Mary’s Homemade Blackberry Wine

Yum

This recipe came out of the Greensboro, NC newspaper sometime around 1978-80 and the directions said it was an old family recipe that was over 100 years old. 

Take a glass gallon jar with a big mouth.  Put in a quart of blackberries and three pounds of sugar.  Fill the jar with water within one inch of full.  Tie a cloth over the  jar and set in a dark place to ferment and forget about it for a few weeks.  Every week or so you can stir the mixture if you wish.  When it ferments, the seeds will settle to the bottom.  Strain and put in the containers you wish.

OK, that was the recipe.  Now here is my experience:  The first year I waited for the seeds to go to the bottom, and they seemed to float on top.  As it turned out, the hulls float and the seeds drop.  I waited too late to take the hulls out and made vinegar.  Then I had to wait until the next summer to get more berries.

Over the years I started using the five gallon plastic containers with lids for beer and wine making.  Then you have the fermentation traps that allow the gasses to escape and keep the fruit flies out (and the fruit flies will not hurt anything – just provide more protein).  I would make 4-5 gallons per bucket, perhaps decreasing a bit the amount of sugar per quart of blackberries.  I start the wine in July or August when the berries come in (ALWAYS MAKING THE WINE THE DAY THEY ARE PICKED).  It completes its fermentation usually in October. 

Cutting off the fermentation:  Around the middle to end of October the wine will be ready to prepare.  What I usually do is get a strainer and dip the hulls off the top of the mixture.  Then I use a siphon hose to siphon the wine from the wine vat (put on the kitchen counter) to another pot or vat that is on a chair (lower).  It always is very helpful in having a friend to assist in this process (give them wine for payment).  Put cheese cloth in a colander and put that on top of the lower pot or vat.  Siphon the wine through the cheesecloth into the lower pot.  When there is only about ½ -1 inch of liquid left in the upper pot it will be mostly sediment.  Stop with the siphon.  You can throw that last part out or put it in a separate bottle for home use. 

From this pot or vat you can now use a pitcher or siphon to fill your bottles.  What I have started doing that is much easier is to keep the wine in the second vat and put the lid with fermentation lock back on the vat.  Then it will stay there and I will bottle it as I need it.  This also prevents the problem of bottling the wine before fermentation completes and having bottles explode – AND I have had that occur and that is scary.

THIS IS IMPORTANT:  IF YOU BOTTLE IT TOO SOON, THE WINE WILL CONTINUE TO FERMENT AND THE BOTTLES WILL EXPLODE.  LEAVE THEM ON A COUNTER AND LOOSEN THE TOPS A COUPLE OF TIMES DAILY UNTIL YOU ARE SURE THE FERMENTATION IS COMPLETE - I HAVE STORIES ABOUT THIS.

This produces a very sweet dessert wine.  It is delightful served in a wine glass over summer fruit (melons, grapes, and strawberries) along with some simple cookies for a delightful dessert.  I found my guests ate the fruit, drank the wine, we passed more and more wine, and then we had trouble getting up from the table.  OH, almost forgot – the alcohol content is much higher than regular wine, and this stuff will sneak up on you.  BE MINDFUL!  AND ENJOY!

Mary Rose Campbell

Currently in Cherry Log, GA

June 2021

4/28/2025 update: Likely because of climate change, the blackberries have been coming in earlier, so the time to check your farm bulletin about availability is in May and June. Similarly, the fermentation completes earlier. Last year, I pulled the wine off the hulls and seeds from the first to the middle of September.