Chapter 3

Fruit & Vegetable Wines

Fruit wines are the most common homemade wines for several reasons: fruits are easy to obtain; they contain some natural sugar, so you don’t have to add as much table sugar; and they pair well with food, so they can be consumed like more traditional commercial wines. Some berries (such as blackberries, blueberries, and mulberries) make wines that are similar to traditional grape wines. Apples, pears, and peaches make nice white wines. Strawberries, raspberries, and plums make very light red or rosé wines.

Vegetable wines are not as common but well worth trying. Like fruit wines, they often need less sugar than herb and flower wines. Some vegetable wines, like Burgundy Kale, make good cooking wines. Others, such as wines made from pumpkins, butternut squash, and sweet potatoes, can be consumed like sake, either chilled or heated.

Apple

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

Apple wine can be either sweet or dry, depending on how much sugar you add during the primary fermentation. Two pounds of sugar per finished gallon will produce a nice wine with just a slight hint of sweetness. If you prefer a sweeter wine, add a little more sugar, up to as much as 3 pounds per gallon. Dry apple wines pair like white wines, working well with chicken and fish. Sweeter apple wines are great with desserts or with fruit and cheese plates.

I use whole apples, including the peel and seeds. The finer you chop them, the more apple flavor will infuse into your wine. I prefer to use a white wine yeast with apples, but a fruit-type yeast or a general-purpose yeast would work too. You could also ferment apple juice instead of the whole fruits. More apples — up to 5 pounds per gallon — will make a stronger-flavored wine.

photo of granny smith apple whole and a half, bottle and a glass of apple wine (looks like a white wine) on patterned table cloth and green backdrop

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Chop the apples, including the peels, core, and seeds, as finely as possible. Place them in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine will be ready to drink in about 3 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Sourcing Apples

Apples are one of the easiest fruits to obtain for free. There are more apple trees planted in people’s yards than any other fruit. Many of these people will have more fruit than they can use, and in these days when many people wish to obtain all their food from grocery stores rather than doing the work to process the apples in their yard, it is easy to find sources of apples. I’ve used several varieties.

Apple Champagne

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

Champagne yeast survives relatively high alcohol concentrations and can yield a bubbly sparkling wine if the sugar is managed carefully. To achieve that higher alcohol concentration, you will need to add more sugar than usual, but you will add it in stages. While this wine isn’t as bubbly as a traditional champagne, it can sparkle enough to deliver a delightfully fresh, lively feel on the tongue.

Store your apple champagne in bulk for at least 6 to 12 months before bottling to avoid having your bottles blow their corks. You can use champagne corks and wire fasteners, though they aren’t necessary.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Chop the apples, including the peels, cores, and seeds, as finely as possible. Place them in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring 3 quarts of the water to a boil in a large pot. Add 2 pounds of the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Let ferment, stirring twice a day.
  4. 4. When fermentation slows in a couple of days, bring the remaining 1 quart water to a boil, add the remaining 1 pound sugar, and stir to dissolve. Let the sugar water cool and then stir it into the must. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, about 10 days.
  5. 5. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  6. 6. The wine will be ready to drink in 6 months, at which time you could bottle it in champagne bottles with appropriate corks and wire fasteners. Or you can let it continue to age in the jug for at least 6 months more before bottling with regular corks.

Apricot

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

Apricots are one of my favorite fruits. When I bought a house, the first thing I planted was two apricot trees. In our climate here in Colorado, late-spring frosts often damage the early-blooming apricots. It took 10 years before I had my first large crop, but it was so massive that the weight of the fruit literally broke branches on the trees. I picked 22 gallons of apricots, which made 15 gallons of apricot wine with enough left over to blend with other fruits in two wines and make some apricot jam. Apricot makes a beautifully clear orange wine. It ages well, so if you are lucky enough to have access to a large crop, make enough to store for years and you will be glad you did.

decorative photo of apricots — one whole and and one cut in half.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Pit and finely chop the apricots. Place them in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 14 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. There will likely be enough small particles in the lees that you will need to rack and filter the wine the next day. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 3 to 5 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Banana

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

I had thought about making a banana wine for a while, but the idea started to gel when someone in an online winemaking group posted a banana wine recipe that garnered a lot of attention. When I went to my favorite grocery store, I saw a crate of overripe organic bananas on sale for 20 cents a pound. I couldn’t resist — I bought 22 pounds. The checkout clerk looked at me and asked, “Banana bread?” “No,” I said, “banana wine.” Her response: “Ooh, sounds good.”

