The Day After... Cherry Wine Making Workshop

August 12, 2019 | Written by: Gill

After a very successful seminar on cherry growing, tour of the cherry planting at the Los Lunas ASC, overview of applied chemistry analysis of must and juice, processing and pressing of fruit…the project really “took off” after we added Go-Ferm (yeast nutrient) some cane sugar and …yeast. All aforementioned activities took place on Friday. When I went in to check the fermentation on Saturday, things had literally “hit the ceiling” (see figures #1 and #2).




 Figure 1.

Cherry must/juice was scattered over and onto the table, floor and what-not after the fermentation was rather vigorously initiated, built up pressure and violently expelled the stopper and fermentation lock.

 

Figure 2. Evidence of cherry must/juice on the ceiling and light fixture.

I thought about holding a “workshop” on “How to Handle an “out of the box” Fermentation” …but I ended up grabbing a bucket of hot soapy water and getting to work. As of August 10^th, the fermentation is done, the wine has been racked twice and is resting comfortably! We will have a tasting sometime in October. At that time, we will invite all participants to compare our cherry wine to commercial offerings and then take a bottle home. Stay posted…

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