Elderflower Wine

markomarko Administrator Posts: 76
edited January 2012 in Wines And Spirits Recipes
Elderflower wine is traditionally the most popular of Britain's country wines, having a clean and distinctive 'nose'. Connoisseurs say that it has a hint of Muscadelle in the finish. It should be served well-chilled and is a good accompaniment to light meals and salads.
Ingredients:

* One litre (three pints) of elder flower heads
* 0.5 litre (one pint) of white grape juice concentrate
* 800g (1 3/4 lb) of white sugar
* 3.5 litres (4 1/2 pints) of water
* Two tsp of citric acid
* 1/2 tsp of tannin
* Campden tablets
* Sauterne wine yeast

Method:

1. Note that petal wines are probably not appropriate as one's first foray into home winemaking. It is best to start with some of the excellent kits available from specialist stores and then to progress to fruit wines such as plum or damson).
2. Pour two litres of hot water onto the petals and mash them with a wooden or plastic spoon. Allow to cool and then stir in the acid, tannin and one crushed Campden tablet. Cover it and leave in a warm place. Mash the flowers daily for four days.
3. Dissolve the grape juice concentrate and sugar in one litre of warm water and strain the flower water, through a muslin bag, into the syrup. Stir in the nutrient and yeast, pour into a demijohn fitted with a fermentation lock, and ferment to a Relative Density of 1.015. Rack into a clean demijohn and add two crushed Campden tablets to terminate fermentation.
4. Move the wine to a cool place for a few days, but leave for no longer than one week. During this time dead yeast cells, fruit pulp and other solid materials (the lees) will slowly sediment to the bottom of the jar, and the wine will start to clear from the top downwards.
5. Siphon off the wine into a clean demijohn that has been freshly rinsed with sodium metabisulphite solution (prepared from Campden tablets). This procedure may need to be repeated at four-month intervals until the wine is brilliantly clear.
6. Finally siphon the wine off into freshly washed bottles that have been rinsed with sodium metabisulphite solution, cork and store the bottles on their sides to keep the cork moist and minimise entry of oxygen from the air.
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