Cherry/Black Currant Fruit proportions

Hi All,

I'm in the super early "research" phase of making a recipe for Cherry/black currant wine. I'm wondering, how much fruit should I use per gallon (6 gal batch)?

I'm looking to make a dark strong wine, like a red, not so much like a blush. So far I'm thinking about 6lb dark sweet cherries and 2lb black currants per gallon. I thinking that the currants will add tartness as I doubt I'll be able to find sour/tart cherries. Any thought? What would you recommend?

Also, should I consider using a little less fruit and adding a can of tart cherry puree?

Ultimately, I'm planning to add a little oak and age for a year.

This post is more of a brainstorm session so I can refine my thought process.

Thanks in advanced.

Tart Cherry Concentrate is fairly easy to find especially on the web. IF you have an inexpensive source for black currants then that would work too but of course you are blending two different fruits. That's not a problem but it may change the taste a bit. The amount of fruit you use should be based not just on the weight but the flavor of those cherries. The strength of the flavor can vary from year to year, variety to variety of fruit. A total of 8 lbs per gallon is fine, you can go stronger - just don't forget to take into account loss of volume to lees when using whole fruit. That again is not a negative but just something to take into account