It is best to use overripe bananas, as they have more sugar and create better flavor. I cut them in thin slices and include the peel (be sure to use organic bananas). This wine has a rather unappealing dark brown color during primary fermentation, but it clears nicely during bulk aging to become a white wine with a little sweetness. My wine turned out so well that I wish I had bought the entire crate of bananas.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Slice the bananas thinly, leaving the skins on. Place them in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 4 to 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Bing Cherry

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

Early in my winemaking career, I made a delightful Bing cherry wine from cherries that had been accidentally left out of the grocer’s fridge and were not suitable for sale; the produce manager donated them to me. I had been wanting to re-create that wine, and I found the right opportunity one day when Bing cherries were on sale at my local grocery store for 99 cents a pound — the cheapest price I had ever seen. I bought 15 pounds and made 6 gallons of wine. That wine, with its beautiful light red color and delicate cherry flavor, has aged well, and at 9 years old, it is one of the treasures in my cellar. It’s a wonderful sipping wine, and it also makes a great marinade for venison and other red meats.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Stomp or cut up the cherries; don’t bother to remove the pits. Place the cherries in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 4 to 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Blackberry

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

When I was growing up, my family picked the wild black­berries that grew prolifically in our area and my mother made jelly and blackberry custard pies. Shortly after buying a house, one of the first things I did was plant 10 blackberry bushes. They bore copious amounts of fruit after just a couple of years of growth, and I used almost all of the fruits to make wine.

Blackberries make a robust, sweet red wine with nice acids to balance the sugars. The 3 pounds used in this recipe will produce a medium-robust red wine. Less fruit will make a more delicately flavored wine, and more fruit will yield a more intense vintage. You may want to experiment with using different amounts of fruit to determine your preference.

Because I don’t use sulfites, sometimes my wines continue to ferment after being bottled. I once opened a 5-year-old bottle of blackberry at a wine-tasting party and it bubbled over like a champagne that had been shaken. It became the unanimous choice as the best wine of the dozen we sampled that night.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Stomp or mash the blackberries. Place them in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.
overhead shot of wines listed in caption. backdrop surface is bright yellow. wines are shown  in glasses surrounded by ingredients

Spiced Peach-Apricot, Blueberry, Fig, Wild Persimmon, Blackberry, and Peach

Blackberry-Peach

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

The big old peach tree at my former house would have a huge crop every couple of years, producing so many peaches that I made not only straight peach wine but many variations. This one, with blackberries, has a nice light red color and a wonderfully fruity taste.

photo of blackberries on white surface, drips of their juices surround them.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Stomp or mash the blackberries. Pit and chop the peaches. Combine the blackberries and peaches in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Blackberry-Rhubarb (Blackbarb)

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

I love to ferment rhubarb with various fruits, as it adds a nice balance and unique finish. Adding rhubarb can be a good way to stretch a small fruit harvest; just harvest what you need when it’s in season and keep it in your freezer for when you need it. While cooked rhubarb is tart, it makes a mild, light wine when fermented. In this combination, the rhubarb mellows out the intense flavor of blackberries, making a very agreeable red wine.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Stomp or mash the blackberries. Cut the rhubarb into small pieces. Combine the blackberries and rhubarb in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Black Currant

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

One summer my son, Darrick, who was 5 years old at the time, and I spent many afternoons exploring and fishing the Big Thompson River below Estes, Colorado. On one of those afternoons, I was fly-fishing while Darrick explored the shoreline. Suddenly he shouted, “Dad! Look at the blueberries!” I looked over to see a pair of huge bushes, right on the riverbank, loaded with what turned out to be black currants. They were plump and juicy from having plenty of water at the river’s edge. We forgot about fishing and picked 2 gallons of currants (for me to make wine). The currant wine turned out to be one of the best red wines I’ve ever made.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Stomp or mash the currants. Place them in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 4 to 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Black Currant-Peach

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

I liked the wine I made from wild currants so much that I bought two black currant bushes to plant in my yard. Unfortunately I had to set them on a dry hillside and they were tough to keep watered. I only harvested about a quart of black currants, but that was enough to give 5 gallons of peach wine some nice color and flavor. I chopped the currants in a blender to get the most out of them.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Mash or process the currants in a blender. Pit and chop the peaches. Combine the currants and peaches in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 4 to 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Black Currant-Rhubarb

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

While rhubarb makes a nice wine by itself (see recipe), I take every advantage of combining it with other fruits because the combination always makes a great wine. I process the currants in a blender to get the most color and flavor from them. For just a hint of the currant flavor and a little rosé color, use 1⁄2 pint of black currants. To deepen the color and add more of the delightful black currant flavor, add 1 pint or more.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Mash or process the currants in a blender. Cut the rhubarb into small pieces. Combine the currants and rhubarb in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 4 to 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Blueberry

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

Blueberry makes what I consider to be one of the best red wines in my cellar. I like it so much that I have made blueberry wine for 11 years in a row. The best way to prepare the raw blueberries is to stomp them. We use 5-gallon buckets and invite friends over. Of course, everyone who stomps the berries gets at least a bottle when the wine is ready.

There is so much color and flavor left in the pulp after I press out my blueberry wine that I often make a second wine, adding more water and sugar. It makes a nice light wine similar to a rosé. (Because there is less sugar in the pulp than in the whole fruit, use 3 pounds of sugar per gallon for a second wine.) I also use the leftover pulp as flavoring for other wines, adding it to apples (Blueberry-Apple), chocolate mint (Blueberry-Chocolate-Chocolate Mint), peaches (Blueberry-Peach), pears (Blueberry-Pear), and rhubarb (Blueberry-Rhubarb (Bluebarb)).

photo of blueberries siloutted on white background

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Mash or stomp the blueberries. Place them in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, saving it if you wish to make a second wine. Pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 4 to 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Blueberry-Apple

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

While leftover blueberry pulp adds a lot to every fruit wine I’ve added it to, this is perhaps the best wine that I’ve made from it. I really like the clean flavor of apple wine, and the blueberry pulp adds a nice rosé color and berry flavor on top of that. If you use fresh blueberries, you will make a darker wine with more berry flavor.

photo of blueberry-apple wine, cup of blueberries, and an apple on a wooden cutting board.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. If you’re using fresh blueberries, mash them. Chop the apples, including the peels, cores, and seeds, into small pieces. Combine the blueberry pulp or mash and the apples in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 4 to 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Blueberry-Chocolate-Chocolate Mint

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

I had just started my second batch of Chocolate-Chocolate Mint wine when I pressed out a batch of blueberry wine. Rather than save and freeze the leftover blueberry pulp, I decided to add it to the mint wine. This happy experiment created a spectacular dessert wine. Cocoa bean hulls, in place of cocoa powder, would give a stronger chocolate flavor.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Soak the raisins in enough water to cover overnight, then chop them, with the water, in a blender. If you’re using fresh blue­berries, mash them. Combine the raisins, blueberry pulp or mash, chocolate mint, and cocoa powder in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 4 to 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Blueberry-Peach

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

Blueberries add a nice color and berry flavor to peach wine. I used the pulp left over from making blueberry wine, but you could also use fresh blueberries.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. If you’re using fresh blueberries, mash them. Pit and chop the peaches. Combine the blueberry pulp or mash and the peaches in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 4 to 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Blueberry-Pear

