Cinnamon Wines

CINNAMON WINES

Cinnamon is bark — literally the rolled inner skin of a tree — and when you simmer it in water, you pull out a warm, complex extract that sits somewhere between a holiday kitchen and a spice market. That extract becomes the backbone of a wine that’s dry, aromatic, and unlike anything you’ll find on a store shelf. Done right, it’s got structure, depth, and a finish that lingers. Done wrong, it tastes like potpourri dissolved in rubbing alcohol. The difference is mostly patience and fresh sticks.

The beginner trap: Using old, dusty cinnamon sticks from the back of the spice cabinet — stale bark delivers almost no flavor, leaving you with a thin, bland wine that no amount of back-sweetening will fix.

Ingredients

Recipe 1 — Pure Cinnamon Wine

• 12 six-inch cinnamon sticks (fresh; avoid oily or pre-scented sticks)
• 2 lbs granulated white sugar
• 7½ pints (about 15 cups) water, divided
• 3 tsp acid blend (find it at any homebrew shop; lemon juice is not a direct substitute)
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• ⅛ tsp grape tannin (or 1 cooled cup of strong plain black tea)
• 1 Campden tablet, crushed
• 1 packet Champagne wine yeast

Recipe 2 — Cinnamon Wine with White Grape Base

• 12 six-inch cinnamon sticks (fresh)
• 2 cans (11 oz each) frozen white grape juice concentrate, thawed
• 1¼ lbs granulated white sugar
• 6½ pints (about 13 cups) water, divided
• 1½ tsp acid blend
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• ⅛ tsp grape tannin (or 1 cooled cup of strong plain black tea)
• 1 Campden tablet, crushed
• 1 packet Champagne or Montrachet wine yeast

Method

Recipe 1 — Pure Cinnamon Wine

1. Combine the cinnamon sticks with 1 quart (4 cups) of water in a pot with a tight-fitting lid. Bring to a gentle simmer, hold for 10 minutes with the lid on, then turn off the heat and steep for 2 hours.
2. Strain the spiced water into your fermentation vessel (secondary) and discard the cinnamon sticks.
3. Add the remaining water to a clean pot along with the sugar. Bring to a boil, stir until the sugar is fully dissolved, then turn off the heat.
4. Add the acid blend, yeast nutrient, and tannin to the fermentation vessel, then pour in the hot sugar water. Do not add the Campden tablet or yeast yet.
5. Cover the vessel with a clean cloth or paper towel secured with a rubber band. Let it cool to room temperature (around 70°F).
6. Stir in the crushed Campden tablet, re-cover, and leave undisturbed for 24 hours.
7. Activate your yeast according to the packet instructions, add it to the must, and re-cover with the cloth.
8. Ferment at room temperature for 5–7 days, or until the specific gravity drops below 1.030, stirring once daily.
9. Fit an airlock and continue fermenting for 30 days.
10. Rack into a clean, sanitized vessel, top up to minimize headspace, and refit the airlock.
11. Ferment for 3 more months, then rack again and ferment for another 3 months.
12. Stabilize with a Campden tablet and potassium sorbate, sweeten to taste if desired, and rest under airlock for 10 days before bottling.
13. Bottle and store in a dark, cool place.

Recipe 2 — Cinnamon Wine with White Grape Base

1. Place the cinnamon sticks and 1 quart of water in a lidded pot. Bring to a simmer, put the lid on, turn off the heat, and steep for 2 hours.
2. Strain the cinnamon water into your fermentation vessel and discard the sticks.
3. Combine the remaining water and sugar in a pot, bring to a boil, stir until dissolved, then remove from heat and let cool completely.
4. Once the sugar water is cool, add the thawed grape concentrate, acid blend, yeast nutrient, and tannin to it; stir well, then pour everything into the fermentation vessel. Do not add yeast yet.
5. Add the crushed Campden tablet, stir, cover with a clean cloth, and let sit for 24 hours.
6. Activate the yeast and add it to the must; re-cover with the cloth.
7. Ferment until the specific gravity drops below 1.010, then rack into a clean, sanitized vessel and fit an airlock.
8. Continue fermenting for 30 days, then rack, top up, and refit the airlock.
9. Ferment for 3 months, rack again, and ferment for another 3 months.
10. Stabilize, sweeten to taste if desired, and rest under airlock for 10 days before bottling.
11. Bottle and store in a dark, cool place.

Why this works

Cinnamon bark is loaded with cinnamaldehyde, the organic compound responsible for that warm, spicy flavor. Simmering the sticks in water extracts it along with other aromatic compounds, but you want gentle heat — a hard boil drives the volatile aromatics right out of the pot. Keeping the lid on during the simmer traps those volatiles and lets them condense back into the water. Steeping for two full hours after the heat is off continues the extraction without cooking off what you worked to capture. The Campden tablet at the 24-hour mark knocks out any wild microbes before your chosen yeast takes over, giving you a clean, predictable ferment. The long aging schedule — six-plus months — lets the harsh edges of a spice wine soften into something genuinely pleasant.

Notes

Use the freshest cinnamon sticks you can find — bulk spice bins at grocery or health food stores are a good bet. Avoid sticks sold as “cinnamon-scented” or any that feel slightly greasy; those have added cinnamon oil and will throw your fermentation off. For the grape concentrate in Recipe 2, any frozen white grape juice concentrate from the grocery store freezer aisle works fine — Welch’s White Grape is widely available and produces good results. If you want to layer in more spice complexity, try adding 12 dried allspice berries or a split vanilla bean to the steeping water alongside the cinnamon.