In article , Roy Bailey
writes
Help! We have picked a large bucketful of elderflowers to make our favourite
wine, but we can neither find the recipe book nor remember the exact recipe
(because we didn't make any last year.)

We normally use one which involves the flowers, sugar, white wine concentrate,
citric acid, yeast nutrient and yeast.

Does anyone have any good recipes, please?
Every year Joan makes Elderflower Champagne, which is the fizzy summer
drink with just a tiny amount of alcohol in it, very popular with
kiddies. It uses no yeast, just elderflower heads, lemons and sugar.

Today I set up our annual 2-gallon kit of Elderflower Melomel, near
enough what you are making, but made with honey (optional). Last Friday
(the 13th.) I selected seven good heads of balmy elderflower and three
full blooms of Zepherine Drouhin rose. (I let Joan nose test them, then
have a wish, well, 13+7+3 and all that!) I infused them with the rind
and flesh of one lemon in 4 pints of hot, not boiling water. Today I
strained off the liquor into 2 demi-johns, added a white wine yeast
which I had pre-fermented, a dash of wine tannin and 1/2 kg. of plain
white sugar to each jar. When that is bubbling well tomorrow, I shall
add 1lb. honey and half a can of white wine concentrate to each jar. I
will let that foam up for a day or two then top up the jars to ferment
to a finish - 10-15 days or so. After that it's a case of judgement
whether more sugar or filtering or fining is needed before bottling it
to keep for 12 months. It is based on an old Druid love potion and after
over 30 years of making it I can guarantee that it is very popular with
the ladies. ;-))
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.