The Potting Shed

Jellycat · 4 Star Club Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Posts: 1732

We had a little taste (as you do) whilst racking off our elderberry wine yesterday and it's foul - really really sweet (think Ribena-sweet). Is there anything we can do?

Leonie2 · Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 2:45 pm Post subject:

Jellycat I wouldn't know the answer to that (hopeless wine maker here) but David would probably know. If he's not along soon you could go to his forum (http://www.winesathome.net/forum/index.php) and ask there, they're all very clever over there when it comes to wine making. Very Happy

Jellycat · 4 Star Club Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Posts: 1732

Thanks for the link Autumn, I'll pop over there when I get a chance and see if anything can be done.

I'm so disappointed - it's the first wine I've ever made and I was really proud of it, right up until the moment I tasted it!!

n · Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:27 am Post subject:

Could you add brandy or a white spirit like vodka and make a Cassis-type liqueur? I remember when I was on my first ever trip to France when I was 18, and travelling all by myself, I was inordinately pleased to "discover" Cassis Rouge which was drunk all over the Provence region and was a mixture of Cassis and red wine, so you got a kind of blackcurranty red wine. When I came home I was too poor to buy Cassis, so I used blackcurrant cordial and a splash of vodka to add to the red wine. It all sounds quite disgusting now, but I was a penniless charity worker at the time, and it did make a not unpleasant fruity flavoured red wine for very little money, and conjured up my holiday memories of being it the hot and dusty South when it was cold and wet at home.
I think if you were to try it mixed with a very dry red, even a supermarket plonk type red, you might find it is worth drinking. It's not the same as pure elderberry but it's definately better than chucking it all away, and you could even present it to visitors as something new and different!
n
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The Yarn Yard

lloyd · 5 Star Club Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 2586

How did it work out then, Jelly? Very Happy

Jellycat · 4 Star Club Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Posts: 1732

irredeemably disgusting I'm afraid - it went down the sink in the end Crying or Very sad

Never mind, we have a demi-john of gorse flower wine on the go at the moment - so far it looks like orange juice Very Happy

lloyd · 5 Star Club Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 2586

Not tried gorse. Two gallons of strawberry on the go here, and soon five of elderflower.

Jellycat · 4 Star Club Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Posts: 1732

mmmmmmmm - strawberry wine.

That's on the list to do when the local PYO opens...

And raspberry.....