Plum Wine Recipe

The short answer: for one gallon of plum wine, chop 4 pounds of ripe plums into a nylon straining bag, add 6 pints of water, about 2 pounds of sugar (enough to reach a specific gravity of 1.090), ½ teaspoon of acid blend, 1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient and a crushed Campden tablet. Wait a day, add wine yeast, ferment on the fruit until the gravity drops to about 1.030, then finish in a jug under an airlock and rack every month or two until it is clear.

That recipe comes from Virginia Tech’s extension guide for home gardeners, which uses plum wine as its worked example of the whole process. Plums are a natural first fruit wine: they are easy to prepare, give a lovely color, and teach you the one skill that matters most, which is patience while the wine clears.

Where This Recipe Comes From

The Virginia Tech guide Wine Making for the Home Gardener (Virginia Cooperative Extension, 2024) walks through every stage of winemaking and then applies it to one gallon of plum wine: 4 pounds of ripe plums, 6 pints of water, 2 pounds of sugar, ½ teaspoon of acid blend, 1 teaspoon of nutrient, a crushed Campden tablet and wine yeast. It adds that the exact amount of sugar depends on how much sugar is already in the plum juice, which is why the card asks for a gravity reading rather than a fixed weight.

For a second opinion we compared it with the plum recipes in Jack Keller’s Requested Recipes Collection (2020). Keller, a wine judge and long-time recipe writer, uses 6 pounds of plums for a dry table wine and adds pectic enzyme and a little tannin. His notes are worth reading before you start: plum wine tends to lack body, is often made with raisins, and is notoriously slow to clear, but if you use plenty of plums the raisins are unnecessary.

Choosing and Preparing the Plums

How many plums per gallon

Virginia Tech uses 4 pounds; Keller uses 6 pounds for his dry wine. NDSU Extension’s Getting Started With Home Winemaking (FN1638, reviewed August 2026) says many fruit wine recipes call for 3 to 5 pounds of fruit per gallon. Four pounds is a sound middle; go up toward 6 for a fuller wine.

Any variety works

Dark-skinned plums give a deeper color; yellow and green varieties make a pale golden wine. Use fruit that is ripe and sound. NDSU warns against overripe, diseased or insect-damaged fruit; cut out bruises.

Do not break the stones

This is the one rule specific to plums. NDSU explains that the pits of stone fruits such as cherries and plums contain a cyanide-forming compound that will add a bitter taste to the wine, so chop or crush the flesh without cracking the stones. The easiest way is to halve each plum, lift the stone out and then chop.

Freeze first if you can

NDSU also notes that freezing and thawing softens many fruits and helps with juice extraction, while heating the fruit can release too much pectin and leave a haze. Bag the halved plums, freeze them for a few days, and thaw them in the primary.

Sugar, Acid and Clearing

Hit 1.090, not a weight

Virginia Tech explains that a starting gravity of about 1.090 gives about 12% alcohol. NDSU’s rule of thumb is that 11 grams of sugar per liter of must raises the gravity by about 0.004, so add the last of the sugar in small amounts and re-measure. Our sugar calculator does the sum for any batch size, and our hydrometer guide covers taking a clean reading.

Acid blend

Virginia Tech notes that most fruit musts benefit from added acid, and that too little leaves a wine flat while too much makes it sharp. Half a teaspoon per gallon is a modest dose; if you have an acid test kit, use it before adding more.

Why pectic enzyme is worth adding

The Virginia Tech plum example does not list pectic enzyme, but Keller’s plum recipes use a teaspoon per gallon, and he warns that plum wine is slow to clear. Virginia Tech itself explains that pectic enzyme breaks down natural pectin, which otherwise can leave a haze. We include it on the card for that reason.

The Best Yeast for Plum Wine

Neither source insists on one strain; Virginia Tech says to use a wine yeast, never bread yeast. Two Lalvin options fit plum wine well, using figures from Lallemand’s product pages:

• Lalvin 71B: 14% alcohol tolerance, 15 to 30 °C (59 to 86 °F), with a sensory contribution Lallemand describes as esters, the fruity aromas that suit a fruit wine. It also partially metabolizes malic acid, softening tart fruit.
• Lalvin EC-1118: 18% tolerance, 10 to 30 °C (50 to 86 °F), neutral in flavor and fast. Pick it if you plan a stronger, sweeter dessert-style plum wine or want the most reliable finish.

A 1.090 must lands near 12%, inside the range of both. More strains are compared on our best wine yeasts page.

How to Make Plum Wine, Step by Step

Step 1: Sanitize

Wash and sanitize the bucket, bag, spoon and jug. Virginia Tech uses a solution of potassium metabisulfite and citric acid for equipment.

Step 2: Prepare the fruit

Weigh, wash and destem the plums. Remove the stones and chop the flesh, or use thawed frozen halves. Put the fruit in a nylon bag in the primary fermenter.

Step 3: Build the must

Add water to bring the volume to one gallon, then stir in the sugar until the hydrometer reads 1.090. Add the crushed Campden tablet, acid blend, nutrient and pectic enzyme. Cover with a cloth and leave 24 hours, so the sulfite can deal with wild yeast before the wine yeast goes in.

Step 4: Primary fermentation

Sprinkle the yeast over the must as the packet directs, cover again and keep the bucket at about 70 °F. Each day, stir and gently squeeze the bag. Fermentation starts vigorous, then slows.

Step 5: Remove the fruit at 1.030

When the gravity reaches about 1.030, squeeze and remove the bag and pour the wine into a 1 gallon jug. Fit an airlock and move it to a dark room at 50 to 60 °F, as Virginia Tech recommends.

Step 6: Rack until clear

When fermentation stops, rack the wine off the sediment into a clean jug and refit the airlock. Repeat at 1 to 2 month intervals until it is clear. Keller adds sulfite at the start and after every other racking. Top up each time so there is little air in the jug; Virginia Tech says topping up with water will not dilute the wine by more than about 1%.

Step 7: Stabilize, sweeten and bottle

Stabilize with potassium sorbate, sweeten to taste if you like, and bottle a few days later. See how to bottle and cork wine. Keller samples his after 6 months and says another 6 can improve it.

Scaling Up: 5 Gallon Plum Wine

Multiply each ingredient by five and keep the same gravity target.

Use a 7 to 8 gallon bucket for the primary and a 5 gallon carboy after that; our carboy vs bucket guide compares them.

Common Mistakes With Plum Wine

Cracking the stones

It is the quickest way to a bitter plum wine. Stone the fruit before you chop it.

Expecting it to clear quickly

Keller calls plum wine notoriously slow to clear, but says it does clear. Pectic enzyme at the start and patient racking do more than any shortcut.

Sweetening without stabilizing

Virginia Tech points out that adding sugar to a finished wine makes it unstable, because fermentation could start again. Use potassium sorbate first, then sweeten.

Bottling before fermentation has finished

Check that the gravity has stopped moving before you bottle. Our page on how long wine takes to ferment explains how to tell.

For the method behind every fruit wine see how to make wine from fruit, and browse the recipe collection for more. Make and drink wine responsibly, and only if you are of legal drinking age.