Kiwi Wine Recipe: A Dry White Wine From Green or Golden Kiwis

The short answer: a 1 gallon kiwi wine uses 3 to 4 pounds of peeled kiwifruit in a straining bag, 1¾ pounds of sugar dissolved in 7½ pints of boiling water, a teaspoon of acid blend, ½ teaspoon of pectic enzyme, ⅛ teaspoon of tannin, a teaspoon of yeast nutrient and a packet of Lalvin 71B or AC wine yeast. The fruit stays in the bag for seven days and is never squeezed. Rack at 1.015, rack twice more three months apart, and age six months in the bottle.

The recipe comes from Jack Keller’s Requested Recipes Collection (compiled 2020), written for a reader in Te Puke, New Zealand, and adapted from Terry Garey’s The Joy of Home Winemaking. Keller gives two versions, because the two common kinds of kiwi behave very differently in a wine. He describes green kiwi as an acidic fruit, and golden kiwi as much sweeter and less acidic, tasting like a cross between a banana and a melon. In his words, each makes an excellent white table wine. New to fruit wine? Start with our guide to making wine from fruit, then browse the full homemade wine recipes.

Green vs Golden Kiwi Wine

The pattern makes sense: the sweeter golden fruit gets more acid added to balance it, and a little more sugar.

Preparing Kiwifruit for Wine

Peel thinly, chop coarsely

Keller’s instruction is to peel the fruit thinly and chop it coarsely. The fuzzy skin stays out of the wine, and a thin peel keeps as much of the flesh as possible. Coarse chunks are enough: the boiling sugar water and the pectic enzyme will soften them, and you will crush them by hand in the bag.

Ripe, not mushy

Use kiwis that give slightly when pressed, the stage you would want for eating. Very hard fruit has less sugar and flavor; fruit that has gone soft and brown inside should be cut away. Weigh after peeling so you know how much flesh is actually going in.

The seeds

Kiwi flesh is full of tiny black seeds. The tied bag keeps them out of the fermenter, and Keller’s rule that the bag is never squeezed keeps seed fragments and fine pulp from being forced through the mesh into what should be a clear white wine. Keep the bag closed and let the juice come out on its own.

The Golden Kiwi Version

What changes

Keller’s second card is for golden kiwifruit and follows the same method with three changes: 2 pounds of sugar instead of 1¾, 1½ teaspoons of acid blend instead of 1, and Lalvin D-47 or any Champagne yeast in place of 71B. It also adds a check the green card leaves out. Once the sugar water has cooled to room temperature, take a reading and make sure the gravity sits between 1.080 and 1.090, correcting it if needed, before the pectic enzyme goes in.

How strong golden kiwi wine will be

With a gravity target, the arithmetic is simple. Using the potential alcohol formula, (starting gravity minus 1) × 131.25:

Keller wants the wine completely dry at the end, so it may finish slightly below 1.000 and a touch stronger than the table. Record your actual readings and check them with the wine ABV calculator. To correct a low starting reading, the sugar calculator gives the amount of sugar to add.

Green kiwi with a gravity check

The green card gives no target, but nothing stops you measuring it. Taking a reading before the yeast goes in tells you what you are making and gives you the starting number for an ABV calculation later. Our hydrometer guide shows how.

Why the Bag Is Never Squeezed

Lift and dunk instead

Keller’s daily routine is to lift the bag and dunk it several times before stirring, and he writes the warning in capitals: do NOT squeeze the bag. Dunking moves fresh liquid through the fruit and lets juice out gently, without the pressure that pushes pulp through the mesh.

Drip drain on day seven

On day seven the bag comes out and hangs over the primary or a bowl to drip for about an hour, again without squeezing. It feels wasteful to leave juice in the bag. It is the price of a clear white wine. If a haze does appear later, our guide on how to clear wine covers the options, and pectic enzyme added at the start is your best protection against a pectin haze.

Aging, Sweetening and Serving

Six months in bulk, six in the bottle

Counting the two three month rackings, the wine spends about six months in the jug before bottling, and Keller sets aside another six months of bottle age after that. Our racking guide covers the two rackings, including topping up so the wine is not left under a big headspace.

Dry by default

Both recipes ferment to a completely dry wine. Keller’s note is that if it is too dry for your taste you should stabilize it, sweeten it to your liking, refit the airlock and wait 10 days before bottling, so you can see that nothing restarts. Our guide to backsweetening wine walks through the stabilizers and the amounts.

Serve it lightly chilled

Keller ends both cards the same way: serve lightly chilled. Treat it like any light white wine. Make and drink wine responsibly, and only if you are of legal drinking age.