Recipes for Ale

Wine is defined as an alcoholic beverage made from the fermentation of unmodified grape juice. Moe generically however, a 'wine' is an alcoholic beverage made by the formation of any fruit. The resultant 'wines' are generally named after the fruit eg elderberry wine, cherry wine, apple wide (which is more commonly known as cider). For this reason these other wine types are known as fruit or country wines.

Here I am distinguishing fruit wines from other drinks commonly called wines such as rice wine (sake) which is made from fermented rice sugars and is actually a beer, barley wine which is made from fermented grain and is actually an ale or elderflower wine which is made from elderflowers and honey and his thus a mead. In these cases the term 'wine' is applied only because these fermented beverages have a high alcohol content. They are not true wines as they are not made from fermented fruit.

The English word 'wine' ultimately derives from the proto-Germanic *winam which is a borrowing from the Latin vinam (wine) a word derived from the proto-Indo-European stem *win-o- from which the Greek οῖνος (oînos) is also derived.

The Principal kinds of Wine

Red Wine This is a wine made from red/black grapes in which the skins of the grapes are retained during the initial fermentation process.

Rosé Wine This is a second form of wine made from red/black grapes in which the skins are removed either immediately or after only a few days' fermentation.

White Wine This is a wine made from white grapes where the wine skins are removed from the must almost immediately.

Fruit Wine This is a wine made from any fruit apart from grapes. Common fruit used are apples, cherries, elderberries, but any fruit with a good sugar content can be used. Fruit wine is also sometimes known as 'country' wine.

If you have never made wine before, please look at my pages on basic red wine brewing and basic white wine brewing to find out how to make wines from scratch. Even if you have made wine before, please check the pages mentioned as all the recipes assume you have some familiarity with the techniques and methodologies described therein.

Need to convert any measurements on this site? I have conversion pages available for Volumes, Mass/Weight and Temperatures available.