Several months ago, experiencing an excessive plum harvest, we decided to make plum wine.
It took several hours to de-stone and prepare 16kg of fruit and several months of fermentation, stirring, decantering and finger crossing and finally….not plum wine, but plum port.
It tastes delicious! Sweet and definitely port tasting, it’s a drinkable drop. 16kg of fruit made around 10 litres, approx 14 wine bottles. With the price of port, it equates to more than $400 worth of tipple. Crickey, let’s hope it stores OK!
Now, this process is not for the fainted-hearted. Plums make a heck of a mess and it looks like a murder scene at times. However, I am a blogger and if I can’t share it, then I’m giving false illusions to keen first-time wine/port home-brewers across the globe!
Interestingly enough, we could find no port recipes at all online, only fruit wine and a few hints.
We invested in some wine equipment and followed a plum wine recipe although to be honest, there was some interpretation and creativity required. It involved sachets of this, tablets of that and a ridiculous amount of sugar. Everything went to plan it seemed for a typical wine (we can only assume as we’ve never made it before).
Homebrew Wine Making Tips:
- Do invest in some equipment: fermentation bucket, sterilisation equipment and various sachets (see method). A trip to your local brewer shop should leave you feeling sorted and prepared, if not like a scientist!
- Use sterilised equipment and a plastic stirrer (no metal) for everything! There are various sterilisation methods including the dishwasher, a pot of boiling water and sterilising powder to use in a ‘bath’ to soak (similar to a baby bottle steriliser).
- You’ll need to keep the vat in a warm place so it sits at an even 18-2 °C temperature. In summer this wasn’t hard at all. The fermentation process was definitely the most fun as the air-value bubbles every few minutes, rumbling throughout the night too. Keep away from bedrooms.
- Think ahead for bottles to decanter your final beverage into. Empty wine bottles are great. Be sure to set them aside from the recycling, and to keep the lids. You’ll need to wash and sterilise the bottles and lids too before final bottling.
We started the process in late January. After months of sitting and several weeks of decantering so the sediment is removed as much as possible, the fermentation process does need to end (otherwise bottles explode).
How do you make port from wine?
A fortified wine is one with a higher alcohol content. We read somewhere that adding brandy acts as a fermentation stopper, so that is the route we took (along with campden tablets which is used when making wine).
After a quick scientific experiment (ahem) by mixing brandy and plum wine together, it certainly tasted and smelled like port. So when the time came for final bottling, out came the brandy to add to the mix.
For those wanting to give it a go, with no guarantees (all care and no responsibility), here is how we did it:
- 16kg of plums, stoned and quartered. We froze the plums overnight as we understand this aids with releasing flavours more easily. It doesn’t matter if the skins split as it will all get mushy in the end.
- Place in a plastic fermentation bucket, cover with boiling water (approx 5 litres). When cool add 5 x pectolase tablets and 5 x campden tablets. Add lid with air bubble extraction.
- 3-4 days later we added 5 tsp citric acid, 5 tsp tartaric acid, 2 tsp tannin, 4 tsp nutrients, 1 pack (8g yeast) CR51 – which is considered good for ‘light, fruity red wines for early consumption’.
- 5-6 days later, add 3kg brown sugar, stir well using a plastic spoon.
- 5-6 days later, add another 3kg brown sugar, mix until dissolved. Strain fruit and keep liquid in a new fermentation vessel until the end of fermentation.
- When the wine starts to clear, use a sterilised syhponing tube to strain off pure liquid from the sediment that will settle on the bottom. This movement is called ‘racking’. Repeat monthly for two months.
- When you are ready to bottle (we had 10 litres of plum wine), we added 2 x bottles of brandy and 2 x campden tablets (crushed into warm water to dissolve) which in theory should stabilise fermentation when you decanter into your storage bottles.
Any wine buff may critique this method but it worked for us! We are happily enjoying plum port as an evening tipple, particularly as the winter approaches. As I mentioned earlier, we made 14 wine bottles worth of plum port in total – more than enough to get us through to the next plum harvest!
You’ll note in the photo that bottles have no label, yet. We’ll make our own for fun as it deserves to be named. But what? Any suggestions are welcomed! Ohaupo O-porto? Te Awamutu Tipple?
It will be a compulsory drop for visitors to make it out to the country to see us in the Waikato.
January 3, 2024
Great tutorial, and you cam tell you had fun doing it, which is the whole point, isn’t it?
Thank you, I really enjoyed reading it.
January 4, 2024
Thanks Mike! Yes, it was a fun experiment and well worth the fuss and giggles. Note: have since run out…must give it a whirl again this season as it looks like a bumper harvest again! >>Julie
January 20, 2020
Brilliant recipe – thank you very much! Very detailed & just the job……….bottled most of my Port yesterday, very TASTY, although some of it is still taking some clearing……… will enjoy in a few months! CHEERS…….
January 21, 2020
Awesome! Thanks so much for giving it a go. I struggled VERY hard to find a recipe online so had to cobble one up myself. Happy port drinking!!>>Julie
January 8, 2020
I would like to ask if it is possible to make plum wine the same was o do grapes wine. I just use the crushed grapes and add sugar and let it ferment. Nothing else is added and it works. What do you think?
January 21, 2020
Hi Tracy, we started off trying to make Plum Wine but wasn’t convinced we had the alcohol measures right so converted it to Port instead. Here’s a simple recipe I just spotted online that doesn’t seem too tricky: https://www.fermentingforfoodies.com/green-gage-plum-wine/ (although note that I haven’t tested this recipe/link personally) >>Julie
March 8, 2019
Hi there, your recipe is great, thanks so much for posting it. I’m a week into the process and I have a couple of tips passed on by an expert. In the beginning, instead of chopping up your plums, you can wear rubber gloves and rip or scrunch them up. Then add them to a muslin bag, that way you have an easier time removing them from the must and you get some flavour from the pips and just like making jelly, dont squeeze the bag too much. Also Instead of using tannin, replace it with 1 teabag in 1/2 cup boiling water, a good strong brew and add it. I was told for a fruitier flavor that the nutrients can be replaced with sultanas but I’m unsure of the quantity needed.
