How do I Make Homemade Raspberry Wine?

While some home brewers use raspberries to provide additional taste to grape wines, the foundation of raspberry wine is the raspberry itself. You don't need a large vineyard or distillery to make your own wine. With a few standard pantry ingredients and kitchen items, you can make your own. The only specialty items required are wine yeast, a slow fermentation yeast and a fermentation bucket -- a plastic bucket with an airtight lid. It takes two to three months for the fermentation process to complete.

A man and woman are drinking red wine. (Image: Visual Ideas/Camilo Morales/Blend Images/Getty Images)

Step 1

Boil 1 gallon of water.

Step 2

Put the raspberries in the fermentation bucket. Mash them a little with a potato masher to break the skins and release the juices.

Step 3

Pour the boiling water over the mashed berries. Place the lid on the fermentation bucket, sealing the berries in until the contents cool.

Step 4

Add the sugar and yeast into the fermentation bucket, and stir. Close the lid, locking all ingredients in for five days. Stir three times per day.

Step 5

Strain the raspberries from the liquid through a cheesecloth, pouring the liquid into the 1-gallon jug.

Step 6

Seal the jug with a cork or airlock, and set it in a warm, dark spot for three months.

Step 7

Siphon the liquid into wine bottles and seal with corks. This wine does not require aging.

Things You'll Need

• Large pot

• Fermentation bucket

• Potato masher

• 4 lbs. fresh raspberries

• 3 lbs. sugar

• 1/4 oz. wine yeast

• Slotted spoon

• Strainer

• Cheesecloth

• 1-gallon jug

• Wine bottles

• Corks

Tip

Use only ripe, plump raspberries.

Raspberry wine is enjoyed during winter months, warmed with winter spices.

Squeezing the raspberries in a cheesecloth helps pull more juice from the berries, adding more flavor to the wine.

Some recipes call for aging the wine for one year after fermentation.