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There are many members in the berry family. Raspberries, blackberries, black raspberries, goose berries, blueberries, and strawberries are just a few. All of these can be made into wine, and sometimes they are combined for richer berry flavors. However, blackberry wine may not be blackberry wine when it is black raspberry wine. Here is how you can tell the difference.

Front Label Says "Blackberry," but the Ingredients Say...

The front label of many blackberry wines claim that the are blackberry. It may even taste like blackberry to the unrefined palette. However, some blackberry wines are actually made from black raspberries or raspberries with blackberry coloring and artificial flavoring. It helps to check the list of ingredients if you want the real deal. Look for other berry fruits as the first ingredients, and any "artificial colorings or flavorings" listed.

Blackberry Is a Tart Fruit

If you have tasted fresh blackberries before, you know they are tart. They do not get sweeter during the fermentation process. If you are sipping a blackberry wine and it tastes like blackberry scones or sweet cakes with blackberries, you may not be drinking blackberry wine. Either that, or your wine was overly sugared during the fermentation process and the true tartness of this dark berry has been smothered in sugar to make the taste more attractive to other cordial and wine drinkers.

Blackberry Wine Is More Like a Cordial

Blackberry juice, when extracted from the fruit, is very watery. It is not heavy enough to create the kind of body people would expect from most wines. True blackberry wine, then, is more like a cordial or aperitif than wine, even though blackberry wine uses the wine-making process to create it. Even so, most people tend to serve blackberry wine in aperitif or shot glasses, rather than in goblets, so that the flavor can be savored.

When All Else Fails, Ask an Expert

Not everyone can be a wine expert. If you are not sure you have a bottle of the real deal when it comes to blackberry wine, ask a wine expert. Most liquor stores hire people who really know their stuff when it comes to alcoholic beverages. The wine expert has probably tried the bottle you hold in your hand, since he/she is expected to know a lot about this topic and samples the products that come into the store. He or she can also direct you to the best-tasting berry wines on the shelf, if you want to learn more on your own.

For more information, contact a business such as Wine Candy.