2007 Ruby Slippers—Making my first Cherry Port

By John S. Facci

The instructions for making this wine follow this article.

Several years ago a good friend of mine gave me a bottle of cherry wine from Woodbury Vineyards (www.woodburyvineyards.com) in Fredonia, NY. The flavor was so unique and pleasing I became hooked on the idea of making fruit wines. My first attempt at a non-grape wine in 2007 led to an equally pleasing cherry port. After consulting Jack Keller’s website (winemaking.jackkeller.net) as well as several other recipes online, I came up with my own hybrid recipe using both sour and sweet cherries, attempting to balance flavor and color. As with cherry pie, sour cherries provide what we think of as cherry flavor while sweet cherries provide a wonderful ruby color—which is why I call this wine Ruby Slippers.

Fresh-picked cherries from Schutt’s on Plank Road in Webster were used. Luckily, both were available for picking on the same Saturday in July as their seasons overlap only slightly. The project started with my wife, my son and me picking enough sour cherries in early morning for wine, pies and winter eating. We picked something like 50 lbs of sour cherries of which only about 12 were used for wine. Then onto picking sweet cherries. I made the mistake of tasting one sweet cherry right off the tree and found out exactly how awful is the taste of residual pesticide. You definitely don’t want that in your wine, so wash well.

The first two bottles were opened at a wedding one year later and were quite a hit with the extended family. By two years, about 75% of the batch was consumed, which in a way was unfortunate as the flavor mellowed significantly and improved to more of a vermouth feel, as those who tasted this at the November meeting can attest.

I’ve since made other batches with varying ratios of sour to sweet cherries. A ratio of about 5:1 sour-to-sweet cherries yields a flavor that seems to be most appealing. A more intense flavor can be achieved by using more fruit. This year I experimented with a high alcohol cherry melomel (a portomel?). A melomel is fruit wine made with honey instead of sugar. The latter recipe is based on 20 lbs of sour cherries, about 3–4 lbs of sweet cherries and enough orange blossom honey to bring the S. G. to 1.12, fermenting with EC1118 and fortifying to 20%. Sugar was added to balance the alcohol. This allows the honey flavor to come through. So far the taste at first racking has been very gratifying. Cherry wines are easy to make and the possibilities for experimentation with various varieties and fruit combinations are nearly endless.

Log Notes: Cherry Port

Made 3 gallons.

12 lbs sour cherries
2.5 lbs sweet cherries
5.5 lbs dextrose
Pasteur Champagne yeast
1.5 tsp acid blend
0.5 tsp grape tannin
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp di-ammonium phosphate
1 small orange
1 tbsp key lime juice
2–3 lbs sucrose
160 proof vodka or equivalent

Approximately 12 lbs of Montmorency sour cherries were pitted (9.43 lbs pitted weight) and about 2.5 lbs of sweet cherries were pitted yielding 1.74 lbs pitted fruit. I don’t remember the variety of sweet cherry we picked. The latter were crushed by hand in a 20-qt. stain­less steel pot, and 5.5 lbs dextrose were added and stirred into the mixture. Finally, previously-crushed sour cherries were added.

Seven pints of boiling water were poured over the cherry/sugar mixture and let cool to room temperature. To this was added 1.5 tsp acid blend, 0.5 tsp grape tannin and a heaping tsp each of pectic enzyme and di-ammonium phosphate yeast nutrient. Finally the juice of one small orange was added to preserve color, and because I had some lying around I added a dash of key lime juice. At this point the juice was a rich red color and the S. G. was 1.120, approximately 16.5% potential alcohol by volume. The mixture sat overnight with a tight cover over the pot to allow the enzyme to act.

Pasteur Champagne yeast (one packet) was hydrated with some of the cherry must until foamy, then returned to the must. After five days (S. G. = 1.046) the must was racked into a 3-gallon carboy. The fruit was scooped into a filter bag, squeezed and the juice added to the carboy which was topped with water and fitted with an airlock.

First racking was at three weeks with dense lees, S.G. was 0.990. Fermentation was done in our kitchen where the temperature was 75–80°F. The wine was quite bitter at this point due to high alcohol. Sufficient 160 proof vodka (Devil’s Springs) was added to bring alcohol to 20% by volume as measured with a capillary vinometer. Sugar was added to taste (about 2.5 lbs).

Second racking was at six months. A scant 1/8 tsp sulfite was added to the three gallons prior to bottling.