You can make wine using fruits other than grapes. You can use grapes if you want, but we want to open your eyes to the best fruits for wine making. We know you’ll be surprised when you learn about the various fruits you can use to create wine. If you haven’t made wine before, we’ll show you how to make homemade wine.
If you have made wine before, you can skip the wine making process. Just pick the fruit you want to use to make wine and then go make it. When your fruity flavored wine is ready, share it with our friends and family.
The 11 Best Fruits for Making Wine
Everyone loves wine, especially if it’s homemade and made from a different fruit. Homemade wines also make great gifts. Without delaying it any further, let’s tell you what you came here to know. We’ve listed all the fruits, including grape, you can use to make homemade wine.
1. Apples
Use apples for wine making if you like the taste of light white wine. You can enhance the taste of the wine by aging it for at least two years. Once it’s aged, blend using this as a base wine.
2. Blackberries
If you like red wines with a bold taste and strong flavor profile, use blackberries for wine making. You can combine blackberries with pears or apples. Combining these fruits creates a unique yet delicious taste. Make the wine using blackberries and then forget about it for at least two years. After two years, the wine will taste even better.
3. Cherries
Cherries are an awesome fruit for wine making. You can make the wine and store it away for at least two years, bringing it out during the holidays and events.
4. Blueberries
Blueberries create a light rose taste. Unlike other wines on the list so far, you won’t have to wait two years to drink it. You can drink it after you age it for one year.
5. Grapes
Why are grapes on this list? Grapes are on here, as there are still a lot of people who prefer their wine made from this fruit. If you’re one of them, you welcome. Grapes ferment fast, which is why this fruit is a favorite for wine making. If you want, you can experiment by blending it with other fruits.
6. Pears
Pears are not one of the best fruits for wine making because it creates a flat-tasting wine. Instead of using just pears for wine making, we want you to combine this fruit with raspberries. The combination of these two fruits will improve the taste of the wine drastically.
7. Peaches
If you’re not afraid to get messy, use peaches for wine making. Peach wine is a full-bodied white wine that emanates an enticing aroma.
8. Plums
You need to chop up the plums to ferment them. The distinguishing features of plum wine are its color and texture. It only takes one year for plum wine to mature.
9. Strawberries
Strawberry for wine making is a good choice with one major downside; it takes forever to ferment. If you’re in no rush and have the patience to wait out the period, make strawberry wine. Even after bottling it up, you should wait at least one year to drink it.
10. Rhubarb
If you thought you needed patience with strawberry, you’ll need even more patience with rhubarb. It takes a very long time for rhubarb to age. For rhubarb to mature, it can take up to four years. We think this is due to it being a vegetable.
11. Raspberries
Use raspberries for wine making because it tastes delicious. You can combine raspberries with other fruits to improve their color and aroma.
How to Make Fruit Wine
Once you’ve selected your fruit for wine making, you’re ready to make it. Our helpful, step-by-step instructions will help you make fruit wine. Follow this method to create wine at home:
1. Extract the Juice
Remove the seeds and pits, if any, from the fruit. Freeze your fruit, thaw it, put it in a nylon bag, and then extract the juice. Use either your hands or a fruit press to extract the juice. Put the bag in the primary fermentor such as a non-porous container or a large plastic food-grade bucket with a lid. The lid should support a blow-off tube or an airlock.
2. Collect All Ingredients
Place all the ingredients, except the yeast, into the primary fermentor and close it with the lid. From the blow-off tube or airlock, carbon dioxide gas can escape. It also prevents the air from entering. Add a little extra mixture to top off your wine later to prevent oxidation.
3. Use a Hydrometer
The hydrometer indicates the specific gravity (SG). Based on the reading, you can adjust it by pouring more fruit, water, or sugar. Most wines have an SG of 1.080 to 1.090.
4. Add Campden Tablet
If you are satisfied with the SG, add one crushed tablet to one gallon of wine. If you have two gallons of wine, you’ll add to tablets and so on. The tablet eliminates wild yeast from your wine. Place the lid with an airlock or blow-off tube on the container with wine, allowing it to sit for one day.
5. Add Cultivated Yeast
Add cultivated yeast to your wine after one day. Allow it to ferment in the main fermentor and measure the SG. The SG should be at 1.040 or lower. It’ll take at least four to seven days for the SG to reach that level.
6. Siphon Your Wine from the Main Fermentor
Siphon your wine from the main fermentor, placing it in a wine bottle and glass carboy. Put the airlocks on both of them and allow it to sit for two to three weeks and then siphon it again. Put it into a new carboy and put the airlock on it.
You should siphon the wine from the other bottle to reduce air to prevent oxidation. Allow it to stand for one month and then siphon it again to another carboy. Check the SG before you put the airlock. Add 1/2 to one tablet per gallon if the SG is less than 1.00.
7. Bottle Your Wine
The wine needs to have an SG of 1.00 or higher to bottle it. You can sweeten it by adding sugar to boiled water. Add the stabilizer to your wine. When adding the sweetened mix, add a small amount each time to prevent your wine from becoming extra sweet.
Since most fruit wines lack body, you can add red or white grapes, raisins, or bananas. They’ll improve the taste and quality of your fruit wine.
Our Final Thoughts
Now, you know the best fruits for wine making as well as the process of wine making if you didn’t know. You can make wine for your friends and family or make several different types of wine and store them in a barrel, if not a bottle.
By making various wines, you can bottle a few of the different ones once they’re aged. If you enjoy wine making or plan to make it for the first time and it’s a fruit wine you crave, choose a fruit from this list. We recommend starting with grape wine if this is your first time making wine at home.
Once you get the hang of wine making, you can choose your favorite fruit from our list of the best fruits for wine making. One last tip before you we go, do record your recipe. If it turns out to be good, you don’t want to repeat the formula instead of guessing the ingredients and measurements you added.
