Fruits & Vegetables Used for Winemaking

updated 08/07/2026

A poll on WMT, What is your top favorite Country Wines?, has produced some interesting discussion. For me, this revived something I started 5 years ago, a generic method for making fruit wine. An appendix in that document lists various fruit that are used, along with a list of poisonous fruit to NOT make wine from.

I decided to update my list, which now includes a fair number of non-fruit materials that may be used for winemaking.

The current list is “in progress”. It’s far from complete, and the final list may include a column that indicates where items are commonly grown. Note that the region may be less than specific, e.g., “North America” or “Southeast Asia” may be the the answers.

At this time, I’m providing the list in 2 groupings. The first is by Type and Material, while the second is alphabetically by Material. The two lists contain the same items, just sorted differently.

The poisonous items are listed after that. This list is provided as a caution regarding what NOT to use.

Sort by Type and Material

Material	Type	Notes
Grapefruit	Citrus Fruit	.
Lemon	Citrus Fruit	.
Lime	Citrus Fruit	.
Orange	Citrus Fruit	.
Hibiscus	Flower/Herb	.
lavender	Flower/Herb	.
lilac	Flower/Herb	.
Magnolia	Flower/Herb	.
barley	Grain	.
açai berry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
agarita berry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
banana	Non-Stone Fruit	.
barberry (red, purple, black, white)	Non-Stone Fruit	.
bearberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
blackberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
blueberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
boysenberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
bunchberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
cherry, Barbados	Non-Stone Fruit	.
chokeberry / aronia	Non-Stone Fruit	.
chokecherry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
cloudberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
cowberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
cranberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
currant (red, black)	Non-Stone Fruit	.
dewberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
elderberry	Non-Stone Fruit	leaves & stems mildly poisonous, ripe berries are safe
farkleberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
goji berry / wolfberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
gooseberry (various colors)	Non-Stone Fruit	.
haskap / honeyberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
Himalayan blackberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
huckleberry / bilberry / European blueberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
Indian plum	Non-Stone Fruit	.
juneberry saskatoon berry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
kiwiberry / Siberian gooseberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
kumquat	Non-Stone Fruit	.
lingonberry / mountain cranberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
loganberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
mulberry (red, white, black)	Non-Stone Fruit	.
nannyberry / sheepberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
olallieberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
physalis / cape gooseberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
pineberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
raspberry (red, black, golden, white)	Non-Stone Fruit	.
salmonberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
seaberry / (sea buckthorns)	Non-Stone Fruit	.
strawberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
sugarberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
tayberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
thimbleberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
tomato	Non-Stone Fruit	.
wineberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
youngberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
walnut leaf, black & white	Leaf	.
apple	Other Fruit	.
fig	Other Fruit	.
guava	Other Fruit	.
hawthorn	Other Fruit	.
pawpaw	Other Fruit	.
pear	Other Fruit	.
pineapple	Other Fruit	.
sassafras root	Other Material	.
apricot	Stone Fruit	.
cherry	Stone Fruit	.
dates (fresh only)	Stone Fruit	.
lychee	Stone Fruit	.
mango	Stone Fruit	.
nectarine	Stone Fruit	.
peach	Stone Fruit	.
plum	Stone Fruit	.
beans (green, yellow)	Vegetable	.
beet	Vegetable	.
Corn	Vegetable	.
corn cob	Vegetable	.
garlic	Vegetable	.
pumpkin	Vegetable	.
rhubarb	Vegetable	leaves mildly poisonous, stalks are safe
zucchini	Vegetable	.

Sort By Material

Material	Type	Notes
açai berry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
agarita berry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
apple	Other Fruit	.
apricot	Stone Fruit	.
banana	Non-Stone Fruit	.
barberry (red, purple, black, white)	Non-Stone Fruit	.
barley	Grain	.
beans (green, yellow)	Vegetable	.
bearberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
beet	Vegetable	.
blackberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
blueberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
boysenberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
bunchberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
cherry	Stone Fruit	.
cherry, Barbados	Non-Stone Fruit	.
chokeberry / aronia	Non-Stone Fruit	.
chokecherry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
cloudberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
Corn	Vegetable	.
corn cob	Vegetable	.
cowberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
cranberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
currant (red, black)	Non-Stone Fruit	.
dates (fresh only)	Stone Fruit	.
dewberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
elderberry	Non-Stone Fruit	leaves & stems mildly poisonous, ripe berries are safe
farkleberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
fig	Other Fruit	.
garlic	Vegetable	.
goji berry / wolfberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
gooseberry (various colors)	Non-Stone Fruit	.
Grapefruit	Citrus Fruit	.
guava	Other Fruit	.
haskap / honeyberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
hawthorn	Other Fruit	.
Hibiscus	Flower/Herb	.
Himalayan blackberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
huckleberry / bilberry / European blueberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
Indian plum	Non-Stone Fruit	.
juneberry saskatoon berry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
kiwiberry / Siberian gooseberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
kumquat	Non-Stone Fruit	.
lavender	Flower/Herb	.
Lemon	Citrus Fruit	.
lilac	Flower/Herb	.
Lime	Citrus Fruit	.
lingonberry / mountain cranberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
loganberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
lychee	Stone Fruit	.
Magnolia	Flower/Herb	.
mango	Stone Fruit	.
mulberry (red, white, black)	Non-Stone Fruit	.
nannyberry / sheepberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
nectarine	Stone Fruit	.
olallieberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
Orange	Citrus Fruit	.
pawpaw	Other Fruit	.
peach	Stone Fruit	.
pear	Other Fruit	.
physalis / cape gooseberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
pineapple	Other Fruit	.
pineberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
plum	Stone Fruit	.
pumpkin	Vegetable	.
raspberry (red, black, golden, white)	Non-Stone Fruit	.
rhubarb	Vegetable	leaves mildly poisonous, stalks are safe
salmonberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
sassafras root	Other Material	.
seaberry / (sea buckthorns)	Non-Stone Fruit	.
strawberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
sugarberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
tayberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
thimbleberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
tomato	Non-Stone Fruit	.
walnut leaf, black & white	Leaf	.
wineberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
youngberry	Non-Stone Fruit	.
zucchini	Vegetable	.

Poisonous Materials

While some of these materials may have medicinal value, they are not considered safe for winemaking.

baneberry	POISON	do not use for winemaking
bitterberry	POISON	do not use for winemaking
buffalo berry	POISON	do not use for winemaking
holly	POISON	do not use for winemaking
ivy	POISON	do not use for winemaking
mistletoe	POISON	do not use for winemaking
pokeberry	POISON	do not use for winemaking
privet berry	POISON	do not use for winemaking
snowberry	POISON	do not use for winemaking
yew berry	POISON	do not use for winemaking

If anyone thinks I’m being dramatic, keep in mind what George Carlin said:

Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.

No one reading this can truthfully say they were not warned of potentially bad consequences if making wine from any of these materials.