Elderberry Wine

There are elderberries all over our area, from big trees down on the river to bushier types in McCall.  The berries are a proven antiviral, the rest of the plant is varying degrees of poisonous…sounds like a great wine!

Elderberry wine is a fruit wine that can stand up to some aging…in fact elderberries have similar ratios of sugars and acidity to grapes.  My first attempt was a disaster…some of the berries were underripe so I was worried I would poison myself (in a year).  I boiled the crushed up berries and kept skimming off a layer or mysterious green goo, which confirmed the poison theory.  I eventually scorched the juice a little and just tossed the whole thing out.  There is debate about where the goo comes from but apparently it is common in elderberry wine.  It may come from the waxy layer on the outside of each berry.  This wine was started on September 10, 2017.

Elderberry Wine

4 3/4 lbs elderberries
1 tsp pectolase
pinch k-meta
6 cups water

Mashed up elderberries gently in a 2 gallon plastic fermenting bucket.

Day 3: Added 1 packet dry Permier Cuvee yeast.

Day 9: Strained through a cheesecloth, added another pinch of k-meta.  There was a film on top.  Added 3 lbs of sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup of the juice on the stovetop.  The smell of the fermenting juice is really berry-like, great aroma!

Day 23: Racked into a 1 gallon glass carboy, added 1 1/2 cups white grape concentrate.  Had bitter taste near neck, good aroma.  The wine seems to have great full body, but is losing the berry flavor.  May be a perfect blending wine for Raspberry #2.  Still bubbling.

Day 45: Still bubbling.

Day 62: Flavor seems off…added pinch of k-meta.

Day 81: Full body, aftertaste of fruit.  It tastes a little weird…it might just taste like elderberries.  Added a pinch of k-meta.  The wine is clear, but it tastes almost aged.  Brown edges to liquid, brick red color. Hmmm.  Acidity measured at 0.4%, no wonder.  Added 1 1/2 tsp tartaric acid to raise it to 0.6%.

Day 96: Slightly effervescent, MUCH better flavor.  Still brick red.  Good berry aroma initially, can’t place the flavor.  It isn’t strongly anything.  Racked, added 1 Tbsp French oak cubes (chocolate toast) and 1 Tbsp cacao nibs, and a pinch of k-meta.  Agitated the carboy to get all the dissolved gas out…there was a lot.  I’m planning to bottle 2 750 ml bottles to age, then mixing the rest with part of the Raspberry #2.

Day 190: Bottled the elderberry into 4 large bottles, 1 small bottle, and two 50/50 small bottle blends with Raspberry #2.  Why the change at the last minute?  Well, we tasted it on Day 188 and it…was good!  Tasted like wine.  It had lost some of the elderberryness that was dominating for a while, and I think it will age really nicely!  I just need a label and a few bottles are going to the Laurel and Kasey who donated elderberries to the cause.  Also, the raspberry was too good to blend.  We had our first bottle of Rasberry #1 on March 24th, and it was INSANELY good, we all just kept our noses in the glass taking huffs of raspberry…and #2 has always been a better wine than #1!  I have a good feeling about the elderberry wine though, so stay tuned for tasting notes.