# Holiday Wines



## smurfe (Dec 3, 2006)

Many make wine for particular events or holidays. With the holiday season upon us I was wondering if any of you make any particular "special" wines for the holiday's? Mead's are popular here around our household. Do you have a special holiday wine?

Smurfe


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## Luc (Dec 4, 2006)

smurfe said:


> Many make wine for particular events or holidays. With the holiday season upon us I was wondering if any of you make any particular "special" wines for the holiday's? Mead's are popular here around our household. Do you have a special holiday wine?
> 
> Smurfe



I do not make any special holliday wines. But........
Holliday season is over here also winter time (well not particularly at this moment
cause mother nature is all confused, we still are at 15 degrees celsius over here
while it should be snowing in my opinion) so this asks for a special winter wine.

My favorite is a elderberry/blackberry real dark and real sweet and high in the alcohol.
It is a port style wine and everybody here just loves it.
But like with all wines, I never seem to have enough bottles of it around  

Luc


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## Caplan (Dec 4, 2006)

Most of my wines are made without much thought to the Holiday Season I'll admit. I tend to make 'non grape' wines throughout the year depending on what's seasonal in the Hedgerows and Moors near to my home and then age them until they're ready to drink in a few years. 

The one exception to this is an experimental port I'm trying (involving a red wine kit partially fermentated before it's been fortified with brandy to stop the fermentation). 

If it goes well (It tasted great when I last racked it - next year will be it's first proper taste test) It'll be a Holiday Season 'standard'.


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## smurfe (Dec 4, 2006)

Those sound great. I am not a Port expert and actually haven't tried any in a while. I have never tried a home made Port. The Elderberry/Blackberry sounds nice as well. I don't know if I could go for a really sweet wine or not but a "semi" sweet sounds interesting. Do you have a recipe available?

I have been trying to find wild elderberries around here and know they are around. I might just have to plant a few. I have heard nothing but good about them. My experience thus far is using the dried elderberries.

Smurfe


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## Luc (Dec 5, 2006)

smurfe said:


> Those sound great. I am not a Port expert and actually haven't tried any in a while. I have never tried a home made Port. The Elderberry/Blackberry sounds nice as well. I don't know if I could go for a really sweet wine or not but a "semi" sweet sounds interesting. Do you have a recipe available?
> 
> I have been trying to find wild elderberries around here and know they are around. I might just have to plant a few. I have heard nothing but good about them. My experience thus far is using the dried elderberries.
> 
> Smurfe



Smurfe,

I am just in for a quick look because it is Santa Claus (Sinterklaas) evening over here in Holland and there are going to be some small festivities over here in my house.
I will get back to you with the receipe in a few days

Luc


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## smurfe (Dec 6, 2006)

Luc said:


> Smurfe,
> 
> I am just in for a quick look because it is Santa Claus (Sinterklaas) evening over here in Holland and there are going to be some small festivities over here in my house.
> I will get back to you with the receipe in a few days
> ...



Thanks, I look forward to it.

Smurfe


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## Luc (Dec 7, 2006)

smurfe said:


> Thanks, I look forward to it. Smurfe



Ok, here we go: 
The famous elderberry/blackberry wine recipe from Luc. 

You will need for 3 gallons the following ingredients: 

5 lbs of elderberries 
5 lbs of blackberries 
Yeast EC1118 from Lalvin (which will ferment to 18% ABV) 
Nutrient one teaspoon pro gallon 
Pectine enzymes 

First Boil the elderberries together with the blackberries and about half a gallon of water, for about 15 minutes. Boil another half gallon of water and add 2.2 lbs sugar to this and let it cool down. Add the nutrient and pectine enzymes. Pulp ferment all this for about 5 days. 

Afther 5 days rack the juice to a carboy and put the pulp in a straining bag and add the remaining juice you will get from straining. Now add also 6.6 lbs of sugar dissolved in enough water to fill the carboy. Let it ferment until it is ready and then age it for a few weeks. 

When finished you will have a very heavy, dark sweet wine. 
Taste and add more sugar to your ow preferences. 

So beware there is no measuring involved of the SG of whatever. 

Now last time I made it the right way. 
I calculated the sugar to the amount needed for getting 15% alcohol. 
I added the sugar in the carboy in steps of 2 lbs and one last step of .6 lbs. 
Afther fermenting until it was dry I racked it and added sugar to taste. 

Now this wine suits itself excellent for oaking or for adding vanilla beans. 
I even spiced a glass with a bit of anise. 

This wine is so good that most of the times I make it it will not survive the first year of aging  
I am now making it in 5 gallon batches. 

The one thing that you have to consider is that the European Elderberries 
seem to be different from the US ones. So there might be some taste adjustment needed. 

Luc


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## smurfe (Dec 7, 2006)

Sounds nice. I will have to add that recipe to my files to try. I am going to stray from kit wines for a while and do some smaller experimental batches to broaden my horizons in the wine making world. Anyone can make a kit wine. I want to be able to make a good wine from almost anything.

Smurfe


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