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Wild Grape Wine
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Wild Grape Wine

Wild grape wine is the perfect way to use your foraged grape harvest.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time10 days
Secondary Fermentation28 days
Total Time38 days 30 minutes
Author: Ashley Adamant

Ingredients

  • 5 to 6 lbs of wild grapes
  • 2 pounds cane sugar about 2 cups per pound
  • 1 tsp yeast nutrient
  • ½ tsp Pectic Enzyme
  • Wine Yeast see note
  • Water to fill
  • Optional ~ Campden Tablet and Potassium Sorbate for Stabilizing I do not use these

Instructions

  • De-stem the grapes, place them in a brew bag and crush. Optionally, you can juice grapes.
  • Place grapes or grape juice in your carboy, and add about ½ gallon of water and 1 pound (2 cups) of sugar. Stir to incorporate.
  • Add the pectic enzyme and yeast nutrient, stirring to dissolve.
  • Add the wine yeast last, rehydrating first in a small amount of water.
  • Add water as needed to fill the carboy and seal with a water lock.
  • Let ferment in primary for 7 to 10 days.
  • Siphon to a clean narrow-neck carboy for secondary, leaving sediment (and fruit) behind. Add the remaining 1 pound (2 cups) of sugar dissolved in water.
  • Add water to fill the carboy and seal it with a water lock. Ferment until clear, racking again if needed to clear sediment.
  • At the end of secondary, taste the wine and adjust as needed (see notes for backsweetening).
  • Bottle the wine with wine corks and let age for at least 1 month before drinking.

Notes

Amount of Fruit

You'll need about 5 to 6 lbs of wild grapes to yield 1 gallon of wild grape wine. If juicing your grapes, the juice is normally diluted with water as wild grapes are intensely flavored and highly acidic.

Yeast

For wild grape wine (or pyment), you’ll want a yeast with a moderate alcohol tolerance. Montrachet and champagne yeast are good choices (Lalvin EC-1118 is a nice, strong fermenter). Pasteur red is a nice choice for red wines. Red Star Cote de Blanc is another good general purpose yeast.

Stabilizing and Back Sweetening

If the wine is too dry for your tastes, you have the option of backsweetening before bottling. To backsweeten wild grape wine, rack it to a clean container and stabilize the wine by adding a Campden tablet and ½ teaspoon potassium sorbate. This prevents fermentation from restarting and causing bottled wine to burst under the resulting pressure. 
Wait 24 hours after stabilizing, then add sugar in the form of a simple syrup (made by heating equal parts sugar and water on the stovetop.) Amounts needed will vary based on personal preference, but starting with ½ cup for one gallon of wild grape wine is a good place to start.