Late-picked Montmorency cherries that are immediately crushed give a good wine. Cherrie should be crushed in a grape crusher destemmer- must pump machine with the crusher rollers separate so as to minimize cracking of the pits.
Up to 10% of the pits may be broken to enhance flavor. The fruit juice is called ‘must’. The must should be treated with SO2, inoculated with wine yeast and fermented like red grape wine.
Initially aerate the must to promote vigorous yeast growth. Later on, maintain anaerobic condition for rapid production of ethanol.
The pulp must be pressed and left to drain. Pressing is done after 2 or 3 days of skin contact, sugar is added and the wine fermented dry. The skin color is readily extracted during fermentation. Pressing as soon as possible will help to reduce the bitter herbaceous skin character and almond flavor from the pits.
Generally, fermentation requires 25-30 ° C temperature and around 10-15 days. The ethanol produced varies from 7 to 15%. After fermentation allow to settle yeast and other debris, filter it, and pasteurize it.
A good cherry wine is smooth and medium sweet, light but with full cherry flavors. The color depends of the types of cherries used.
Cherry wines do not keep well and develop an off flavor after about 18 months.
Processing of cherry wine
