Rhubarb Cherry Wine – A Fun Twist on Rhubarb Wine
When rhubarb is abundant, I like to use it in recipes like rhubarb pudding cake and rhubarbade, but I hadn’t tackled rhubarb wine. When looking through my favorite old school winemaking book, I came across a rhubarb cherry wine recipe that looked like a perfect combination to use the rhubarb harvest and the stash of Door County cherries in my freezer. (You could use canned cherries, but the color won’t be as bright.) I think it’s fun to add some color to a basic rhubarb wine recipe, too.
If you’d like to give an easy homemade wine a try, this recipe is for you. (Look here for rhubarb growing tips.)
Rhubarb Cherry Wine Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 quarts rhubarb, cut into 1/2″ pieces
- 3 quarts of tart red cherries, fresh or frozen
- 4 quarts of water
- 8 cups of cane sugar
- 1 package of wine yeast
Directions
Combine chopped rhubarb and stemmed cherries in a crock or large non-reactive kettle. (Minimum 3 gallon capacity recommended.) Note: If using frozen cherries, partially thaw and combine with rhubarb immediately for best color. Do not allow to thaw completely and sit around, or they will oxidize and the color will fade.
Add 4 quarts of water, cover with a flour sack towel to keep bugs out and put in a warm location to ferment for two weeks. Stir daily, crushing fruit against sides of crock. If you don’t use pitted cherries, don’t crush the pits while brewing. They would make the wine bitter. During this time, the wine may develop a white layer of bloom from the natural yeasts in the fruit. This is nothing to be worried about. You can skim it or stir it in.
At the end of two weeks, strain fruit mash through a jelly bag or flour sack towel. Squeeze until very dry. Return liquid to crock and stir in the sugar, making sure it has dissolved completely. Dissolve wine yeast per package directions, stir into sweetened juice mix.
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Cover and ferment for 2 more weeks, stirring twice each week.
After the end of the second two weeks, strain through several layers of cheesecloth or a flour sack towel. Juice mix will likely be very cloudy and yeasty, so you should return it to the crock, a carboy or 2 gallon jugs and allow it to settle for 2-5 days.
When the wine has settled, siphon into clean, sterilized bottles and cork lightly (or cover with balloons). When you are sure fermenting has ceased, cork tightly. Store for at least one year before drinking.
Note: Cane sugar is preferred over beet sugar because it does ferment differently. Given that can sugar producers have started using glyphosate at harvest time to promote more even die down and increase yields, I buy organic cane sugar in bulk to avoid RoundUp™ contamination.
Have You Tried Your Hand at Wine Making?
Have you tried making homemade wine? If so, what’s your favorite? Most of my wine making results from an excess of produce in need of a long term home, our pear wine, but once in a while I try something just to see if it cane be done, like quackgrass wine. We’re not big wine drinkers, but we enjoy an occasional bottle and share them as gifts.
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PrintRhubarb Cherry Wine
Rhubarb cherry wine is an easy country wine that combines two abundant local ingredients – rhubarb and tart cherries – into a bright and fruity homemade wine.
Ingredients
- 4 quarts rhubarb, cut into 1/2″ pieces
- 3 quarts of tart red cherries, fresh or frozen
- 4 quarts of water
- 8 cups of cane sugar
- 1 package of wine yeast
Instructions
- Combine chopped rhubarb and stemmed cherries in a crock or large non-reactive kettle. (Minimum 3 gallon capacity recommended.) Note: If using frozen cherries, partially thaw and combine with rhubarb immediately for best color. Do not allow to thaw completely and sit around, or they will oxidize and the color will fade.
- Add 4 quarts of water, cover with a flour sack towel to keep bugs out and put in a warm location to ferment for two weeks. Stir daily, crushing fruit against sides of crock. If you have not seeded your cherries, don’t crush the pits. They would make the wine bitter.
- At the end of two weeks, strain fruit mash through a jelly bag or flour sack towel. Squeeze until very dry. Return liquid to crock and stir in the sugar, making sure it has dissolved completely. Dissolve wine yeast per package directions, stir into sweetened juice mix.
- Cover and ferment for 2 more weeks, stirring twice each week.
- After the end of the second two weeks, strain through several layers of cheesecloth or a flour sack towel. Juice mix will likely be very cloudy and yeasty, so you should return it to the crock, a carboy or 2 gallon jugs and allow it to settle for 2-5 days.
- When the wine has settled, siphon into clean, sterilized bottles and cork lightly (or cover with balloons). When you are sure fermenting has ceased, cork tightly. Store for at least one year before drinking.
Notes
- Cane sugar is preferred over beet sugar because it does ferment differently.
- If you don’t use pitted cherries, don’t crush the pits while brewing. They would make the wine bitter.
Originally published in 2016, updated in 2018.