Mulberry Wine

MULBERRY WINE

Mulberries are the fruit world’s quiet overachievers — deep purple, intensely sweet, and staining everything they touch. Fresh off the tree, they taste like a blackberry crossed with a fig, with just enough tartness to keep things interesting. As wine, though, they have a dirty secret: their flavor is thin and fleeting on its own. The fix is simple — add body with raisins or grape concentrate, protect the color from light, and give this wine the time it needs. Patience is the real ingredient here.

The beginner trap: Skipping the body-builder (raisins or grape concentrate) and expecting mulberries alone to produce a full, rich wine — they won’t.

Ingredients

• 6 lbs. ripe mulberries, fresh or frozen, stems removed
• 1¾ lbs. granulated sugar
• 1 lb. raisins, chopped or minced (plain, oil-free; found at any grocery store)
• ½ tsp. pectic enzyme
• ½ tsp. acid blend (or 2 tsp. lemon juice as a backup)
• 1 tsp. yeast nutrient
• 6 pints (12 cups) water
• 1 packet Bordeaux wine yeast (Red Star Côte des Blancs works as a substitute)

Method

1. Bring the water to a boil and stir in the sugar until fully dissolved and the liquid runs clear.
2. Wash the mulberries, remove any remaining stems, and place them in your primary fermentation vessel along with the chopped raisins.
3. Pour the hot sugar-water over the fruit and let everything cool to 75–80°F.
4. Stir in the pectic enzyme, acid blend, and yeast nutrient; cover the vessel and leave it alone for 12 hours.
5. Add the yeast, stir well, re-cover, and ferment on the pulp for four days, stirring twice daily and pushing the floating fruit cap back down each time.
6. Strain the must through a fine mesh bag or nylon strainer, pressing the pulp gently to extract juice without forcing bitter solids through.
7. Pour the juice into a dark glass secondary vessel (or wrap a clear one in brown paper or a black trash bag) and fit an airlock, topping up with water or reserved juice to minimize headspace.
8. Rack into a clean vessel after two months, then rack again two months after that.
9. Stabilize with ½ tsp. potassium sorbate and ¼ tsp. potassium metabisulfite (or one Campden tablet), then wait 2–3 weeks before bottling.
10. Store bottles in a dark place and resist opening one for at least six months — this wine genuinely improves after two years.

Why this works

Mulberries are high in water content and relatively low in the tannins and grape-like compounds that give wine structure. On their own, they ferment into a thin, pale-tasting liquid — drinkable, but forgettable. Raisins solve this problem because they are essentially concentrated grape solids: they contribute tannins, body, and a subtle grape backbone without overwhelming the mulberry character. Pectic enzyme is equally important here. Mulberries carry a lot of pectin, and without the enzyme to break it down, the finished wine will be hazy and slightly gel-like rather than brilliantly clear. The enzyme works best before the yeast is added, which is why there is a 12-hour wait between adding it and pitching the yeast. Light degrades the deep anthocyanin pigments responsible for the wine’s color, so dark storage is not optional — it is chemistry.

Notes

Frozen mulberries work just as well as fresh and have the added advantage of cell-wall breakdown from freezing, which makes juice extraction easier. If you cannot find acid blend at a homebrew shop, a small amount of lemon juice will adjust acidity in a pinch, though it adds its own flavor. For a variation, swap the raisins for one 11-oz. can of frozen Welch’s Concord grape juice concentrate (thawed) and reduce water to 5 pints — the result is slightly fruitier and a bit more grape-forward.