Name: Betty’s Chokecherry Wine
Prep time: 90 min
Cook time: 50 min
Yield: 20 5-ounce servings
Ingredients: 4–5 pounds fully ripe chokecherries, approximately 1 gallon by volume, stems, leaves, damaged fruit, and debris removed; As needed cold water, enough to bring the prepared must to approximately 1 gallon; 2 ¼ pounds granulated sugar; 1 tablet Campden tablet, crushed; ½ teaspoon pectic enzyme; 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient; 1 packet wine yeast suitable for fruit wine

Fresh chokecherries sorted in a wooden bowl with stems and debris removed.

Prepare the Chokecherries

Wash the chokecherries and remove every stem, leaf, damaged berry, and bit of debris. Keep all pits intact throughout preparation.

Chokecherries simmering gently in a large pot to release their juice without crushing the pits.

Cooked chokecherries draining through cloth into a clean bowl, leaving pits and solids behind.

Extract and Strain the Juice

Extract the dark chokecherry juice without crushing the pits, then allow it to drain cleanly while leaving the pits, skins, and fruit solids behind.

Measured sugar being stirred into strained chokecherry juice in a large crock.

Build and Condition the Must

Dissolve the sugar, combine it with the chokecherry juice, and use a hydrometer to adjust the must to the correct starting density. Add the winemaking aids and allow the must to rest before pitching the yeast.

Start the Controlled Fermentation

Add cultured wine yeast after the conditioned must has rested. Keep the fermenter at a steady temperature and monitor the specific gravity as active fermentation develops.

Cleared chokecherry wine being siphoned into clean bottles.

Rack and Clear the Wine

Siphon the wine away from sediment into a clean carboy and finish fermenting under an airlock. Continue racking until the wine is clear and no longer forming a meaningful new layer of sediment.

Filled bottles of chokecherry wine standing upright for final inspection before aging.

Bottle and Age

Bottle only after the wine is fully fermented, stable, clear, and free of new sediment. Cork the bottles and allow the wine to age in a cool, dark place before serving.

Equipment