# What's your favorite fruit(s) to make a wine with



## ohchiz (Apr 8, 2015)

im new and just wondering what people feel comes out the best to plan for future recipes


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## Bergmann (Apr 8, 2015)

There are many fruits that make excellent wine. All have their Pros and cons. Elderberry is robust but can be overpowering, Strawberry is very pleasant, and easy to ferment , but can become bitter if left on the seeds to long, the trick to fruit wine is to use Lots of fruit, I rarely make any fruit wine with less than 5 pounds per gallon. for my money, Mango is my favorite, followed by elderberry... 

Banana is a must have because it is a great blending wine and can improve those EEEH! type wines.


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## olusteebus (Apr 8, 2015)

I am not much of a fruit wine maker at all. I have not made much good fruit wine. I tried peach and Ive tried strawberry. For whatever reason, they did not turn out good at all. My problem with fruit wine is that I like a dry wine or semi sweet wine and I have not made any fruit wine like that. 

I do like Blackberry and I have recently made 5 gallons using only smuckers jam but I probably won't do that again because it is hard to ferment. I am next going to make some blacberry using concentrated blackberry juice.

I hope to some day soon make a semi sweet apple wine, maybe starting this fall from fresh cider.


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## GreginND (Apr 8, 2015)

My favorite "fruit" wine is made from a vegetable. Hands down it is a dry rhubarb wine.


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## Bobwhite (Apr 8, 2015)

I like a dry Concord 
If u can get fresh apples or pears they make a great semi sweet 
Banana is always good 
Blackberry is a pain to pick but a great wine 

Other then banana I have hand picked all my other wines and have access to peaches this year for free so will b trying that and some persimmon and I have also found some good choke cherry trees so that will b in my near future as well if anyone has any advice on these please help lol


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## BernardSmith (Apr 8, 2015)

Flower wines can be quite delicious too - hibiscus, for example and elderflower are among my favorite..


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## jswordy (Apr 8, 2015)

Blueberries. Put them in a bag and when it is time to rack, squeeze the bag very gently. You will have few troubles with sediment that way. Use 4-5 pounds/gallon or more (if you can afford it). In order for blueberry to turn out well, you must add "vinosity." I do that with one can frozen Welch's concord at ferment per 5-6 gallons made. You can also do it by adding liquid wine tannin, or by using the red wine concentrates.

Blueberry blends well with muscadine, scuppernong or other sweet native grape wines.


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## fabrictodyefor (Apr 8, 2015)

I've made more fruit wines than kit wines. I used to buy and drink only dry reds, but I have found the semi-sweet fruit wines I make are better! My favorites are rhubarb/ raspberry blend, choke cherry/apple blend and a Dragon's Blood I make with concord grape juice concentrate and blackberries. However I did make a plum that is out of this world. Ended up a little sweeter because of the flavor pak I made, but all agree we wish we had more of it! I've yet to try the peach or apricot variety!


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## drumlinridgewinery (Apr 8, 2015)

Black raspberries. about 5 lbs per gallon. Can be made dry or sweet. I like both. The sweet is a real winner with friends. Usually needs some acid at the end before bottling. Last year we picked almost 50 lbs.


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## wineinmd (Apr 8, 2015)

I love black raspberries. My grandma makes the best jelly ever from them. I've helped pick hers and can't imagine how many vines it takes to get 50 lbs.


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## wineinmd (Apr 8, 2015)

I might be able to grab enough for a one gallon batch, but the rest goes towards jelly!


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## vacuumpumpman (Apr 8, 2015)

Apple - blueberry - Apricot - Pineapple - Plum - Pumpkin - 

I believe I got most of them ?


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## quiltertoo (Apr 9, 2015)

blueberry-blackberry-elderberry-strawberry-cherry-pear-orange-persimmon-banana-raspberry-cranberry. I have made all of these but if I had to pick the one I liked best it would be persimmon, next would be blackberry.
Mary Lou


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## Turock (Apr 9, 2015)

My fav fruit wines are strawberry, peach, and sour cherry. And don't forget pear, too.


