# wine from wild cherry tree?



## Jal5 (Mar 13, 2018)

We have several wild cherry type trees on the property that bloom in May-June here in Ohio with a lot of tiny white flowers. the cherries were unusually abundant last year and the birds had a feast! I am wondering if I can harvest these small cherries this year and use them for a wine batch. Not sure what they are called though to research suitability for wine making. Any ideas from those with more experience with country fruit? Thanks.

Joe


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## GreginND (Mar 13, 2018)

Are these chokecherries? I just bottled 40 cases of wild chokecherry wine yesterday. It can be delicious.


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## Scooter68 (Mar 13, 2018)

If they are cherries or chokecherries - certainly. You will of course be tasting and testing them to determine if they are a sweet cherry or tart cherry. Odds are the latter. Tart Cherries make a great wine. I just finished one and I suspect if you like tart drinks you will love it.


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## Jal5 (Mar 13, 2018)

If I remember correctly tasted them once and they are tart: very small fruit with large kind of pit. My problem will be harvesting them before the birds eat them! Those trees are really very tall too adding another dimension to the challenge. But free fruit...
Joe


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## Scooter68 (Mar 13, 2018)

I have a book by a cook who specializes in cooking with things off his farm, including wild veggies and fruits. He has a recipe in his book for a "Cordial" that calls for wild cherries macerated in vodka for 3 weeks then strained off. Not sure how much that relates to making wine but he said something similar, very small fruit with virtually standard sized cherry pits. _Book is "The Farm" by Ian Knauer_. Some really neat ideas (Recipes) in the book plus he shares his experiences with his farm and his career as a cook. (High Class and Swell Cook) Think there are actually some YouTube videos of what he does. 
_Recipe is pretty simple with of course no fermentation:
2 cups Wild or Sour cherries
3 cups Vodka
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup water._

I did try it once with our pie cherries - Definitely falls into the Rocket Fuel category.

(OH - Just looking at some of his videos and he has a couple about beer making.!!!)


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## Arne (Mar 14, 2018)

You can net the bottom part of the tree (as high as you can reach and pick) and leave the top open. Let the birds have the high ones and you get the rest. Arne.


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## wildhair (Apr 12, 2018)

I thought I found some chokecherries on the land where I hunt. Upon closer examination - turns out it is buckthorn. Both fruits look similar, but the buckthorn fruit is a powerful laxative! Glad I researched further before making a batch or wine from it! 

http://igrow.org/gardens/gardening/chokecherries-and-buckthorn-whats-the-difference/


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## Rice_Guy (Aug 24, 2020)

@Jal5 ; did you ever make the wild cherry?

Yesterday I was picking a fence line tree which I thought was chokecherry when I first tasted it, ,,,, but pHd Google tells me that if there is brown hair on the main stem it keys out as black cherry. (AKA cherry used for furniture)

@hounddawg and @Scooter68 you do lots of country wines ,,,,, would you run this like chokecherry?


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## hounddawg (Aug 24, 2020)

in the commercial world of drinks black cherry is a favorite of mine, but i have never got my hands on any, on olivenation.com has black cherry extracts so i would try a 3 gallon batch if i had the chance. i've been getting ready to try 2 batches, black cherry kool-aid, and at the same time black cherry extract from olivenation.com ,,,
Dawg


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## Rice_Guy (Aug 24, 2020)

Dawg, I picked about 1.4 kilo. 
Dawg are You are sending me back to the fence line to get Another 5 pounds? (as choke cherry I would run 2 to 3# per gallon)


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## hounddawg (Aug 24, 2020)

Rice_Guy said:


> Dawg, I picked about 1.4 kilo.
> Dawg are You are sending me back to the fence line to get Another 5 pounds? (as choke cherry I would run 2 to 3# per gallon)


on tart cherry i go with 5 lb per gallon, that being said mine must be very robust to overcome my tracheostomy, beings a whole lot of taste comes from smell, sadly i'm not a lot closer, as i would pick for all three of us #1-your wine,,,#2-my wine,,#3 my belly, um i was in the SPP i told yawl that it will ambush you,,,,,lol
Dawg


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## Yooper🍷 (Aug 24, 2020)

Just bottled 6 gal of choke Cherry wine this morning and 13 pints of Choke Cherry jelly.


