Fruit wine
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Fruit_wine".

Elderberry fruit, a common fruit wine ingredient

"Country wine" is also a common translation of "Landwein" in the German wine classification, or "vin du pays"

Fruit wines are fermented alcoholic beverages made from a variety of ingredients other than grapes (the base of "ordinary" wine) and having a variety of flavours. Fruit wines are always called something wines (e.g., plum wine), since the word wine alone is often legally defined as a beverage made only from grapes. Fruit wine can be made from any sufficiently sweet fruit or, with addition of sugar or honey, from other fruits and many plant sources which are not fruits. The term country wine is more commonly utilized in Great Britain for fruit wines. In France and Germany, "vin de pays", or "Landwein" refers to relatively inexpensive kinds of standard grape wine.

Few foods other than grapes have the balanced quantities of sugar, acid, tannin, nutritive salts for yeast feeding and water to produce a stable, drinkable wine, so most country wines are adjusted in one or more respects. Enough natural sugar is needed to support a satisfactory fermentation and provide bacteriological stability through sufficient ethanol content, so the winemaker adds table sugar (sucrose), honey or sweet sap tapped from trees such as maple, birch, or palm. If a food is too tart, sugar and water may both be added to dilute the acidity, or additional tannin or acid may be required to round out the taste. These are added as chemicals or by adding a balancing fruit like crabapples, raisins or dates to an unbalanced base.

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.

Ingredients

The other ingredients that give the wine its flavour and character can be fruits, flowers, herbs, etc. Examples are elderberry wine and dandelion wine. A wine made from elderberry flowers is called elder blow wine^[1]. If the flavouring ingredients are leaves or roots then the beverage is sometimes called a beer (for example, ginger beer). (Note that the beverages known as root beer, ginger beer and ginger ale are often non-alcoholic.)

If the sugar source is honey then the beverage is usually called mead; if it is apple or pear juice then the beverage is called cider or perry, respectively. Cyser is made from apples and honey.

List of fruits and plants used

There are two approaches when making fruit wines: to imitate the flavour and appearance of grape wines, or not to. Some fruit wines that resemble grape wines are:

• elderberry
• blackcurrant
• plum
• peach
• blackberry
• huckleberry

Other fruit wines made from fruits:

• apricot
• banana
• blueberry
• cherry
• cloudberry
• goji (wolfberry)
• gooseberry
• pear
• raspberry
• redcurrant
• rowan
• persimmon
• pineapple wine
• quince
• rose hip
• sea-buckthorn
• strawberry
• watermelon
• mangosteen
• mango
• sweetsop
• crowberry
• kiwifruit

Wines made from flowers:

• dandelion
• elder blow (made from elderberry flowers)

Wines made from vegetables and roots:

• potato
• rhubarb
• parsnip

Wines made from tree sap :

• palm wine (toddy)

Plum wine

A glass of umeshu

Ume liquor, also known as "plum wine", is popular in both Japan and Korea, and is also produced in China.^[1] Umeshu (梅酒, sometimes translated as "plum wine") is a Japanese alcoholic drink made by steeping green ume in shōchū (燒酎, clear liquor).^photo It is sweet and smooth. The taste and aroma of umeshu can appeal to even those people who normally dislike alcohol. 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 ume liquor are available with whole ume fruits contained in the bottle.^photo

In China, ume wine is called mei jiu (梅酒).

In Taiwan, a popular post-World War II innovation on Japanese-style umeshu is the wumeijiu, or Wumei liquor (烏梅酒), which is made by mixing Prunus mume liquor (梅酒 méijǐu), Prunus salicina liquor (李酒 lǐjǐu), and Oolong tea liquor.^[2]

Pineapple wine

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 locally produced pineapples. Its alcohol content is 11.5% by volume.

See also Tepache.

Pomace wine

Pomace wine is made from grape pomace. Since it is generally of a low quality and alcohol content, and can not be stored for long, it is generally distilled into pomace brandy.

The pomace is soaked in water or must and allowed to macerate for a short time before being pressed again. If the sugar content of the pomace is low, sugar may be added. The resulting product was known to the Romans as lora and was widely used as a wine substitute during ancient and medieval times. Today, pomace wine is uncommon, although it is still known as piquette^[3] in France, água-pé in Portugal, aguachirle in Spain, vino piccolo or graspia or acquatico in Italy, and Tresterwein or Haustrunk in Germany and Austria. The Name Haustrunk ("house drink") refers to the past custom of winemakers to sell all their real wine for cash, and to drink only the less valuable pomace wine in their own homes.

Suma is a pomace wine obtained by fermenting must. It retains some of the taste and smell of grapes. Suma is distilled to make raki, the Turkish anise-flavored liquor.

Lappish Hag's Love Potion

Lappish Hag's Love Potion (lapin eukon lemmenjuoma) is a traditional homebrewed Finnish fruit wine made from blueberries which ferment naturally with wild yeast (called the bloom) present on the skin.^[4]

The drink is also known as Lappish Grandmother's Love Potion (lapin isoäidin lemmenjuoma), Lappish Mother's Love Potion (lapin äidin lemmenjuoma), or simply Lappish Love Potion (lapin lemmenjuoma).

Lappish Hag's Love Potion is made in a bottle with blueberries, sugar and water. The bottle is left to ferment in the sunlight for a month or so.

See also

• Fruit and vegetable beer
• Cider

References