Nature has been making wine for thousands of years. The conversion of fruit into alcohol is a process that happens quite organically. All sugar naturally ferments and humans have merely fine tuned the system to suit their preferences, especially when it comes to wine. The grape is not the only fruit that is capable of making wine. Our ancestors realized this and created wines from herbs, peaches, apricots, strawberries, cherries, or even flowers.
Fruit wines were especially prolific because they could be easily plucked from the backyard and were abundantly flavorful. If you liked strawberries there was a good chance you would like strawberry wine. Fruit wines also mature much faster than grape wines and can be enjoyed much earlier.
Fruit is available nearly everywhere. Whether it’s grown in the backyard or by a local farmer, getting fruit for fruit wine isn’t difficult. Have too much fruit? Freeze it. If the harvest is too plentiful don’t be wasteful, freeze your extra fruit for later or use it to top off your wine.
Grape Wine Vs Fruit Wine
Compared to fruit wines, grape wines are much easier to make. They don’t require many of the extra additions it takes to create an excellent fruit wine -- like more sugar, more water or more tannins. Gathering enough fruit and turning it into a pulp can also be a bit of a chore. Processing fruit for fruit wine involves peeling, pitting, slicing, crushing and then mixing with a sugar/water solution. It’s labor intensive and will take some time.
The technical aspect of making fruit wine is also a little more complicated than grape wine because fruits have a much more variable nature. Grape winemakers often work through recipes with measurements of teaspoons, cups, and gallons. This method dependably produces decent wine. To successfully turn fruit into wine, the studious winemaker must be constantly vigilant to ensure they finish completely. If making fruit wine seems a bit too daunting, fruit wine purees can alleviate a lot of the guesswork and stress.