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

Pear alone makes a very good wine (see recipe). One year, a friend called me to say his neighbors had two pear trees and were upset about the mess the dropped pears were making in their front yard and on the sidewalk. I went to visit and picked five buckets of pears. With this huge bounty, I made a pear wine and also this delightful variation using some some of the pulp left over from making blueberry wine. When I pressed out the pulp after the primary fermentation of my blueberry-pear wine, the pressings smelled so good that I put them back in the bucket, added more sugar (3 pounds of sugar per gallon), and made a light blueberry-pear second wine that also turned out very well, with plenty of flavor.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. If you’re using fresh blueberries, mash them. Cut the pears, including their skins and cores, into small pieces. Combine the blueberry pulp or mash and the pears in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 4 to 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Blueberry-Rhubarb (Bluebarb)

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

I’ve made this wine several times, always using the pulp left over from making blueberry wine. The tartness of the rhubarb complements the sweet berry flavor extremely well, making this a favorite among my wine-drinking friends.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. If you’re using fresh blueberries, mash them. Combine the blueberry pulp or mash and the chopped rhubarb in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 4 to 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Buddha’s Hand

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

Buddha’s Hand is a unique-looking type of citron. It is one of my favorite citrus varieties, in part because of its distinct shape, which is kind of like a hand with many fingers. This fruit has no juice, but its solid white interior has a delightful citrus flavor. You can use it in cooking as you would citrus zest, grating or chopping it finely. I usually add hot pepper to my citrus wines, but because I like this fruit so much I decided it was worth producing a straight Buddha’s Hand wine. It was an easy decision: that year my five Buddha’s Hand bonsai in the greenhouse had a bumper crop. You can also purchase the fruit from high-end specialty stores like Whole Foods, although it is a short season (from around Thanksgiving to early in the new year). Like all citrus wines, this is a good cooking wine, and it works especially well with chicken.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Soak the raisins in enough water to cover overnight, then chop them, with the water, in a blender. Chop the citrons, including the peel. Combine the raisins and citrons in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 3 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.
overhead photo of the wines listed in caption and some of their ingredients

Orange, Sweet Potato Sake, Buddha’s Hand, Cherry-Chocolate-Almond, Apricot, and Tomato Italiano

Burgundy Kale

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

Despite a lifetime as a serious gardener and 40 years in the plant business, I never grew kale until a couple of years ago. I love it raw in salads, baked into chips, and cooked as a green. I started with the blue-green curly variety, but last year I found a deep burgundy variety in a seed catalog and liked it even more. I decided to experiment and make a wine from it. I thought it might turn out to be just a cooking wine, but I was pleasantly surprised at the taste: it was sweet, with a delightful flavor and a deep burgundy color. Like a red wine, it is wonderful paired with red meats.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Soak the raisins in enough water to cover overnight, then chop them, with the water, in a blender. Combine the chopped raisins and chopped kale in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 4 to 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Calamondin Orange

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

This is my favorite variety of citrus to grow, in part because it is the easiest to grow indoors but also because it fruits heavily, blooming and bearing a crop at least twice a year. A 2-foot-tall plant can often carry several dozen ripe oranges as well as many more small green ones that are still maturing. During my 20-plus years selling bonsai, calamondin orange bonsai were one of my best sellers. They always had fruit and/or flowers, which made them irresistible to my clients — especially those in northern climates. If you don’t want to grow your own, you can find calamondins in some high-end specialty food stores. The fruits are small, with a tart interior and a sweet peel. I love to use them — peel and all — in cooking, and they also make a great wine. You can combine them with hot peppers (Calamondin Orange-Cherry Bomb) and sometimes chocolate (Calamondin Orange-Chocolate-Habanero), but this straight orange wine highlights their delicious flavor.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Soak the raisins in enough water to cover overnight, then chop them, with the water, in a blender. Chop the oranges, including the peel, into small pieces. Combine the raisins and oranges in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 3 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Cape Gooseberry

