Looking for recipe on how to make 'bing cherry' wine

[three_jeeps]

HI:
I am a long time wine maker (from grapes). I recently visited a cherry tree orchard and picked about 4 lbs of what I call 'bing cherries' although the owner called them something else but I don't recall. (they have 24 varieties of cherries at the orchard).
I thought I'd try something different and make cherry wine (or liquor) out of them.
Having never done this before, I am looking for some advice on what the procedure should be as well as a good recipe to start with.
I realize that 4 lb may not make a lot of wine, but what ever the quantity, I am fine with it.
Thanks for any help & advice.
J

 

[BernardSmith]

Hi three_jeeps. Cherry wine is often a real dud because without sufficient care it can remind everyone of cough syrup rather than a great country wine. A wine that is high in alcohol , low in acidity and sweet is 80% of the problem. Water with chlorine adds to the chlorophenols in the wine, (another 10% of the problem) and the use of sweet rather than sour cherries is the last 10%. Be sure to check that the TA is higher rather than lower and aim for a drier rather than a sweeter wine

 

[Scooter68]

I'm sure someone has successfully made and enjoyed a sweet cherry wine...but, that cough syrup issue is a real bummer. I've been making and enjoying tart cherry wine and it's actually a blend of sweet and tart cherries with tart being dominant.

 

[Neb Farmer]

Here is a link to a decent recipe to make 'cherry cello' , which I just tried this year using Van cherries ( dark sweet cherries similar to Bing ). It is basically just soaking cherries in Everclear for a couple of weeks and then adding simple syrup to dilute the alcohol content down ( I do half ). It does taste a bit like cherry cough syrup, but with a little more kick to it. Moderation in sipping is my plan.
As far as cherry wine goes, I'm sure there are a few recipes out there. Country fruit wines are not my forte' . Good luck in whatever you decide to try!

http://www.homepreservingbible.com/1441-strawberry-cherry-or-rhubarb-limoncello-liqueur-recipe/

 

[Raptor99]

I made a batch of wine from frozen sweet dark cherries. I added some tart cherry concentrate to help balance the flavor and adjusted the acidity. Despite that, it had a somewhat cough syrup flavor after primary. I oaked it and bulk aged it for about 5 months. At bottling time the cough syrup flavor was gone and it was beginning to have a nice cherry flavor with oak in the background. I 'm looking forward to how this will taste after 6 months of bottle aging. In the future I will probably use a greater percentage of tart cherry concentrate.

Has anyone else discovered that the cough syrup flavor dissipates with aging?

 

[mikewatkins727]

Several years back I made a cherry wine from tart & sweet cherries, roughly 50-50%. Had a FUBAR moment and lost 3 of 5 bottles when the corks blew but the other two went down smoothly with a prickly sensation in the nose. (Gad, what a mess to clean up!) I do have my notes from then tho not as complete as I keep nowadays. I will be repeating this concoction.

 

[three_jeeps]

thank you all for your replies. The likelihood of producing cough syrup turns me off. I'll probably try the cherry-cello.
I've been to Sorrento and tried on a few occasions the limoncello - didn't do much for me but the cherry seems a bit more appealing.
J

 

[Lucyray]

You may find a cherry wine recipe on Jack Kellars site. May have to do a bit of finagling (sp?) to find it, as the site is archived.

 

[winemaker81]

I have a cherry-cognac in production. The one I made last year when we had a bag of overripe cherries came out great, so I am repeating it. IMO this year's will be better as I have a better cherry-to-cognac ratio -- I haven't posted a recent picture, but the liquid is very dark and the cherry aroma has started to overshadow the cognac.

https://wine.bkfazekas.com/cherry-cognac-2021-june/