Wild Dewberry Wine
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The dewberry (Rubus Cuneifolius) is a close relative of the blackberry (Rubus Eubatus), and like the blackberry, the dewberry makes a very tasty, though slightly mellower wine. Typically, during mid to late April, dewberries began to ripen throughout Southeastern Louisiana and brambles can be found in fence rows, highway ditch banks, and pastures. Dewberry season in Southeastern Louisiana is short-lived, only lasting about a month. I located a large patch of dewberries along side a road leading into a subdivision and to my astonishment, the dewberries was large and there was plenty enough to pick to make a 5 gallon batch of full bodied wine.
Dewberry wine, like blackberry has a deep rich blueish purple color, but the color will fade rapidly if the wine is exposed to sun or fluorescent light. For that reason, the must should be fermented in a dark place where light cannot affect it. I bulk age my wine in a carboy in a dark cool closet for at least 4 - 6 months before I bottle it.
Ingredients
4 - 5 lbs of fresh wild dewberries
2½ 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 K1-V116 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. 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.
This recipe makes one gallon of dry wine.