February 3, 2019
Greetings from the top of the south. Like Tamara I am curious to the size of the brandy bottles. I’m going to give it a go with half quantaties of everything and then reduce the sugar a notch more because my racking bottles are 5 ltrs.
February 4, 2019
Greetings! Mark, we used wine bottles (so that’s around 750mls) :). Good luck. Would love to hear how you go.>>Julie
February 10, 2019
Hey Julie, sorry just to clarify. When you added the brandy you added 2 x 750ml of brandy. Or 1.5ltrs of brandy to make 20ltrs of port?
February 11, 2019
Hi Mark, so we had 10 litres of ‘plum wine’ theoretically, then added 1.5ltrs of brandy to it (plus 2 x campden tablets) that made us 14 x 750mls wine bottles of plum port, thereabouts. Hope that helps? >>Julie
January 27, 2019
Hi Julie, Thanks for providing the recipe for us all to try. I’m about to embark on the plum port adventure, very exciting. The freezer is full of plums. Any update on how you got on with reducing the sugar? What would you recommend, 5kgs instead of 6kgs? Thanks Sally.
February 4, 2019
Hi Sally, I am pleased to report that we are still drinking our way through that batch of port! I haven’t gone about making another batch so I’m unable to update you on any sugar-reduction. My gut feeling would be YES reduce the sugar, but only a tad. >>Julie
August 17, 2018
Just wanted to update you on my plum port making endeavor. Finally got to taste the finished product this evening and it is spectacular! Shared with a friend and she couldn’t stop raving (or sipping!) i custom designed some labels and “The Lavender Patch Plum Port” is born! Thank you for your instructions and encouragement through the process!
October 7, 2018
Yay! Great to hear Tamara, fabulous! Enjoy your Plum Port find fingers crossed for another good harvest next season. I will raise my glass to that! >>Julie
July 9, 2018
This post is great, i have made some plum port much like you have, i added walnuts which created some nice tanins, they sat in the wine/port for 3 months before we racked it off. Beautiful color too.
July 19, 2018
How yum! That sounds amazing. Will try next time! >>Julie
November 26, 2017
I have a book called, The Great New Zealand Home Wine Making Book, by Douglas stewart & Russel Mckenzie, worth while getting a copy if you can find one.
November 29, 2017
Hi Pete, nice one thank you! I will next try my hand at Nashi Pear Wine I think this season — will look for inspiration. >>Julie
November 10, 2017
No need to remove the stones
As the plums ferment, the stones drop to the bottom of the fermenter. Don’t leave the wine on the stones longer than necessary – the stones contain minute amounts of cyanide.
October 7, 2018
Thanks for sharing Andrew, noted for next time, I will give it a whirl. >Julie
October 2, 2017
Another question – how much brandy did you use? Your instructions say 2 bottles – how big are the bottles?
I’m not sure if this is what is suppose to be happening but after adding the sugar and straining our the fruit solids, I have no bubbles happening in my airlock. The level of liquid in the airlock is fluctuating, but I’m not getting and bubbly action. Is this what I should expect?
October 2, 2017
Just added my second batch of sugar (after spilling part of it on the floor while trying to keep from splashing my precious plum nectar all over said floor). Now I’m nervous because I don’t know what to expect next. As this fermentation process progresses, you mention clearing and racking when that happens BUT what is happening to the sweetness during this process. I tasted the liquid as I was removing the solids and it was tart for our taste. I tasted again after adding what I think was 3k after the unfortunate dumping incident and it was just right. I wonder if I need to add more sugar since the yeast will be eating up the sugar (and sweetness?) during this next stage of fermentation. Can you offer any insight?
September 28, 2017
We are about to add the first round of sugar. It’s so exciting watching the liquid in the airlock reveal what’s happening inside. One gets a little nervous that she will ruin the harvest and no do overs until next year!
Good to know about the sugar. It looked like it would be pretty sweet. Would you reduce by 1/2? 1/3?
What about leaving the sugar the same cutting with more brandy?
September 30, 2017
How exciting. Yes it’s pretty wonderful to watch and listen to the air bubbles churn away! Hmmm Tamara, we are in this together…it was my first time too. I was so excited to get a result (albeit a sweet port) as there was really no recipe on the web to refer to. Sugar is required for fermentation so there will be a magic amount. I do admit next time I will be reducing the sugar. I’m not sure how much by though but perhaps a taste-test would be good. Adding more brandy won’t necessarily make it less sweet (but remember only add the brandy at the end of the process otherwise it will stop fermentation altogether). Good luck, and keep me posted! The good news is that my plum tree is in leaf again and that only means there’s another season ahead. I’ll be sure to share my second batch learnings with you. >>Julie
September 4, 2017
Thank you! I have been on a four year quest for plum port making instructions that were understandable and didn’t necessitate building a laboratory in my garage. Your post is wonderful. With an abundance of plums on the ready, I’m quickly ordering my supplies!
I’ve read some port instructions that include adding oak chips… Have you played with that at all?
September 5, 2017
Thanks Tamara, that’s lovely to hear! We too could absolutely NOT find any recipes either, so it was a bit of ‘asking about’ and ‘figuring it out’! Our intention initially was to make Plum Wine (that alone would have been great) but adding brandy too it was too irresistible. It is a SWEET drop, so if I was to do it all over again (which I will next season) I probably would dabble with less sugar. All the best! Would love to hear how you get on. >>Julie