1999 Elderberry Wine



The elderberry is a versatile bush. Aside from making wines, pies and jams, it is said to have medical and magical properties. A web search will reveal that it has been used as a folk medicine for ages. It is said that a person who falls asleep under an elderberry bush can awake insane. Elderberry wine increases the power of witches and burning the berries summons fairies. And if you've seen the play "Arsenic and Old Lace", that glass of elderberry wine has a special significance, doesn't it?

In the late Summer of 1999, I gathered elderberries from around the neighborhood, stemmed and washed them, then froze them in plastic bags. When it came time to make wine, I thawed the berries (all 11.25# of them), put them into a pot with 9 quarts of water and brought them to a boil. Boiling the elderberries is said to produce a better wine. After cooling, it took 8.5# of granulated sugar to bring the S.G. to 1.118. I wanted a sweet wine, hence the high S.G. The acid titrated to only .4%, so I added one ounce of acid blend and one tablespoon of citric acid to bring it up to .6%, the recommended level for fruit wines.

As some winemakers had warned, my elderberry must developed a light scum of a glue-like substance. I skimmed it off the top of the primary vat and easily washed any residue with soap and water. Fermentation ended in about three weeks, with a final S.G. of .986. It seems that something in the elderberries energized the yeast, causing it to eat up all my sugar and produce a dry wine. The calculation (Beginning S.G. - Ending S.G.)/.736 yields an approximation of alcohol content at about 18%. The batch was allowed to bulk age for nine months. I made the following observations when bottling: Given the color and intensity of this wine, we decided to call it "Dragon's Blood".

After another four months of aging, we opened a bottle to sample after our Thanksgiving, 2000, dinner. I would have to classify it as a black wine,as opposed to a red wine; when you hold the glass up to the light, you only see a faint scarlet glow in the midst of the darkness. The residue in the glasses dried to a deep scarlet. Dry, high alcohol, and very intense flavor, it needs another 6-8 months of aging to smooth out a bit more, but is a very enjoyable wine already. Potent, too; after a couple sips, you could feel it rising into your brain. Our son-in-law, Will, took a sip and commented "Ow-wow-wow!". You can't ask for a more genuine commentary on your wine than that.

For 2000, I made elderberry melomel, that is, sweetened with honey instead of sugar. It's aging in the cellar now and is showing the same great attributes as the 1999 version.


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