Elderberry wine can be an elegant alternative to its grape counterpart. When prepared properly, elderberry wine makes for an exceptional pair with meats such as wild game or red meat dishes.
This kit provides all the ingredients and supplies necessary to produce a five gallon batch of Elderberry wine at home, using only safe and sanitary methods. Specifically designed to fit inside a glass carboy.
Tasting Notes
Elderberry wine is an impressively full-bodied fruit wine with an irresistibly fresh, deep crimson red hue and full, robust flavor, making it the ideal accompaniment to grilled meats or robust cheeses, desserts or ice cream. Rich in antioxidants, elderberry wine has medicinal properties to prevent inflammation and fight disease while being an excellent source of vitamins A and C.
Elderberry wine requires both ripe berries and an ideal yeast strain to produce high-quality results. A reliable yeast will ensure an affordable wine with low sugar and smooth finish; home winemakers have access to many types of yeast strains specifically tailored for elderberry wine making; some may be easier than others but all serve the same basic functions.
A great wine should strike a balance among acidity, sugar, tannins and alcohol content – this applies to elderberry wine too! Too much tannin will create an unpleasant texture in the wine’s palate; to prevent this, add extra sugar or decrease berry quantities when making recipes.
Fining agents such as Kieselol or Chitosan may help with the clarification process and keep wine from oxidizing or emitting unpleasant flavors. You can purchase these agents at various winemaking shops or online, in various sizes to fit your specific needs.
Elderberry wine resembles some of the deeper, darker red grape wines like Petit Verdot and Mourvedre when aged and oaked, making it an excellent accompaniment for winter months when served alongside grilled beef or portobello mushrooms.
Elderberry Wine from Elderberry Farms is a sweet and fruity wine featuring the rich flavours of fresh Elderberries. Perfect as an accompaniment for any grilled meat meal and heavy cheese courses like French. Also great as an aperitif and digestive. A great wine that all ages can appreciate.
Preparation
Elderberry wine offers a distinct and enjoyable flavor profile that pairs well with various foods. With its complex blend of dark fruits like black cherries and plums and earthy notes like leather and tobacco, elderberry wine has its own special place among other wines. However, due to the high concentration of tannins present in fruit it’s quite tannic; therefore it should be enjoyed while young for maximum flavor development.
To create a great elderberry wine, the fruit must first be completely stemmed and crushed, either using a potato masher or your very clean feet (though be aware, as elderberries can stain your skin!). This will break apart the berries to reduce harsh tannins in their seeds while simultaneously helping yeast consume sugar more efficiently and produce more alcohol.
While crushing the fruit, it’s also essential to prepare the remaining ingredients. This includes adding water and sugar; elderberries don’t contain enough natural sugar for winemaking purposes so adding some is necessary. Also, due to their sharp tannins in their skin and seeds, fermentation must be limited as otherwise the harsh tannins could overwhelm any sweetness produced and lead to an unpleasant tasting wine.
Once the juice has been produced, it must be strained through a fine mesh strainer and double-mesh bag for optimal results. This step is essential as it prevents harsh tannins from seeping into the final wine product and will make all the difference in terms of its quality and flavor.
Next, combine the dissolved sugar with fruit concentrate. It is important that you add enough sugar in order to reach your desired starting brix; generally speaking, one cup per gallon of juice should do.
Along with fruit concentrate, it’s also crucial to add potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfite sanitizers into your wine to prevent spoilage during fermentation and let your wine clear up properly. Corks for your bottles would also make an excellent finishing touch!
Fermentation
Wine made with fresh elderberries has an intense fruity flavor and aroma, but can sometimes be bitter due to their high amount of tannins and seeds. Cooking helps break down some of these toxins, making the wine more drinkable. When making elderberry wine, it’s recommended that the elderberries are first cooked prior to adding them into your mix and that stemming is done prior to pressing process to eliminate bitter berries that might otherwise remain.
Here is an easy and proven recipe for creating one gallon of elderberry wine, complete with notes of blackberry, cherry and blueberry alongside earthy tones such as leather and tobacco. This should result in delicious elderberry wine!
Throughout the fermentation process, you should regularly check your brix level to reach between 39-43. A hydrometer could help ensure your wine ferments to its target brix level.
Distilled water should also be utilized when producing wine, to help ensure its clarity and prevent any bacterial contamination. Distilled water is far less costly than commercial brands of water and won’t alter the acidity level of your final product.
Once fermentation has completed, you must bottle your wine. 750ml bottles are an ideal way to showcase homemade wine; all you’ll need for bottling are corkers and new corks; additionally a brewing siphon will allow you to efficiently transport it from its primary fermentation bucket into individual bottles without adding oxygen and creating vinegar formation.
Bottling
After several months of fermentation, it’s time to rack and bottle your elderberry wine. Depending on how much sugar you use, the end result can either be dry or sweet; dry wines pair nicely with meals while sweeter versions make great dessert options. To be certain that your elderberry wine is ready for bottling, Brix testing is highly recommended.
Hydrometers can make this task simple; just purchase one from any homebrew store or online. To test the brix of your wine, take a sample and pour it directly into its tube; read off its results; the scale should display them; and follow your winemaking book’s instructions to convert them to alcohol by volume.
As your first attempt at elderberry wine production, it’s wise to follow an established and basic recipe. This will take out any guesswork while leaving more room for experimentation in the future. This ingredient list makes enough wine for one gallon batch, so this should meet all of your needs. Likewise, all equipment must be clean before beginning this process in order to reduce contamination like pectin haze from entering the wine itself.
While this haze can be caused by many different things, its most likely origin lies with insufficient pectic enzyme addition. The greenish hue often defies typical cleaning methods and has even been suggested to come from elderberry stems; however, I have witnessed instances where it shows up without stems present – the jury is still out.
Honey can provide another great option when creating wine, since its complex sugars ferment at a slower rate and thus help retain more of the natural flavors from your fruit in your finished wine. Although more costly, many winemakers claim this approach makes an overall superior-tasting beverage.