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

This sweet, marble-sized berry, sometimes called ground-cherry, is a member of the tomato family. The berry is enclosed in a papery husk similar to tomatillos, and the plant produces berries prolifically. They make a delightful, slightly sweet white wine that ages well in the cellar. It is a good dessert wine, although it could also be paired with cheese and fruit.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Mash the gooseberries. Place them in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 3 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Cherry

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

Cherry wine was the first wine I ever made, and even with the primitive methods I used at the time it turned out great. I’ve made it several times since and have always been pleased with the results. I once opened a delightfully bubbly 3-year-old bottle with a group of friends and they were impressed, judging it the best wine out of the six we tasted that day. I use sour cherries, which grow easily and produce prolifically in colder northern climates. If you grow them, you will need a bird net to protect your harvest. The best way to prepare the fresh cherries is to stomp them, although the pits give quite the foot massage.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Stomp or mash your cherries. Place them in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 4 to 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Cherry-Black Currant

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

One year when I had a meager harvest of black currants, I combined them with cherries to add some dark color and currant flavor to my cherry wine. The combination was wonderful. You can vary the amount of currants as you like; more black currants would produce a darker red wine with more pronounced black currant notes.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Stomp or mash your cherries. Process the currants in a blender. Combine the cherries and currants in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 4 to 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Cherry-Chocolate-Almond

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

The idea for this wine snowballed from a conversation I had with friends at a local wine and brew supply shop about making a wine from almonds. They suggested adding cherries to it. We were also talking about a wine I was about to start using chocolate, and they suggested I use cocoa bean hulls from a local chocolate shop that sold the hulls in bulk to breweries for use in making beer. I decided that cherry-chocolate-almond sounded too good to pass up.

All the almond wine recipes I could find suggested using bitter almonds, since they are what is used to get almond extract, but bitter almonds also contain cyanide, which I was leery of. I suggest using the almond extract you can find in the baking section at your grocery store. This is a very good dessert wine, although it is slightly less sweet than other dessert wines.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Soak the raisins in enough water to cover overnight, then chop them, with the water, in a blender. Mash the cherries. Combine the raisins, cherries, and cocoa bean hulls in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and the almond extract and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 4 to 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Cherry-Rhubarb

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

Rhubarb adds a unique flavor to this wine, and cherry goes extremely well with it. This is a very nice wine that can resemble a rosé or a very light red that is well worth making. Adding more cherries per gallon would increase the cherry flavor and color of the wine.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Mash or stomp your cherries. Combine the cherries and the chopped rhubarb in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 4 to 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Chinese Sumac

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

When I was in the Boy Scouts, we made pink “lemonade” by picking the berry clusters of wild staghorn sumac and steeping them in boiling water. Staghorn sumac grows only 4 to 5 feet tall and is easy to spot along roadsides in the Midwest, especially in the fall when the foliage turns deep red and is topped by the berry clusters. Chinese sumac is a close relative of the wild varieties in North America and is widely planted in yards as an ornamental. It is a larger plant, growing 10 to 12 feet tall. It makes an interesting wine with a tart flavor not unlike pink lemonade, and you can gather the fruit for free in many places. Either staghorn or Chinese sumac varieties can be used to make this wine. I used whole Chinese sumac clusters, but the berries could be stripped if you prefer.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Place the berries or clusters in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Chokecherry

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

Chokecherries grow wild in the foothills here in Colorado, and as the name implies, they are inedible raw. The small fruits grow in clusters, called racemes. They have a large pit and are black when ripe.

This wine has a very nice cherry flavor and a good red color. Using more chokecherries per gallon will yield a deeper-colored and more strongly flavored red wine.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Stomp or mash the chokecherries. Place them in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Stomping Party

Chokecherries tend to grow in abundance, and it is easy to pick a large quantity of the fruits, although your hands may be stained for a day or two after stripping them off the clusters. The best way to process them is to stomp them. The last time I made this wine, I invited a group of friends to help. We picked enough that it took three of them to stomp chokecherries in three different 61⁄2-gallon buckets. We made 17 gallons of wine. Everyone who picked received a bottle, and the three who stomped got a second bottle.

