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Fruit wines are fermented alcoholic beverages made from a variety of base ingredients (other than grapes); they may also have additional flavours taken from fruits, flowers, and herbs. This definition is sometimes broadened to include any fermented alcoholic beverage except beer. For historical reasons, mead, cider, and perry are also excluded from the definition of fruit wine.[1][2]
Fruit wines are usually referred to by their main ingredient (e.g., plum wine or elderberry wine) because the usual definition of wine states that it is made from fermented grape juice.
In the European Union, wine is legally defined as the fermented juice of grapes.[3]
Fruit wine is commonly called country wine in Great Britain. But the term should not be conflated with the French term vin de pays. In British legislation, the term made-wine is used.[4]
Fruit wine can be made from virtually any plant matter that can be fermented.[3] However, some of these products do require the addition of sugar or honey to make them palatable. Two commonly produced varieties are elderberry wine and dandelion wine. (A wine made from elderberry flowers is called elder blow wine.[5])
Fruit wines have traditionally been popular with home winemakers and in areas with cool climates such as North America and Scandinavia; in Africa, India, and the Philippines, wine is made from bananas. Most fruits and berries have the potential to produce wine. Few foods other than grapes have the balanced quantities of sugar, acid, tannin, nutritive salts for yeast feeding and water to naturally produce a stable, drinkable wine, so most country wines are adjusted in one or more respects at fermentation.
The amount of fermentable sugars is often low and need to be supplemented by a process called chaptalization in order to have sufficient alcohol levels in the finished wine. Sucrose is often added so that fruits having excessive levels of acids (usually citric or malic acid) can split the sucrose into fermentable fructose and glucose sugars. If the specific gravity of the initial solution is too high, indicating an excess of sugar, water or acidulated water may be added to adjust the specific gravity down to the winemaker's target range.
Many kinds of fruit have a natural acid content which would be too high to produce a savory and pleasant fruit wine in undiluted form; this can be particularly true, among others, for strawberries, cherries, pineapples, and raspberries. Therefore, much as to regulate sugar content, the fruit mash is generally topped up with water prior to fermentation to reduce the acidity to pleasant levels. Unfortunately, this also dilutes and reduces overall fruit flavour; on the other hand, a loss of flavour can be compensated by adding sugar again after fermentation which then acts as a flavour enhancer, while too much acid in the finished wine will always give it undesired harshness and poignancy.
Many fruit wines suffer from a lack of natural yeast nutrients needed to promote or maintain fermentation. Winemakers can counter this with the addition of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium available commercially as yeast nutrient. Like many conventional white wines, fruit wines often do not improve with bottle age and are usually meant to be consumed within a year of bottling.[6]
The fermentation of fruit wines at home was particularly fashionable in the UK in the 1970s and was popularized in the BBC TV series The Good Life.
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Plum liquor, also known as "plum wine", is popular in both Japan and Korea, and is also produced in China. Umeshu (梅酒) is a Japanese alcoholic drink made by steeping green plums in shōchū (燒酎; clear liquor). It is sweet and smooth. A similar liquor in Korea, called maesil ju (매실주), is marketed under various brand names including Mae Hwa Su, Mae Chui Soon, and Seol Joong Mae. Both the Japanese and Korean varieties of plum liquor are available with whole Prunus mume fruits contained in the bottle. In China, plum wine is called meijiu (梅酒).
In Taiwan, a popular post-World War II innovation on Japanese-style plum liquor is the wumeijiu (烏梅酒; smoked plum liquor), which is made by mixing Prunus mume liquor (梅酒 méijǐu), Prunus salicina liquor (李酒 lǐjǐu), and oolong tea liquor.
Another similar drink is plum jerkum, made from fermented plums, traditional of Warwickshire in the English Midlands. It is said that it "left the head clear while paralysing the legs". The Warwickshire Drooper plum from which it is traditionally brewed is now uncommon, which explains the rarity of the drink.[7]
Pineapple wine is made from the juice of pineapple. Fermentation of the pineapple juice takes place in temperature controlled vats and is stopped at near dryness. The result is a soft, dry and fruity wine with an unmistakable pineapple bouquet. It is made in Hawaii by the Tedeschi Vineyards called 'Maui Blanc' located in Ulupalakua, Maui-Hawai`i, on the slopes of Haleakala. Several varieties of pineapple wine are also made in Okinawa, Japan, from local produce. Its alcohol content is 11.5% by volume.
Dandelion wine is a non-grape wine of moderate alcohol content made from dandelion petals and sugar, usually combined with an acid (such as vinegar) and other wine making chemicals (such as sodium metabisulfite).
Rose hip wine is a fruit wine.[8] It can be made from fresh or dried rose hip fruits. The basic ingredient for most of types of wine production is must, but in this type of wine the fruit is fermented in syrup with yeast and citric acid to produce an extract. This technique is used only in a few other types of wines, including: Blackthorn, Hawthorn and Rowan wines.
One of the factors that affects the taste of the wine is removal of the seeds from fruit before fermentation. This prevents bitter flavors but is time-consuming. The most suitable type of wine produced from rose hip fruits is strong and sweet, with two years storage at least.[9]
Redcurrant/ Whitecurrant wine is high quality wine usually produced in Northern cool areas where there are difficulties with growing high quality grapes. Redcurrants and whitecurrants give high quality wines which is one of the reason to be one of the most popular by home wine makers. Other reasons of common production in homes are: simple way of production with not many side problems involved, natural chemical balance is such that it can be self clarified without any additional substances and quick production process. Must used to production has high level of acid which involves to add even twice more of water than must to balance level. Sometimes instead of water there is added must from low acid level fruits such apples or gooseberry which allows resulting high extract wine. Redcurrants and whitecurrants like a most of fruits have low level of carbohydrates which involves necessity of addition of extra sugar or honey.[9]
Lappish Hag's Love Potion (lapin eukon lemmenjuoma) is a traditional homebrewed Finnish fruit wine made from blueberries, which ferment naturally because of the wild yeast (called the bloom) that is present on their skin.[10] The drink is also known as Lappish Grandmother's Love Potion (lapin isoäidin lemmenjuoma), as Lappish Mother's Love Potion (lapin äidin lemmenjuoma), or simply as Lappish Love Potion (lapin lemmenjuoma).
Lappish Hag's Love Potion is made by putting sugar and tightly packed, whole blueberries into a bottle, leaving a small empty space at the top. Then, little by little, the bottle is topped up with water. The bottle is left to ferment in sunlight for about a month.
Cherry wine is produced from cherries, usually tart cherries to provide enough acid.[11] Michigan winemakers, in the leading tart cherry-growing region of the US, produce a number of cherry wines including spiced versions and cherry-grape blends.
Kijafa is a cherry wine made in Denmark from cherry wine with added natural flavors and manufactured by YMKT.[12] Even though it is usually made with cherry, it is occasionally made with other fruit.[13] It is imported to many countries in Europe and North America.[13][13]
Balloon wine is a homemade drink that combines fruit and sugar[14] to create a fermented product.
Balloon wine gets its name because a balloon is placed over the top of a glass container. In order to make the drink you need to fill the contents of the glass container with sugar, fruit or juice, yeast and water. After 4–6 weeks,[15] the sugar along with the fruit inside the glass container ferments, therefore expanding the balloon and telling the winemaker that the wine is ready. Once the wine has been fermented, it is ready to drink or can be fermented for a longer period of time in wine glasses.
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