Fruit Wine

A Fruit Wine, also called Country Wine, is a fermented beverage which uses a fruit juice—other than grape juice—as its base. It could be made from plum, pomegranate, elderberry, blackberry, cherry, raspberry, apple, or a plant like dandelion. The yeast essentially feeds on the sugar of the fruit and turns into red or white wine.

To make Fruit Wine at home, one requires ingredients like wine yeast, sugar or honey, boiled water, liquid pectic enzyme, and fresh fruit. It will also require equipment like a fermentation bag, a glass jug and containers where the fermentation will occur, a syphon tube, an airlock, and optionally, a winemaker’s hydrometer. The important thing to keep in mind is the ratios of the ingredients. For instance, to make five gallons of wine, use between 10 to 15 pounds of fruit. A lot of the wine’s taste and consistency depends on personal preference. One would also need empty wine bottles for the final product. Store it in a cool, dry place.

Experts agree that Fruit Wines were first made in the Mesopotamian Valley, around 50,000 years ago, using figs, dates, and watermelons, with an almost 30 percent alcoholic content. They would often add pepper, honey, oregano, and other herbs. It was as recently as 15,000 years ago though that grape came into the picture, as predecessors of wine as we understand it today.

Although there’s much discussion today about Grape Wine being the only “real” wine, Fruit Wines have had fans throughout history. For instance, Eleanor of Aquitaine loved Pear Wine and Leonardo da Vince always had fig and peach wine close by..