I started wine making in 1976 using a Boots kit. I went on to make various other kit wines as well as trying most of the usual ingredients. I made Apricot, Rosehip & Fig, Dandelion, Tea, Apple, Pear, Crabapple & Damson, Grapefruit, Orange, Peach, Elderflower, Elderberry, Strawberry, Blackcurrant, Rose Petal, Banana, Sloe, Blackberry, Parsnip, Gooseberry, Raspberry, Coltsfoot and Redcurrant Wines as well as various meads and fortified wines. However because of an increased interest in brewing and university, work etc. and the fact I wasn't drinking very much wine I ceased wine making in 1985.
During the late summer/autumn of 2004 I noticed that there was very good crop of elderberries on the local bushes so I decided that it would be a shame not to put them to good use. Also, I'd started drinking the occasional glass of red wine (especially to accompany Mediterranean dishes whenever I cooked them). So, since I already had the required equipment, it was easy to start making wine again...
During my previous wine making period I'd bought Progressive Winemaking by Duncan & Acton [Amateur Winewaker, Andover (1967) SBN 900841-052] but never used any of its recipes because I'd been put off by the huge amount of ingredients required and (oddly perhaps) by the fact that most recipes used a mix of ingredients. I decided that for my renewed attempts at winemaking I'd aim just to produce the best wine possible, irrespective of recipe, so I dusted of this book and started to design my own recipe for a full-bodied, soft, fruity and drinkable red... I decided that I'd get round the mixed ingredients by simply naming the wines after the most significant ingredient(s).
My notes are a bit vague for this wine, but on 5 October 2004 I used approximately 4lb elderberries, 1kg dried elderberries, 500g dries sloes, 2lb chopped raisins, 50g dried elderflowers, 3lb bananas (peeled, chopped and boiled in water for 30 minutes before straining off extract), 1kg granulated sugar, a 1.7kg tin of red grape juice concentrate and 2 gal of boiling water, made up to ~4 gal with cold water, cooled and fermented on the pulp in a 5 gal bucket with CWE Formula 67 yeast for a few weeks. I gave the pulp a stir a few times a day (whenever I remembered). The pulp was then pressed and the extract made up to 5 gal in a fermenter and a further 1 kg of sugar was added. The resulting fermentation was quite violent in spite of me putting the fermenter in my garage in order to try and cool it down a bit. Upon completion of the fermentation the wine was racked and tasted. It was nice but toe-curlingly acidic. I thing I'd picked some of the elderberries before they were fully ripe. So I added some precipitated chalk and left it for a month or so. I then racked and tasted again. The wine was still too acidic, although it was less so than before, so I added more precipitated chalk and left it for a while longer. Eventually I decided that the wine was OK to bottle and the resulting wine is certainly a full-bodied, soft, fruity and drinkable wine. I'm sure that the wine will improve further as it matures but it certainly tastes much better than its approximate cost to make of £1 per bottle. I don't believe you'd be disappointed if you'd paid £4 for wine of this quality. A definite success!
Encouraged by my success with the above wine I decided to do another one. I started this on 15 May 2005 and I used 3lb bananas, 1 kg raisins, 1 kg sugar, 1.8kg dried elderberries, 50g dried elderflowers, 5tsp yeast nutrient, 1.25kg pack of Beaverdale Cabernet Merlot grape juice concentrate, 3x700g jars of (Lidl) cherries and 3litres of (Lidl) red grape juice and I fermented on the pulp with CWE Formula 67 yeast. On 26 May I added a further 1kg of sugar. On 30 May I added another 1kg of sugar and pressed, with some added water, to produce 4.7 gal of extract. On 2 June I was concerned that the fermentation seemed to have stopped so I added a sachet of yeast which started fermenting immediately...but had stopped again by the following day. I was concerned that my final sugar addition may have been too much and I'd now got a stuck fermentation. However, on 1 July I measured SG=1.010 which is nicely in the medium dry range so I guess that I'd got away with some lack of attention. I racked and tasted the wine and even at this early stage it is tasting very promising indeed. On 1 August I racked it again. On 15 September I bottled it. From tasting again it remains very promising although I think it will definitely need significant maturation.
2005 looks like it will be another excellent elderberry vintage and I decided that this was an opportunity to make an elderflower wine. I started this on 17 July and used 3lb bananas, 1.7kg tin of "Magnum 1430 Medium Dry White" grape juice concentrate (this, along with 3.5 kg sugar is sufficient for 5 gal of wine but I haven't used it like that...), 1kg tin of CWE "Gooseberry Wine" concentrate, 1kg tin of CWE "Peach Wine" concentrate, 1 kg sugar, 2tsp yeast nutrient, made up to 4.5 gal with water (SG=1.070) and CWE Formula 67 yeast pitched. This may seem like overkill, but the resulting wine will still cost less than £1 per bottle. By 5 July the fermentation had slowed so I decided to add the elderflowers (adding them later should preserve more of the bouquet) but unfortunately discovered that I'd left it a bit late to pick them. I picked a few but wasn't happy since some of them smelled a bit "catty" so instead I added 50g of dried elderflowers. I also added 1kg sugar and made up to 5 gal with water. On 1 August I racked it and added some metabisulphite. On 17 Sept I racked it, added metabisulphite and some sugar since it tasted too dry. On 8 January 2006 I racked it again and added some metaibisulphite and potassium sorbate. On 9 September I bottled it and, at that point, it tasted lovely with maybe a touch too much SO2.
This is a 5 gallon Beaverdale kit, which come highly recommended. This wine is very easy to make, just follow the instructions and add water. I started making this on 1 August. It was racked on 7 Aug, stabiliser added on 21 Aug, racked and Kieselsol sachet added on 17 Sept and Chitosan sachet added the following day. This was bottled on 17 November.
This was prepared on 6 November using 4lb elderberries, 450g dried elderberries, 2.5kg (Lidl) sultanas, 3lb bananas boiled for 30+ minutes in water, 1.25kg pack Beaverdale Cabernet Sauvignon grape juice concentrate, 1kg sugar, 3x350g (Lidl) cherries, 3l (Lidl) red grape juice, 1l (lidl) cranberry juice, 5tsp yeast nutrient, 60g dried rose petals, 1tsp sodium metabisulphite and I fermented on the pulp with CWE Formula 67 yeast. On 29 November I pressed the pulp, added 1kg sugar and made up to 5 gal with water. On 8 January 2006, I racked this and added some metabisulphite. This wine was bottled on 28 May 2006.