fruit as best you can. It is not necessary to destone the cherries, but discard any stones that crack or break open. Put in crock with water, stir in crushed Campden tablet and, 24 hours later, pectic enzyme. Cover and set aside four days. Pour through nylon sieve or jelly-bag and squeeze well to extract all possible juice. Add sugar, citric acid and nutrient and stir well to dissolve sugar. Transfer to secondary, add yeast starter, fit airlock, and set in warm place (70 degrees F.). Rack after initial fermentation subsides (14-21 days), top up with cold water, refit airlock, and ferment to dryness in cooler place (60 degrees F.). Rack again and bottle. For sweeter wine, stabilize and add ¼ to ½ cup sugar-water before bottling. Taste after 6 months or allow to age one year. Drink within 18 months. [Adapted from C.J.J. Berry's 130 New Winemaking Recipes]
Have you ever tasted cherry wine, or any other fruit wines? I’d love to read your thoughts and tips on new fruit wines to try.
Cheers to a great work week!
P.S.
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It must taste like heaven in a hot day.
It really does. Thanks Marta.:)
A divine and refreshing drink! I love the last shot.
Cheers,
Rosa
Thanks Rosa!
The drink looks divine!!! Loved all the pictures Nancy :)
Thanks so much, Nandita!
I have in fact tried cherry wine in an upscale Chinese restaurant way back and loved it. The pictures are so beautiful.
That’s great Ash, so you know how delicious it tastes. Thank you!
This looks like the perfect end to any day and it is right on time. I’ve been on the hunt for some cherry recipes, thank you.
Or even great as a light drink for the weekends. Thanks Sandra and enjoy!
Luscious photos! They make my mouth water. I live in a wine making region but have not heard of cherry wine here. I will be checking with some local wineries. Maybe I will get some interest even if I don’t find the wine itself.
I have tried some fruit wines but nothing memorable.
Thanks so much kitblu! I hope you can find it locally if not perhaps another fruit wine for you to enjoy.:)
Lovely photos Nancy! A very interesting recipe to share, it looks particularly refreshing on a warm Summer evening ;) Pinned to my Cherry board!
Thanks so much Patty, wish I could share a bottle with you.:)
I love cherries too, what a gorgeous drink!
It’s difficult not to love everything about them. Thanks, Laura!
I am a huge cherry fan. I grew up in WA state and they grow all over the place. Your recipe looks great :)
How lucky for you, I would go crazy if they grew near me. Thanks os much Ann!
G’day Nancy! LOVE cherries, true!
LOVE your photos as they are always so expressive and today’s are sexy too! :)
Cheers! Joanne
Thank you so much, Joanne! I love hearing when others see exactly what I’m trying to portray in my photos. Cheers!
I don’t think I have had cherry wine yet, but can only imagine that it tastes amazing! Love your recipe! Beautiful, Hugs, Terra
I wish I could have share a glass…or bottle with you Terra. Thanks so much:)
Oh gorgeous coloured photos Nancy. Ive had every wine bar cherry. Looks great with fresh cherries .
Thanks so much, Tania!
WOW!
Thanks Ms. Raven:)
I don’t think I’ve had cherry wine before, but I bet I would love it!
I’m sure you would, it tastes wonderful. Thank you Bianca!:)
Drop-dead gorgeous photos as always. And I can almost taste the cherry wine…yum.
Thanks so much Victoria!
You really have me wanting to run out and buy some cherries. I’ve never had a fruit wine other than grape wine of course, so I’m quite curious as to the flavor. The richness of the color reminds me of some of the late harvest red wines that I’ve had and love BTW. Another something wonderful to look for!
Thanks so much MJ! I hope you can enjoy cherries before the season ends, and even better if you can find the wine.
Lovely recipe! Here in the UK, the hedgerow is beginning to come into its own with fruits for all sorts of preserve and wine making becoming available. My favourite is Elderberry and Blackberry Wine which makes a fine rich wine and ages nicely too. The recipe we use is from Roger Phillips’ book ‘Wild Food’ – an absolute treasure of a book which has been part of the family kitchen for the last 20 years!
Both of those sound delicious, I’ll have to see if I can find them. Thanks so much!
Now that’s one gorgeous looking drink! Would love to try some of this !
Thanks so much Claudia!
I’m not a huge wine drinker (it puts me to sleep), but I think I’d love cherry wine. We made some pomegranate wine with a friend of ours who does some brewing. Maybe this year we will try making cherry wine??!
I think you would, Laura because I didn’t feel sleepy at all from the cherry wine. Wow, pomegranate wine sounds great!
Me too, cherries are one of my favorite summer fruits and so happy to be able to eat again (I thought of buying American cherries while I was in Japan but super expensive!). Your black cherry wine looks gorgeous!
It will be a very long wait for the next season, but for a while longer we can drink the wine. Thanks:)
I have been on the hunt for a great wine. This looks amazing!
Without having to make it, have you bought one that you really enjoyed?
I’ve only ever bought this one, unfortunately it has been the only time I’ve seen it for sale.
If you find this out of season you can always use frozen cherries as well. Fresh is better but frozen cherries generally already come pitted. Between that and the fact that they are frozen means the cherries are already “broken” and therefore they easily will release their juices (sugars). Additionally, if you make it at home experiment, that is the best part of making your own! Right now I have a mixed berry wine almost done fermenting. Although I used some water to dissolve the sugar at the time I put together the wine “must” I made up most of the beginning liquid portion from fresh local apple cider. It already tastes awesome and its not even done with it’s secondary fermentation/clearing phase.