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## hounddawg (Aug 24, 2020)

Yooper🍷 said:


> Just bottled 6 gal of choke Cherry wine this morning and 13 pints of Choke Cherry jelly. View attachment 65125
> View attachment 65126


JELLY, did you say JELLY, i'm your long lost 198th removed cousin, dang cuz,,, i love jelly, lol, BTW both look awesome,,, 
Dawg


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## hounddawg (Aug 24, 2020)

Rice_Guy said:


> @Jal5 ; did you ever make the wild cherry?
> 
> Yesterday I was picking a fence line tree which I thought was chokecherry when I first tasted it, ,,,, but pHd Google tells me that if there is brown hair on the main stem it keys out as black cherry. (AKA cherry used for furniture)
> 
> @hounddawg and @Scooter68 you do lots of country wines ,,,,, would you run this like chokecherry?


i;d do it in a heart beat,
Dawg


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## Jal5 (Aug 24, 2020)

No our tree didn’t have much yield probably due to the late cold spring weather this year. Joe


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## hounddawg (Aug 24, 2020)

Jal5 said:


> No our tree didn’t have much yield probably due to the late cold spring weather this year. Joe


my blackberries, peaches, pears and elderberries looked great early spring then the rains stopped and nothing made this year for me, 
Dawg


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## Jal5 (Aug 30, 2020)

Blackberries were really dried out here too


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## hounddawg (Aug 31, 2020)

Jal5 said:


> Blackberries were really dried out here too


tuff year, last winter and last spring was so good and wet, that everything bloomed with bumper loads on everything, then summer rolled around very hot and very dry, 
Dawg


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## JustJoe (Aug 31, 2020)

Chokecherries didn't do well here this year but the elderberries are plentiful and the wild grapes are better than I have ever seen. I think I will get enough grapes for four 6 1/2 gallon batches.


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## Rice_Guy (Sep 2, 2020)

wild cherry is unusual in processing.
First the web recipe has me rub the pulp off the seed which resulted in a thick ketchup soup, second there is a skin that formed on this bucket as I waited for meta to work, now with yeast it is building a pulpy foam (which was scooped off)


Am hopeful it clears as well as @Yooper🍷 got.
Decided to thin it out with apple cider, nice taste at this stage.


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## Yooper🍷 (Sep 2, 2020)

I usually crush fruit to break the skins then put everything in mesh bag with amount of water your using with the k meta and pectin for 24 hours then squeeze and add sugar and yeast squeeze bag and stir every day for about a week following ddb recipe


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## montanarick (Sep 4, 2020)

I bought an old fashion cherry pitter off ebay for around $30 and it worked great for pitting the 26# of sour cherries this year. Most pits came off nice and clean with the pulp dropping out the end


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## Rice_Guy (Sep 4, 2020)

will be interested how it ages, using montmercy (pie cherry) without pitting I see astringent/ metallic flavors develop in year two


montanarick said:


> I bought an old fashion cherry pitter off ebay for around $30 and it worked great for pitting the 26# of sour cherries this year. Most pits came off nice and clean with the pulp dropping out the end


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## Arne (Sep 10, 2020)

@ Yooper how much fruit did you with the chokecherry wine? Looks light colored, but maybe your berries are not as dark as ours are. Arne.


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## Yooper🍷 (Sep 10, 2020)

I used somewhere around 12-15 lbs. tastes great but looks like Rose’


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## Arne (Sep 12, 2020)

@ Yooper THanks. Bout what I used this year. Pulled the berries after only 4 days and the wine is till darker than yours. Must be more color in our berries. Will be tasting shortly, like to wait til it sits for a month or so before trying. Arne.


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