How come the only fruit people use to make wine from is grapes?
I heard that many types of fruits could be used to make delicious wines (pomegranate, plums, blackberries, elderberries, cherries)
Tags: come, from, fruit, grapes, Only, people, WINE
July 4th, 2010 | Tags: come, from, fruit, grapes, Only, people, WINE
pomegranate wine | 15 Comments »
I have seen wine made from other fruits, but grape wine is most common. From whatIi have tasted, grape wine is best.
I would argue that grapes far and away make the best wine, but even if it didn’t, grapes are simply the most easily cultivated in so many regions, especially when you consider the amount of juice per pound of fruit.
Grapes are the most popular, but not the only wine used in vinting. BUt you don’t mess with what works.
Most fruits can be made into wine, but it is usually in the home or niche markets.
This has a great chart.
http://www.eckraus.com/wine-making-recipes.html
But it isnt, I have had many different wines, from sloe, elderberry to parsnip, some are better than others, though the parsnip was particularly strong!
Back in the thirties , a lot of wine was made from wild black cherries . The wine was unbelievable , couldn’t be better. So why don’t we see a lot of wild black cherry wine ?
The cherries are much smaller than peas and the trees are towering . You could pick a railroad car of grapes in the time it would take to pick a bushel of wild black cherries .
Wine is primarily made from grapes because of their natural chemical balance making the addition of other ingredients, i.e. sugar, enzymes, acids, etc., unnecessary for the fermentation process. The word “wine” when used alone identifies the product of the grape variety.
‘Wine’ is, typically, between 12% and 18% alcohol, or 24-36 proof. The root of the word ‘wine’ comes from ‘vino’ where vino is derived from ‘vitis vinifera’, or ‘life of the vine.’ (rough translation)
“Vino (wine) Alcoholic liquid produced by the fermentation of the juice of the vitis vinifera i.e. grapes freshly picked or slightly ripened in the sun, with an acquired natural alcohol content of not less than 9%vol. There are some exceptions, such as the white chacolíes, which have a minimum alcohol strength of 7%vol and natural sweet wines, whose strength must not be less than 8%vol.”
See the last link below for recipes of non-grape wines.
any fruit can be used. i made dandelion wine last year even. good stuff.
Grape is used to make the most popular commercial made wine
However their are many home wine makers that use Apples, Bannana, Elderberries, Blueberries, Blackberries, Peachs, Kiwi etc etc etc
I guess alot of people forget to mention Boones Farm Strawberry Wine. Or the Song about the Watermellon Crawl
You can make wine from many substances. The EC Kraus web site is a great place to learn and obtain recipes.
While you can make wine from many things, the grape, particularly the grapes suited to making wine, they contain everything you need in one neat little package.
For what most consider a drinkable wine, that is the beverage standard that people have come to enjoy, that takes a balance of tanin, acid, sugar, etc. to produce the end product most people are familiar with.
wine recipes exist for dandelion, rhubarb, pear, peach, apple, raspberry, elderberry, wild grape, etc. etc.
Each recipe adjusts ingredients so you come out with something similar to a “wine” beverage.
For instance, rhubarb, very low in sugar, but very tart. So, you use a ton of sugar, water and pectic enzyme to help dissolve the pectin present in the rhubarb. You also add a yeast nutrient and wine tanin. This is because wine yeast have been bred for thousands of years to survive in a grape environment. You add sugar so that you arrive at a 22 brix mixture, the starting sugar content for most wines.
Rhubarb wine I have made comes out semi sweet, like a light reisling. Often the wine picks up some of the blush from the fruit. It needs at least six months in bottle to be drinkable.
concord grapes, the real native american dark grape. Great for juice, jelly etc. When making wine, I think they come out a little low on sugar. Also, the wine they make tastes like, well, fermented grape juice. That is, it lacks the acids and tanins found in most red wine grapes.
As you look at wine recipes, it is easy to spot what is missing from that particular fruit, watch for the amounts of sugar, water, tanin etc. that get added to the recipe.
Truth is, even the best of wine grapes year to year are not the same so wine makers supplement to get back to a desired characteristic.
Wine and beer making can be a lot of fun, your friends will find it interesting to try the product you have made and it is a hobby that can save you a lot of money too.
John
OK you heard right
and you should know any fruit with sugar can be fermented.
http://www.thebeveragepeople.com/
http://www.solorb.com/mead/
http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/homebrew.html
Yes great info above. Although I will choose a grape wine over any other variety, here is a good winery that has made their name off of other fruits. It’s Door Penninsula Winery in the beatiful area of Wisconsin called Door County.
http://www.dcwine.com/
I’ve had wine made from various berries, dandilions, olives,rice, and honey (Mead).
There are all kinds (they just have odd names, and aren’t popular everywhere).
The stuff your looking for is out there!
You can make wine from lots of things: pears, apples, peaches, even some odd stuff like dandelions. Grape wine is just tastier because its been made for so many years and they’ve got all the kinks and twists worked out.
maybe because of its popular good taste. I
also like strawberry wine