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Hello all!
Just joined the forum, but you will rapidly see that I am not new to allotments. I live in London, and have an allotment on a fairly thin alluvial soil fairly close to a small river. This is my second allotment over the years. 99% of my allotment use has been for a long term interest in making elderberry and elderflower wines.
It's been quite a journey so far. My first elderberry wine, made from wild harvested berries turned out great. Then there were the wilderness years when I couldn't seem to repeat the trick before finally pinning down some solutions. The solutions were in how I sourced the fruit and also my making methods.
I found that only some bushes made good wines. In fact I learned that each bush/ or strain can make a unique individual wine. The bushes that seemed to be best were ones that produced berries that were fruity and bright on the tongue when picked raw off the bush. So this is where an allotment came in. I would identify a good bush and then cultivate it from cuttings on the allotment. Then I discovered that there are bushes that produce green/ yellow fruit that one can make white wines from. After some time I began to find some of these bushes. Again cuttings grown on the allotment have been a major help in exploring these white elderberry wines. Having said all this, the quantities of fruit have been pretty tiny. My cultivation techniques have not been great and until retirement 3-4 years ago I didn't have much time to do better. So now I'm working on scaling up in quantities of fruit produced. Some trial plantings along commercial grower methods have revealed a wide range of productivity among strains. The best by far is a commercial variety called Haschberg. I'm currently seeking to identify wild strains that have some or all of the qualities of Haschberg in fruit production.
On making the wines my ingredients are pretty simple - elderberries, water, sugar, yeast, nutrient. Many people comment on needing to age a high tannin product. I must say that I seem to have a solution to this, such that the wine tastes great a couple of months after completing the fermentation. The key seems to be to avoid exposure of the fruit to alcohol levels above about 8%. I ferment them to dryness with only a bit of added sugar. Then I remove the fruit and finish the fermentation with more added sugar. Temperature control is also a key part of my methods. You will note I haven't mentioned adding any acid. I used to but couldn't seem to make a smooth wine until I dropped the added acid. I am wondering if the fruit I am choosing by taste of the berry is already higher in acid than average. Acidity measurements this autumn should help make sense of this a bit more.
I'm aiming to experiment with production of pink/ rose elderberry wines this autumn. To do this my first thought is to press the juice off the skins before fermentation. Fermentation temperatures would be cool, as in a white wine.
Over the years I have now cultivated quite a number of black/ white/ brown/ and even pale pink elderberry strains.
I have also done a lot of work on how to make the best elderflower champagnes.
I'm happy to offer advice/ support for anyone else thinking to explore any of this. I'd be intrigued to see if anyone else is already or wants to grow elderberries on an allotment.
Rich
Just joined the forum, but you will rapidly see that I am not new to allotments. I live in London, and have an allotment on a fairly thin alluvial soil fairly close to a small river. This is my second allotment over the years. 99% of my allotment use has been for a long term interest in making elderberry and elderflower wines.
It's been quite a journey so far. My first elderberry wine, made from wild harvested berries turned out great. Then there were the wilderness years when I couldn't seem to repeat the trick before finally pinning down some solutions. The solutions were in how I sourced the fruit and also my making methods.
I found that only some bushes made good wines. In fact I learned that each bush/ or strain can make a unique individual wine. The bushes that seemed to be best were ones that produced berries that were fruity and bright on the tongue when picked raw off the bush. So this is where an allotment came in. I would identify a good bush and then cultivate it from cuttings on the allotment. Then I discovered that there are bushes that produce green/ yellow fruit that one can make white wines from. After some time I began to find some of these bushes. Again cuttings grown on the allotment have been a major help in exploring these white elderberry wines. Having said all this, the quantities of fruit have been pretty tiny. My cultivation techniques have not been great and until retirement 3-4 years ago I didn't have much time to do better. So now I'm working on scaling up in quantities of fruit produced. Some trial plantings along commercial grower methods have revealed a wide range of productivity among strains. The best by far is a commercial variety called Haschberg. I'm currently seeking to identify wild strains that have some or all of the qualities of Haschberg in fruit production.
On making the wines my ingredients are pretty simple - elderberries, water, sugar, yeast, nutrient. Many people comment on needing to age a high tannin product. I must say that I seem to have a solution to this, such that the wine tastes great a couple of months after completing the fermentation. The key seems to be to avoid exposure of the fruit to alcohol levels above about 8%. I ferment them to dryness with only a bit of added sugar. Then I remove the fruit and finish the fermentation with more added sugar. Temperature control is also a key part of my methods. You will note I haven't mentioned adding any acid. I used to but couldn't seem to make a smooth wine until I dropped the added acid. I am wondering if the fruit I am choosing by taste of the berry is already higher in acid than average. Acidity measurements this autumn should help make sense of this a bit more.
I'm aiming to experiment with production of pink/ rose elderberry wines this autumn. To do this my first thought is to press the juice off the skins before fermentation. Fermentation temperatures would be cool, as in a white wine.
Over the years I have now cultivated quite a number of black/ white/ brown/ and even pale pink elderberry strains.
I have also done a lot of work on how to make the best elderflower champagnes.
I'm happy to offer advice/ support for anyone else thinking to explore any of this. I'd be intrigued to see if anyone else is already or wants to grow elderberries on an allotment.
Rich
I wish you well in your gardening and wine making
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