Chokecherry-Apricot

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

Blending two fruits together almost always makes a nice wine, and I am always interested in creating new wines to try. The year I had a huge apricot crop, I made a large batch of apricot wine and had some apricots left over to mix with other fruits. This combination made a nice wine with a little berry complexity added to the apricot flavor.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Stomp or mash the chokecherries. Pit and chop the apricots. Combine the chokecherries and apricots in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Chokecherry-Rhubarb (Chokebarb)

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

All of my wines are named after their main ingredients, and I often look for unusual fruits and fruit combinations to create interesting names. I’ll admit that my main motive for creating this wine was that I wanted to name a wine Chokebarb. Rhubarb mixed with other fruits always makes a superb wine, and the chokecherry-rhubarb combination does well here, with the cherry flavor balancing the rhubarb tartness. There is not a lot of sugar in either of these ingredients, so I recommend using plenty of sugar in the fermentation — perhaps even a little more than 3 pounds.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Stomp or mash the chokecherries. Combine them with the rhubarb in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Chokecherry-Wild Plum

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

Chokecherries ripen just before the wild plums in the Colorado foothills near my home, making it easy to combine these fruits. This is basically a wild plum wine with chokecherries added to provide a little color and flavor. Two and a half pounds of sugar is enough to produce a nice wine that’s a little on the dry side. Use more sugar if you prefer a sweeter wine.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Stomp or mash the chokecherries. Pit and chop the wild plums. Combine the chokecherries and plums in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Concord Grape

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

Concords are probably the most widely grown grape in North America. They’re especially well suited to fresh eating and making jelly. Early in my winemaking career, I had a friend offer me his Concord grapes, and they made a perfectly drinkable wine, somewhat similar to commercial red wine. I have to admit that I much prefer the red wines I make from blackberries, elderberries, blueberries, currants, and chokecherries. That being said, perhaps you will like the results more than I did. Besides, the experience of stomping grapes is quite memorable.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Stomp or mash the grapes. Place them in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 4 to 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Crabapple

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

Crabapples have a unique flavor that is more intense than that of regular apples. Large crabapples are generally considered better for culinary use (they’re traditionally made into jelly), but all crabapples will work for this wine. Whereas regular apples make a white wine, the higher proportion of skins to pulp in red crabapples will make a nice pink rosé-type wine. While not common, there are yellow-skinned varieties of crabapple that would make a white wine. Crabapples don’t have as much natural sugar as regular apples, so I recommend using the full 3 pounds of sugar for the fermentation.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Finely chop the crab­apples. Place them in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 4 to 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.

Crabapple-Mint

Recipe yield: Makes 1 Gallon. Decorative watercolor paint swash.

The second time I made a crabapple wine, we had a large patch of apple mint growing alongside our house. I decided to spice things up by adding it to the crabapples. The hint of mint was a nice complement to the crabapple flavor, and it is a good example of the ways in which you can vary your wines by adding herbs to the fruit in the primary fermentation. You could use any other mint in place of the apple mint.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. 1. Chop the crabapples. Combine the crabapples and the mint in the fermentation vessel.
  2. 2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the boiling sugar water to the mixture in the fermentation vessel. Cover and let cool.
  3. 3. Stir in the yeast and cover. Stir twice a day until fermentation slows, 7 to 10 days.
  4. 4. Press out the pulp, pour the wine into your secondary fermentation jug, and secure the fermentation lock. Check it the next day; if there is a deep layer of lees, rack and filter the wine. Rack again every 2 to 3 months.
  5. 5. The wine should be ready to drink in 4 to 6 months. Let it age in the jug for as long as possible before bottling, at least 6 months to 1 year.