Vin de fruit
De Wikignôle.
Fruit wines are fermented alcoholic beverages made from a variety of ingredients other than grapes. A fruit wine is always called by the name of the fruit used to create it (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 fruit or, with addition of sugar or honey, from many plant sources.
Few foods other than grapes have the balanced quantities of sugar, acid, tannin, and water to produce a stable, drinkable wine, so most fruit 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 it 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.
Flowers and herbs also can give their flavor and character to "fruit" wine. Examples are elderberry wine and dandelion wine. A wine made from elderberry flowers is called elder blow wine. If the flavoring 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 beverages).
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.
There are two approaches when making fruit wines: to imitate the flavor and appearance of grape wines, or not to. Some fruit wines that resemble grape wines are elderberry wine, blackcurrant wine, plum wine, blackberry wine, and apple wine.
Other fruit wines made with fruit:
- Apricot wine
- Blueberry wine
- Cherry wine
- Gooseberry wine
- Pear wine
- Raspberry wine
- Redcurrant wine
- Rowan wine
- Persimmon wine
- Pineapple wine
- Strawberry wine
- Watermelon wine
"Fruit" wines made from flowers:
