Mulberry Wine Recipe: Two Easy 1 Gallon Versions

The short answer: a 1 gallon batch of mulberry wine uses 6 pounds of ripe mulberries, 1¾ pounds of sugar, pectic enzyme, acid blend, yeast nutrient and a Bordeaux wine yeast, plus something to give it body: either 1 pound of chopped raisins (with 6 pints of water) or one 11 ounce can of frozen grape juice concentrate (with 5 pints of water). You pour boiling sugar water over the berries, ferment on the pulp for four days, strain into a dark vessel and rack twice, two months apart. Both versions come from Jack Keller’s Requested Recipes Collection (compiled 2020), where he lists them as his own recipes.

New to winemaking? Start with our full guide to making wine at home; this page assumes you know what racking and an airlock are. For other fruit recipes, see the homemade wine recipe collection.

Mulberry Wine at a Glance

The timeline is Keller’s. Plan on a wine you open in a year or two, not this season.

Which Mulberries Work

Keller starts the section on mulberries with the tree itself. The native American mulberry, Morus rubra, grows all over the United States and especially in the South. He warns that it should in no way be confused with the several hybrids of fruitless mulberry, or with the Chinese or Asian mulberry, whose fruit approaches two inches long.

Native tree or ornamental

Make sure the tree you pick from actually bears fruit, since the fruitless hybrids will not help you. Keller describes the native as a wonderful shade tree with fruit that is delicious raw, cooked into cobbler, or made into jelly or syrup.

Picking and handling

Keller notes the fruit can be messy, especially after birds have passed it through, so he suggests leaving the upper branches for them and harvesting what you can reach easily or with a step ladder. An average tree easily yields enough for several gallons of wine. Wash the berries and remove the stems before they go in the fermenter.

Protect the color

Like many dark berries, the wine’s color suffers in bright light. Keller’s advice is to use a dark glass fermentation vessel, or clear glass wrapped in brown butcher paper, and to store and age the bottles in a dark place.

Recipe 2: With Grape Concentrate

The second version swaps the raisins for a can of frozen grape juice concentrate. It is the same method with two changes in the card below: the thawed concentrate goes into the fermenter with the berries before the hot sugar water, and the water drops from 6 pints to 5, because the can adds liquid. If raisins are not in your pantry, this is the quicker one to assemble.

Why Mulberry Wine Needs Body

Keller’s verdict is blunt: mulberries by themselves make a poor wine unless you go all out and use 100% juice with no water. He says he has not tried that, so he cannot tell you how many pounds of berries it would take. The recipes above are his answer, and he says recipes like them require raisins or grape juice to give the wine body.

Thin wine and fleeting flavor

The question that started Keller’s section came from a reader whose mulberry wine had come out with little body or flavor. He adds that the flavor is somewhat fleeting. That is why the berries are only part of the story here, and why the raisins or concentrate are not optional extras.

Topping up with mulberry juice

To keep the flavor, Keller likes to top up with pure, strained mulberry juice. It tends to drag out the fermentation and usually means one more racking, but he says the added flavor is worth it. Our guide to how to rack wine covers the siphon method.

Do not use a thin batch in place of water

If you already have a thin mulberry wine, Keller would not use it instead of the water in a new batch, except for topping up, because the alcohol would end up too high and only a very high tolerance yeast would ferment it out. His suggestion for leftover thin wine is to use it for topping up and blend any remainder with a full-bodied grape wine.

Can You Make Mulberry Wine Without Yeast?

Fresh fruit carries wild yeast on its skin, so crushed mulberries left to themselves will often start fermenting. Both Keller recipes here use a Bordeaux wine yeast, though, and we do not give a yeast-free version because we have no tested quantities for one. If you want to try it, read our guide to making wine without yeast first. To compare packet strains, see the best wine yeasts.

Want another dark berry recipe? Try blackberry wine, and see our guide to making wine from fruit for the general method. Make and drink wine responsibly, and only if you are of legal drinking age.