2025 In Review: The Ups and Downs of Hobby Winemaking

Every year is different. The types of wine I make, how much I end up with, and even what fruit is available. None of it is ever predictable.

2025 came with some of the same frustrations as 2024. We had wet springs that looked like they were setting us up for great fruit, only to have summer droughts shrink and dry out the wild berries. The end result was smaller harvests and smaller batches. To work around that, I tried a few new things this year: supplementing when I had to, blending more creatively and leaning on some old favorites for holiday gifts.

Supplementing with Purées

I’ve used fruit concentrates and purées before to make full batches of wine, but until this year I’d never used them just to stretch what I had.

Wild black raspberries were basically a no-show in 2025. Wild red raspberries in our area did a little better, but still only gave me enough for a tiny two-to-three-gallon batch. To make it worthwhile, I supplemented with a red raspberry purée from Oregon Fruit Co.

It’s not cheap when you buy it through wine supply shops, usually $25–30 for a 32-oz container, but it’s the real thing. One of my biggest complaints about a lot of purées and concentrates is that they’re often padded with cheaper fruit, usually apple. Oregon Fruit Co. purées are 100% of the fruit you’re paying for, with no filler, and they smell and taste fantastic.

With the purée, that sad little two-gallon batch turned into almost five gallons, which felt like a win.

Side note: I checked prices directly on the Oregon Fruit Co. website. Ordering direct is cheaper, but shipping can get expensive fast, into the hundreds of dollars depending on how much you order.

Blending Mulberries with Traditional Red Wines

Mulberries are the one wild fruit I can count on. They’re a pain to pick because they grow high up in the trees, but with a little help from the tractor, I can usually collect enough for five or six gallons.

The problem is… mulberries just don’t make a great wine on their own.

I’ve never had much luck back-sweetening them, so for the past few years I’ve kept my mulberry wine dry. It’s fine, and I enjoy drinking it, but it never has that “wow” factor, even after a year or two in the bottle.

This year, I tried something different and blended the mulberries with a Lambrusco base. At bottling time, both the aroma and flavor were encouraging. I won’t open a bottle for at least nine months, but this might finally be the answer to my ongoing mulberry problem.

Revisiting Favorites

I’ve made a few dessert wine kits over the years, and one that always goes over well is the Black Forest Dessert Wine Kit. It’s basically cake in a cup. It’s definitely not something my dry-wine-loving palate can handle in large doses, but it makes an excellent holiday gift for friends with a serious sweet tooth.

I also went back to my dandelion wine this year. Dandelion—and really any floral wine—is a ton of work and hard to scale up. If everything goes right, I might get three gallons, and that’s after hours of picking and trimming flowers. Still, I’ve had some genuinely amazing results after two years of aging, so even though it’s a bit of a luxury project, it’s one I keep coming back to.

Here’s to 2026—and whatever it decides to throw my way.