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## Stressbaby (Apr 9, 2015)

Hibiscus - blends with anything, adds body and nice rose color
Elderberry
Carambola (starfruit) - took me 4 batches but I finally figured it out
Lemongrass - makes excellent wine 

Did not like:
Banana
Apple
Most straight up citrus
Persimmon


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## ohchiz (Apr 15, 2015)

also, any suggestions as to which fruits clear the fastest/are quickest to produce?


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## Turock (Apr 16, 2015)

You're gonna want to bulk age for 1 year.


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## Jc5066 (Apr 17, 2015)

Blackberry is great. Cherry and cranberry are good too.


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## Jc5066 (Apr 17, 2015)

Turock said:


> You're gonna want to bulk age for 1 year.




Maybe for a dry fruit wine. If you back sweeten, a few weeks is all you need.


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## fabrictodyefor (Apr 18, 2015)

But, if you bulk age for a year the fruit flavor may come forward more and then you may not want to back sweeten. Sometimes we want a "fast" wine like the Dragon's Blood, which are great, fast and fun. However there may come a time when you may want to find out how the fullness can come through in a wine and the only way to do that is to have patience! That is why those car boys just seem to multiply!


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## spaniel (Apr 21, 2015)

Black raspberry followed by peach. I split out my poorly managed black raspberries to 113 hills last week. I'm hoping next year I get another batch, I've only had enough for one in 7 years. But that 5 gallons of port was worth every berry.


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## wineinmd (Apr 21, 2015)

spaniel said:


> Black raspberry followed by peach. I split out my poorly managed black raspberries to 113 hills last week. I'm hoping next year I get another batch, I've only had enough for one in 7 years. But that 5 gallons of port was worth every berry.



Black raspberry port sounds divine.


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## Boatboy24 (Apr 22, 2015)

A barely off dry peach with crisp acidity. It's a wonderful thing on a warm summer day.

And blueberry port.


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## kyironrider (Apr 23, 2015)

Being from southeast (rural) KY. I love the semi sweet fruits.... Blackberry, red raspberry are plentiful and are great. I also love peach and plum I also think cranberry is very good but I have a hard time getting it to ferment down. I back sweeten to 1.010.


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## kryten (Oct 15, 2015)

Apples! Apples! Apples!


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## Scooter68 (Jan 7, 2016)

BLACKBERRY !!! I started making fruit wine this past summer and the blackberry si the best by far. Peach is great but mine was too light bodied this time, I'll double the fruit next time. And of course Strawberry is dangerously delicious.
So from what I have made so far the top three are Blackberry, Peach, and Strawberry.

Our Blackberry has a very flowery bouquet and I slightly sweetened it but not to full desert wine level.

Blueberry had the least flavor but again I will up the fruit quantity and see how that works. 

One thing I will be watching more carefully next year is the acidity. Instead of blindly trusting the recipes this year I'm going to 1) Up the fruit quantity and 2) Check acidity before I add in ANY Acid Blend.  Musts this year all started out very acidic and finished somewhat too acid for my liking. Thankfully no real bad bite or overly tartness this time around.

I'm open to trying some other varieties time permitting but since I just retired that's no excuse any more. 
This year we made:
Apple (Still waiting for it to clear)
Blackberry
Blueberry
Peach
Strawberry 

And I am going to start some Apricot this week.


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## stevo (Jan 10, 2016)

definately apple


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## Jc5066 (Jan 15, 2016)

Blackberry
Cherry
Cranberry


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## yanks4carolyn (Jan 15, 2016)

Banana, which tastes nothing like a banana, with orange zest from 2 small oranges, after all was clear. It was already a semi sweet so zest is all I added. I only done that to a quart and now I'm doing the rest of the gallon. 
Peach is tasting really good too. 
This is such a fun hobby! 
As for apricot, I need to know how many lbs some of you used? Dried or fresh?


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## jemiller59 (Jan 16, 2016)

Blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, pear, apricot


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## wizdizzy (Feb 27, 2016)

the ones on sale lol


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## Julie (Feb 27, 2016)

lol, I don't know how I missed this thread but my fav fruit is Elderberry!!!!!!


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