Making over 4,500 varieties of the beverage, grapes are typically the staple ingredient in wine. However, if you’d like even more choices, wine can also be made without any grapes at all.

In fact, many cultures first created wines with ingredients like agave or honey (to create mead) long before being introduced to grape wine.

These fruit wines — a term applied to any type of wine where grapes are not the main ingredient — are still produced today. They tend to be popular among home brewers in areas where the climate is not suitable for grape production.

This includes much of Canada, the northern United States, Scandinavia, Africa, India, and the Philippines. In North America, berry wines are becoming increasingly popular, and more wineries are incorporating these fruits into production.

Winemaking Process

The winemaking process dates back as far as 5,000 BCE. However, the science behind it remained a mystery, with all types of wines created through trial and error.

Today, we know wine is created through fermentation. This occurs when yeast reacts with starches or sugars and transforms them into carbon dioxide and alcohol.

To ferment properly, the ingredients need balanced levels of sugar, acid, tannins, and nutritive salts. Grapes naturally contain this balance, but with other ingredients, adjustments are made by adding sugar or water to modify acidity.

Once the correct gravity is reached, the mixture is boiled. Yeast is added and left to sit for several hours.

After fermentation, wine often undergoes a second fermentation to reduce acidity and create a smoother taste.

Rice Wine

Rice is best known as the main ingredient in the popular Asian beverage sake. However, sake is technically a rice beer made through a process called mashing.

Rice wine is a separate beverage with a higher alcohol content, typically ranging from 15% to 25%. It’s used in many Asian cuisines as both a drink and a cooking wine, with a flavor comparable to dry sherry.

Originating in China and East Asia using glutinous rice, it spread to India and South Asia via trade routes. Today, Shaoxing is a popular variety with an amber color and nutty flavor.

In addition to being consumed, it’s commonly used in dishes like dumplings and stir-fries.

Maple Wine

If maple syrup isn’t enough of a reason to love maple trees, consider this: wine can also be made from the trees’ sap. The process begins similarly to syrup-making, with trees tapped in early spring when the sap is most active.

In sub-zero temperatures, sap flow stops and photosynthesis ceases. As temperatures rise, the trees awaken and begin producing again.

Sugar maples are the top choice for wine and syrup, though black sugar, silver, and red maple sap can also be used. Cloves and lemon juice are added to balance acidity, and the mixture is boiled down.

It takes about 12 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of maple wine. For context, it takes 40 gallons to make one gallon of maple syrup.

Carrot Wine

Vegetables and wine may sound like an unlikely combination, but carrot wine shares characteristics with many red grape varieties. It pairs well with roast beef, lamb, and pork, and is best served at room temperature.

It can be made sweet or dry and tends to have a lower alcohol content — around 5%. Sultanas and lemon juice are often added to help maintain the proper gravity for fermentation.

Dandelion Wine

Dandelion wine may be better known as a novel by Ray Bradbury than as a beverage. But with widespread dandelion growth across North America, it’s a drink that can be made in many climates.

To begin, flowering yellow dandelions are collected between March and May. While the leaves can be used in salads, only the petals are used in winemaking — they contain barley sugar that’s too bitter to eat raw but suitable for fermentation.

Since dandelions close their flowers without sunlight — even after being picked — it’s important to collect them early in the morning. The wine’s taste can vary significantly, as the U.S. alone has over 200 micro species of dandelions.

This variation comes from apomixis, the plant’s process of cloning itself. Even a small difference in reproduction can lead to a whole new micro species, which gives each wine a unique character.