Sweet cherry & white strawberry wine

[wildhair]

I have an abundance of sweet cherries and a good supply of white strawberries and alpine strawberries - that seems like a tasty combination for a nice dessert wine. Most of the cherry recipes call for 4-8# of cherries and say I don't need to pit them - just "be careful not to break the pits".
Would 4-8# of TOTAL fruit (CHERRIES & STRAWBERRIES combined) be a good starting place.
Any suggestions on the ratio of cherries to strawberries? If you've never had white or alpine strawberries they have a stronger & slightly different flavor than the regular strawberries. And I have way more cherries than strawberries.

And I wondered about adding the strawberries in the secondary, after the cherries are pulled out.
Would I just put them in a fruit bag and drop in? For how long?
How do prevent the berries from adding unwanted bacteria or other nasties to the wine - pour boiling water on them?

Any other advice appreciated.

 

[Stressbaby]

I have never made strawberry or cherry wine, but with other fruit wines I have had positive experiences infusing the fruit flavor in the secondary as an alternative to fermenting the fruit. I have done this with lychee and passionfruit, and it allows you to leverage more flavor from a smaller amount of fruit.

With lychee, the fresh picked fruit had been frozen; I thawed the fruit, chopped it up, treated it with pectic, and dumped it straight into the carboy. Then I racked it off after about a month. No sorbate, I just made sure the SO2 level was good. With passionfruit, I put the pulp in a little cheesecloth bag to contain the seeds; same thing, no sorbate, just adequate SO2, and for about 3-4 weeks. Obviously some or all of the sugars will get fermented in this scenario, but it seems as if it happens slowly, with enough time for the alcohol to extract the goodies from the fruit.

 

[wildhair]

Thanks !
So I would make the cherry wine with the recommended fruit - 8# +/- and the rest of the ingredients, then squeeze the pulp after a week or so, rack it into the secondary and add the strawberries treated with pectic enzyme? Does adding the fruit in the secondary effect the ph? Do I need to add more of anything else? Energizer or acid blend?

The 1 and only time I added more fruit after fermentation had started ~ I had a honeydew melon wine that refused to clear. But I also didn't add any pectic enzyme.