When we think of the wine making process our minds instantly turn to fermented grapes and for good reason. Specially grown and fermented grapes have been the basis of wines for centuries. Few people ever consider the fact that wine can be made with any type of fermented fruit; and that people have been doing so for as long as they’ve been using grapes. Originally fruit wines, as they’re called, were a way to use up excess fruit from a harvest but today they’ve become as exquisite as any grape wine.
Today we’re going to go over a few of the best types of fruit wines.
Strawberry Wine
This is the type of fruit wine that you will want to drink as soon as the corkscrew comes loose from the bottle. Unlike other fruit wines strawberry wine doesn’t need to breath after being opened, in fact its best when you drink it fresh. Just like the symbol of summer that this wine is made from this is the perfect summer fruit wine. A fun easy-drinking wine it’s also great for your health because of the concentrated anthocyanins it takes from the strawberries that host a laundry list of health benefits.
Apple Wine
There is no more versatile fruit on our list than the apple, capable of creating sparkling wine, ice wine, cider, and dry wines. The wide variety of different apples of the world also allows wine makers to make unique blends mixing together red and golden delicious with more acidic apples like winesaps. Mixing and matching like this creates aromatic apple wines with extremely complex flavors. Mixing apple species in a wine like this also boosts the health benefits that it has to offer, giving wine drinkers the best of both worlds (similar to the first wine on our list)
Elderberry Wine
Similar to blackberries in wine and color elderberries create a truly full bodied wine when fermented thanks to the tannins they hold. Those same tannins also give elderberry wine a long shelf life and help to grow better as it ages. Not only does this fruit last longer than most and age better its filled with more antioxidants than any other fruit wine put together. While the regular elderberry wine is dark and versatile, this fruit can also be made into a sparkling wine; that is much sweeter and a great addition to mixed drinks.
Blackberry Wine
Similar to its elderberry counterpart blackberry wines have a long shelf life and age better than many other fruit wines. Blackberry wines are very dark in color with a taste quite similar to a merlot with mellow subtly sweet flavors with a round smooth finish to them. If that wasn’t enough to entice you blackberry wines are also chocked full of healthy chemicals that can help your body with a range of problems. One of the best is delphinidin, an antioxidant that helps to decrease inflammation and may help fight enzymes that cause type 2 diabetes adding huge health benefits to this wine.
Cranberry Wine
Boasting a higher acidity than the other wines on our list balanced out with a soft sweetness, cranberries create one of the most unique fruit wines on our list. That soft sweetness is matched by a lighter color and a smoother finish than what you would find in a darker wines such as elderberry or blackberry wines. Also like every other fruit wine on our list so far cranberry wines have huge health benefits. In this case it can be a big help for those with urinary tract infections, helping to quickly flush them out.
This is only a smattering of the list of fruit wines available today and while they used to be nothing more than a way to use excess fruit they have become so much more. Today fruit wines can offer the same excellent tastes, colors, and aromas that you’ve come to expect from grape based wines. They also boast that added benefit of antioxidants that can help your body fight disease, inflammation, and diabetes. Fruit wines make up a world of wine all their own that you have into head first to fully appreciate, this list should give you the perfect jumping off point.