Elderberry & ......................

[chadspad]

What other flavours have people put with elderberry to make wine? What were the results? Have tons of elderberries but wanted to put something with. Did pear with last year and thats really nice. Was thinking maybe tinned strawberries?

[possum]

rosemary

[chadspad]

Thats not something I would have thought of! Did it turn out nice? How much rosemary did u use and was it dried or fresh?

[WaltA]

,,, & blackberry & blackcurrant.

vary the proportions to your taste !
Or to your timescale :)

elderberry to our taste is quite tart, needs a long time for the tannin to subside, up to 2 years in my opinion.
Blackberry is our fav. flavour but the wine can be a little thin, so the addition of the elderberry improves that.

The blackcurrant alone does not make a good wine, unless you like ribena flavoured alcohol :)
but it works a treat when combined with other dark red fruits.

Anecdote :--
Father-in-law (English) spent many years in Toulouse and was a francophile,
he thought it a very foolish thing to attempt to make wine from hedgerow fruits.
however at one famous family gettogether we ran out of french bottles ,,, heheee ,,, yep you can guess ,,,
we served up our 'special' and he complimented it and asked for more :)

It was 8:4:1 blackberry:elderberry:blackcurrant by weight in the original pulp fermentation and 9months old.

Which proves absolutly nothing either about his pallet, my skills or our state of inebriation,
but it is a nice family tale ;)

[chadspad]

Great tale WaltA. I think a lot of my wines are better than some of the shop bought ones!

I have a few blackberries around here but no blackcurrant unfortunately. I agree the elderberry on its own is too tart.

[possum]

Thats not something I would have thought of! Did it turn out nice? How much rosemary did u use and was it dried or fresh?

Rosemary added to wine is gorgeous, I picked up a herb wine make book years ago in a second hand shop - all sorts of things you wouldn't think to use.
Just chuck in a couple of fresh springs about 3 -4 inches long. You migh be able to use dried, but I haven't tried that.

plum and rosemary wine tasked a bit like a mild crabbies green ginger, very nice though

[Cheezy]

Here's 3 from my Gran's W.I book:

Elderberry Wine
3lb Elderberrie
3lb white sugar
2 oranges
1 gallon water yeast
Remove berries from stalks, bruise in a bowl. Add the orange juice and grated rinds, pour on boiling water allow to cool before adding yeast.Leave 2 days stirring daily. Strian through muslin, dissolve sugar in juice, proceed as normal.
Alternatively 1lb damsons and 3lb of elderberries can be used instead.This wine is said to resemble Burgundy

Elderberry Wine (Spiced)
4lb Elderberries
3lb demerara sugar
1/4 oz. cloves
1 small stick cinnamon
yeast
1 gallon water
1/2lb raisins
1/2 oz. root ginger
1 lemon

De-stalk, weigh and mash fruits, pour on boiling water leave 2 days , stirring daily.Strain through muslin. Slice lemon, bruise the ginger and tie in a peice of muslin with cinnamon and cloves. Boil the bag in a pint of the juice for 20 mins. Lift out the bag and when the juice is cool add it to the main bulk. Dissolve the sugar in this, add the yeast and chopped raisins, continue as normal.
This wine is said to be very pleasant as a drink for winterevenings and is then usually drunk warm (ie it's like gluwein!!! )

Elderberry and Raisin Wine
4lb elderberries
6lb Smyrna raisins (no idea what they are!)
1 gallon water
yeast

Chop raisins. place in a jar with the yeast and pour on cold water.Insert airlock leave 14 days, shake jar daily.At the end of this period de stalk elderberries and place fruit in kilner jars. Heat in an oven at 250'F for 15 mins. or until the juice runs from the friut.Strain through a sieve and add one pint of cooled juice to each gallon of the strained raisin juice. Procedd as normal
Tastes best if made as a sweet, still wine