montmorency cherry recipe?

[Allen]

Can you make a decent wine from these cherries?


I have 3 trees, which produce a lot of cherries around fathers day. They are a sour cherry. Does anyone know if these sour cherries will make a decent wine?

 

[vcasey]

They should make a great wine or mead. This is from George's recipe section:
<div align="center">


Cherry Wine

Makes one gallon.


Ingredients:
<t></t><table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" width="100%">
<t><tr>
<td>6 lbs. Cherries</td>
<td>7 Pints Water</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2-3/4 lbs. Sugar</td>
<td>1-1/2 tsp Acid Blend</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3/4 tsp Pectic Enzyme</td>
<td>1 Campden, crush</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1 Pkg Wine Yeast</td>
<td>1 tsp Yeast Nutrient</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1/2 pt. Grape Concentrate</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</t></table>


Keep your acid tester and hydrometer handy. As with all
wild fruit the sugar and acid content varies greatly from
year to year and even from one location to another. The
recipe above is a general recipe to use which you may have
to adjust.


Directions:

1. Wash and drain the cherries. Remove stems, leaves and
   pits. Using nylon straining bag (or press), mash and strain
   juice into primary fermenter. Keeping all pulp in straining
   bag, tie top and place in primary.
2. Stir in all other ingredients EXCEPT yeast. Cover primary.
3. After 24 hrs., add yeast . Cover primary.
4. Stir daily, check hydrometer reading (S.G.) and press
   pulp lightly to aid extraction.
5. When ferment reaches S.G. 1.030 (about 5 days) strain
   juice from bag. Syphon off sediment into clean secondary.
   Attach lock.
6. When S.G. reaches 1.000 (usually about 3 weeks), fermentation
   is complete. Syphon juice off sediment into clean glass
   container. Re-attach airlock.
7. To aid in clearing, syphon again in 2 months and again,
   if necessary, before bottling.
8. Allow the wine to age.

Also Jack Keller's site will have a recipe or 2 http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques61.asp Just beware Jack's recipes can be light in the fruit and heavy on the sugar. Although looking at these recipes the amount of fruit is much higher then his others. Most of us seem to use anywhere from 5-7 lbs. per gallon of fruit.
VC

 

[fivebk]

I have tasted a wine from a local winery that is made out of these cherries. I have some cherries off of my tree frozen and waiting for the tranformation from juice to wine . The wine I tasted though was very good !!

BOB