# Cherry-Zinfandel (You Won't find this anywhere else)



## Mine-Fine-Wine (Dec 7, 2011)

After the last few posts I had a reader e-mail telling me I’m a tease for only letting you guys at little bits of information at a time. I’ll be honest with you – there ARE a lot of things that go into making perfect wine at home. The chemicals, the clarifying agents, the bottling techniques, the filtering, the aging, the acid balancing, and more - and all that stuff is hard to swallow in one bite. I figure if I spoon feed it to you over time, you can remember it better and even refer back to it - right?

Anyway - I wanted to tell you about this.

I just opened my first bottle from a recipe I came up with last fall. I call it “Cherry-Zinfandel”.

Althought there are NO zinfandel grapes in it, I was attempting to re-create the flavor of zinfandel wine with store bought ingredients. Feel free to try it.

Tonight was a great night at my house – the stuff is awesome.
You will not find this recipe ANYWHERE else.

This recipe PROVES to me and others, that you CAN make wine from inexpensive, store-bought ingredients, and produce a superior tasting wine.

The best part? It only cost about a buck a bottle. 

Give it a try.

One other thing,

If you REALLY want to make good wine at home, and you want every scrap of information at your fingertips, you need the Complete Illustrated Guide to Homemade Wine and the Winemaker’s Inner Circle. All of my winemaking secrets and tips are there.

Get it all HERE. Hop over there and give it a read now so you won’t forget.

So the “Cherry Zin”; When we bottled it, it didn’t taste very good – I have to be honest. I thought it was just another failure. WRONG! 7 months in the bottle makes a HUGE difference. So, without further adeaux….
 
Here is my recipe for what I call “Cherry ZIN” (you WILL NOT find this anywhere else):

This recipe is for 5 Gallons

5 cans Blackberrys(from the store)
5 cans Cherrys(pitted – from store)
5 Cans Blueberrys (from the store)
13 cans Frozen Grape Concentrate
1 box Sunmaid Raisans
2 tablespoons black peppercorns
1 tablespoon pectin enzyme
6 ounces med. toast oak chips
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient

Process raisans, blackberries, cherries, blueberries in food processor. Put in a large pot and add the peppercorns, yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme, and wood chips. Add 2 cups water. Bring to a low boil and then turn off stove. Let the mixture cool to 85 degrees. Strain the mixture into your primary fermenter. Add your 13 cans of grape juice concentrate. Add 1 gallon of warm water. Check SG. Add Sugar water to bring SG to 1.1. Top off with water/sugar-water. Stir vigorously. Add 4 crushed/powdered Campden tablets and let sit overnight. Pitch your yeast and continue from here as usual.

Once you bottle this stuff (in about a month and a half), leave it in the bottle for at least 7 or 8 months. It tastes like crap until then – I KNOW. This wine has a wonderful aroma. It has a multilayered flavor that you will absolutely love. My wife said it was the best homemade stuff EVER. See what your spouse or significant other says. Cheers!

Wine Making Circle


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## Julie (Dec 7, 2011)

Are you here because you want to help and share winemaking points or are you promoting your own website?


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## robie (Dec 7, 2011)

Hm-m-m-m Fake Zin? Why would you want fake Zinfandel, other than cost, maybe? No thanks.


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## deboard (Dec 7, 2011)

Sounds like some thinly veiled website promotion. Doesn't sound like a bad recipe though, but I wouldn't call it zinfandel unless it has zinfandel in it. I'm making a cherry zinfandel right now with cherry juice and zinfandel concentrate. I'm going to call it cherry zinfandel.


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## robie (Dec 8, 2011)

deboard said:


> Sounds like some thinly veiled website promotion. Doesn't sound like a bad recipe though, but I wouldn't call it zinfandel unless it has zinfandel in it. I'm making a cherry zinfandel right now with cherry juice and zinfandel concentrate. I'm going to call it cherry zinfandel.



Sounds nice. I recently tried a friend's Cranberry Chianti from RJ Spagnol's Orchard Breezin' line. I have made several of that line's reds and whites, but none of them (so far) are as good as that Cranberry Chianti. I would sure recommend it for a nice, sweet summer wine; I'll likely make it in May.


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