Cherry wine needs more flavor

[JohnBurns]

Greetings all. Been following this site a couple weeks and love it. Making my first batch of cherry wine and after fermentation it needs more cherry flavor. I think the recipe I followed didn't call for enough fruit so now I wonder what I can do for more cherry flavor. It's a 10 gallon batch racked off gross lees with 27 lbs tart cherries, 4 lbs cranberries and includes 4 gallons of apple juice. I used QA23 yeast and started at 1.085 sp gr. All has gone well in the process. Any suggestions?

 

[Scooter68]

1) What type of cherries did you use - Sweet Cherries or Tart Cherries?
2) Yes your quantity of cherries should have been double of what you used even with the cranberry and apple juice addition.
3) Some flavor might come back when you back sweeten the wine but in my experience with tart cherries that's not needed to get flavor back.

 

[JohnBurns]

I used montmorency tart cherries. Should I consider back sweetening with sweet cherry juice?

 

[Rocky]

I used montmorency tart cherries. Should I consider back sweetening with sweet cherry juice?

John, what is the current SG? I have had some great results using extracts (lemon, orange, green apple) in various wines. I use very, very little (I mean a drop or two per bottle) and always bench test a smaller quantity before scaling up. Here is something I found on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/OliveNation-...ng&qid=1595866287&s=baby-products&sr=1-2&th=1
Just a suggestion but it is an alternative. I have used green apple in Riesling, lemon in Sauvignon and Chenin Blancs and Orange in a Vin Santo I made.

If you try this, I suggest you get the cherry taste you want and then back sweeten with simple syrup (2 parts sugar dissolved in 1 part water over medium heat).

 

[JohnBurns]

SG is less than 1.000 now. Thanks

 

[Scooter68]

Agree with back-sweetening with simple Syrup. Adding a cherry juice will add more volume and possibly result in more lees. IF you want to do something for more flavor perhaps add a concentrated Cherry juice without diluting it - just straight addition before the fermentation ends. Actually if you go with something like these pictured here and add them before you toss any K-Meta in there - Fermentation can re-start and while it will raise your ABV somewhat the flavor will be much better. I say something like one of these perhaps as many as 4-5 bottles to get the flavor up there. If you add them after you add K-Meta then also add some Potasium Sorbate with the K-Meta before adding the concentrates, that way the sugar can sweeten without re-starting the fermentation. Shoot you could even do both, Add two bottles and let that ferment down, then add two more after the ferment is stopped and you've added the K-Meta & K-Sorbate :


Just for background - When make a 3 gallon batch I typically use 3 of the Tart Cherry concentrate and 1 of the black cherry concentrate. Each bottle is supposed to make 1 gallon of juice (With plenty strong flavor) They aren't cheap but they make an excellent wine.

 

[JohnBurns]

Great feedback. Sounds like adding cherry concentrate is the way to go. Add now. Thanks

 

[Rocky]

Great feedback. Sounds like adding cherry concentrate is the way to go. Add now. Thanks

Your call. Just make sure you look at the ingredients on the bottle. Some of those sneaky manufacturers say "100% juice concentrate" but it is not 100% Cherry juice. Of the three pictured above, the "100% Tart Montmorency Cherry concentrate" looks like your best bet. Again, check the ingredients and if there is any water added, you might want to boil some of the water out to concentrate the flavor before adding it to your wine. Good luck.

 

[Scooter68]

Your call. Just make sure you look at the ingredients on the bottle. Some of those sneaky manufacturers say "100% juice concentrate" but it is not 100% Cherry juice. Of the three pictured above, the "100% Tart Montmorency Cherry concentrate" looks like your best bet. Again, check the ingredients and if there is any water added, you might want to boil some of the water out to concentrate the flavor before adding it to your wine. Good luck.

Yup - Before I buy I always read those ingredient labels - All sorts of surprises ca lurk there.

 

[DizzyIzzy]

Greetings all. Been following this site a couple weeks and love it. Making my first batch of cherry wine and after fermentation it needs more cherry flavor. I think the recipe I followed didn't call for enough fruit so now I wonder what I can do for more cherry flavor. It's a 10 gallon batch racked off gross lees with 27 lbs tart cherries, 4 lbs cranberries and includes 4 gallons of apple juice. I used QA23 yeast and started at 1.085 sp gr. All has gone well in the process. Any suggestions?

Hi John, I have been adding pure fruit purees from Label Peelers to my fruit wines, as well as substituting some of the water with Vintners Harvest purees (3 lbs, 1 oz cans). The fruit purees from label peelers are 8 oz. jars and a very concentrated flavor which I like. I will be making a peach wine this week and will be adding both of the above mentioned. Good luck, and welcome to the forum.....................................Dizzy

 

[JohnBurns]

Thanks Dizzy. I'll look in to that. I took Scooter68 advice and added tart cherry concentrate. I'll see how it does and adjust my recipe for next time.