Questions regarding first batch of mulberry wine

Hi there!

Re-posting this in a different section, I think I'm in the right place now.

I live in a place with lots of mulberry trees, and within the next couple months we're going to have loads of berries. I would like to make a mulberry wine- not a typical grape wine with mulberries added, but one with mulberry juice as a base and not much else, maybe raspberries or blueberries, if anything. I've heard that finished products involving mulberries tend to lack body, so it's a good idea to add something else as well.

I've made 10 or so batches of cider and a few of mead, but I've got no experience with anything of this sort. How would I go about this?

I guess my main questions are:

Which would make a better addition, blueberries or raspberries?

How would I do this in a way that wouldn't involve waiting ridiculous amounts of time? (I'm used to about a month- when I do cider it's in primary for 2-3 weeks and secondary for one or two.)

Thanks!
Quinn

I am not sure for blueberries and raspberries for which would be best to add body. Personally to add body to a thin wine or mead I would add the following

1/2 lb minced raisins per gallon
1tbs black tea per gallon (I like earl grey for this, this is kind of "dry hopped" strait into the primary)

Mulberries here in Oklahoma are quite tart so if yours are the same then I might drop the dry tea down to 2 tsp per gallon.

Quinn...country wines, as mulberry would be, typically have an ACV of 10-12% which means necessary aging of 6-12 months. Make it lower ACV and you should not need to age as long. But fast good wines do not usually exist. Even my 6-7% ACV cider ages for 4-6 months. Mead ages a month minimum for each % of ACV. Talking bulk aging.

Thin wines typically get created when not enough of ripened fruit is used, there is too much H2O involved and the whole acid-base balance is off. If super worried about body consider using wine grape concentrate as part of your must (good variety at homewinery.com and they sell pint containers over phone, 64oz available online). A soup made of super ripe bananas plus their blackened skins will add body too, about 5 medium bananas/peels per gallon. Even raisins help add body.

You need to pick fruit at their peak. Freeze promptly unless you plan to use immediately, but you get more juice from a freeze/thaw. Ensure you have enough tannin, think about your yeast. Think about how to incorporate the fruit: whole fruit free floating or contained in mesh bag, crushed free floating or contained, juiced by mechanical means or steam juicer, puree, etc. Use too much fruit and you can screw it up too. Make sure you can check pH and TA, mulberries can be acidic buggers much like blackberries.

Blueberries pair well with mulberry, as does concord grape, and chokecherry is good.

I was looking at my mulberry trees yesterday too. Will definitely be covering ground with sheets to capture fallen berries and shaking the tree with my son's truck.

Thank you for the insight on the aging time. Guess I'll just have to be patient! I had thought about adding raisins, but have never heard of adding bananas- thanks for the suggestions