Wild Blackberry/Pomegranate-Cranberry Wine
Posted by: Greg on October 24th, 2008
Earlier in the summer, I harvested 12 pounds of wild blackberries that was growing in a small bramble patch on the backside of my property. I really didn't have enough blackberries to make a 3 gallon batch of wine, so I decided to use the berries in a 4 gallon experimental batch with Pomegranate-Cranberry delight, a blended juice that contained no preservatives that I found while shopping in a local grocery store.
A couple of weeks ago, I tasted the wine to check the progress of the aging process and I can honestly say that this wine has a wonderful taste, even though it is a young wine. The color of the wine is a deep ruby red and the aroma is pleasing to the senses. We are going to let this wine bulk age for at least 6 more months before we bottle it. The recipe below makes one gallon of wine.
Ingredients
3 lbs of fresh wild blackberries
1 qt of L&A Pomegranate Cranberry Delight juice
1.5 lbs of granulated sugar
2 tsp Acid Blend
1 tsp Pectic Enzyme
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
¼ tsp of Tannin
1 Campden Tablet
Enough water to make one gallon
1 pkg of Lalvin Bourgovin RC212 Yeast
Starting SG: 1.093
Directions
Pick over the berries carefully. Watch for mold or rot. Discard anything that looks bad. Wash the berries in cool water, and drain.
Wash your hands. Put the fresh berries in a nylon straining bag and into the primary fermenter, then squish them with your hands or a sanitized potato smasher.
Bring 1 quart water to boil and dissolve the sugar in the water. Remove from heat and pour over the nylon straining bag that is in the primary fermenter. Add additional water to make one gallon. When must has cooled down, add remaining ingredients except yeast. Cover primary and set aside for 12 hours.
After 12 hours, add activated wine yeast and recover primary. When active fermentation slows down to an SG reading of 1.020 (about 5 days), gently squeeze the straining bag to extract juice and let it drain and discard pulp. Rack to secondary (carboy) and fit with airlock. Leave in secondary until wine has completely fermented dry (SG reading of 0.992) around 3 weeks. Rack off of sediment into a clean carboy , top up and refit airlock. Let wine clear and rack again to a clean carboy. After additional 3 months, stabilize with ½ teaspoon dissolved potassium sorbate, sweeten if desired and bottle. Bulk age wine for at least 6-8 months before bottling.
