Almost thirty years ago I needed to clean out the freezer. At the bottom, I found a six pound bag of sliced apricots, a six pound bag of sliced apples, and a three pound bag of rhubarb. Up until that point, my experience had always been one fruit wines, some were good, some not so great.

I added
3/8 tsp potassium metabisulphate powder
2 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient
3/4 tsp tannin
1 tsp pectic enzyme
9 tsp acid blend (I use a pH meter now... pH about 3.1)
sugar to 1.095...

and made a 5 gallon batch.

The warmth of the apricots and the flavor came through subtly, the body of the apple juice filled in the thinness of the apricots, and the rhubarb gave the finished product the zing it needed. Quite frankly, it was delicious, and that inspired me to try more combinations from there.

Since then I have used cherries, raspberries, blackberries, raspberries, peaches, apricots, loganberries, and blueberries as a primary fruit, sometimes one, sometimes two of them together. For the body, I have added bananas, apple juice or cut up apples, and grapes (up here in B.C. they don't get lovely juicy ripened), and for the acid I almost always use rhubarb.

Over time I realized that most wines have very similiar ingredients, and about the only variables are really tannin and acid. The other additives remain constant through every batch. So it became what flavors fit together best, and what did I have in the freezer to begin with.

I have made such delights as Blueberry, Peach, Rhubarb and I called it BluPeRhu,
and ApRhuPle Apricot, Rhubarb, and Apricot and PeRhuPle... with Peaches instead...

I added Peaches and Apricots to the grapes, and that was delightful... GrapPeAp...

One time I started a twelve gallon batch of cherries, and a ten gallon batch of Rhubarb. I ended up putting way too much potassium metabisulphate in it, and eventually got the cherries to go. I drained off ten gallons of fermented cherry juice, and dumped the mash onto the rhubard. That started the rhubarb up too, and the combination turned out so delicious, I now purpously make it that way. I needed a good French wine for that, so I called it Deuxrun CherRhu... for second run on the cherries, with rhubarb.

The more I experiment, the better I enjoy the mixed results.

With the pH meter, I now make my wines around 3.2 for best results. Whites, sometimes 3.1, reds about 3.3. The rhubarb will lower the pH (make it more acidic), but the peaches and apricots will provide a rich smoothness, and raise the pH (less acidic).

Happy brewing, Mike

thanks mike, sounds like you found the right combinations. i make a lot of fruit wines but have always used lemons for the acid content because it doesn't have much flavor to add to conflict with the fruit. now i will try useing rhubarb and other things to blend the flavors together, good idea
gary