Does Honeysuckle have any wine potential?

[Scooter68]

We are over run again this year with invading honeysuckle vines. Smell is awesome and I do remember sucking the 'sweet' nectar from the flowers as a kid.

Does it have any serious wine potential or is it too perishable a aroma/taste?

I've seen the Jack Keller recipe but I also know that his fruit quantities are often too low for me. Plus I am a believer in the question - Just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should or that it's really going to be good.

 

[Rice_Guy]

haskup(honey berry/ a relative of honeysuckle) was at state fair bitter notes, not a lot of fruity aroma. Seems to have processed well. Have never tried the N American species.

 

[Stressbaby]

haskup(honey berry/ a relative of honeysuckle) was at state fair bitter notes, not a lot of fruity aroma. Seems to have processed well. Have never tried the N American species.

Could be the winemaker. I grow haskaps, picked a quart yesterday, and they are like a very sour blueberry. They also have the tendency to hold on to a bit of stem and often a couple of leaves. I wonder if the bitterness you noted was failure on the part of the winemaker to properly handle the fruit.

I think @Scooter68 is talking about one of the 2-3 nasty Asian species.

 

[Vinobeau]

We are over run again this year with invading honeysuckle vines. Smell is awesome and I do remember sucking the 'sweet' nectar from the flowers as a kid.

Does it have any serious wine potential or is it too perishable a aroma/taste?

I've seen the Jack Keller recipe but I also know that his fruit quantities are often too low for me. Plus I am a believer in the question - Just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should or that it's really going to be good.

INTERESTING!! I am more of a believer of if it can be done, lets do it. Having made wine for over 45 year, there have been very few that i have not been able to drink - give it a try. IMO, Jack Keller's recipes are attempting to replicate grape wine varieties rather than a fully fruity wine. There is NO right or wrong reicpe. We all have different tastes. So, try a gallon of the Honeysuckle, when you do the final back sweetening you will be able to adjust out some oddities.

 

[Rice_Guy]

Does it have any serious wine potential or is it too perishable a aroma/taste?
.

I like vinobeau’s note it is worth a try.
My question would be what goes well with it? ex dandelion last year was put on a backbone of pear juice. The aroma should come through especially if you try to do as low a temp as you can get. Heat seems to kill the lighter notes.

 

[Scooter68]

At present I'm still debating if it's going to be worth my time. Plenty of flowers it's just the will and effort that's lacking. Plus I have a real garden, blueberry patch and fruit trees needing time and attention. Being retired can be tough.

 

[Vinobeau]

Send me the flowers, I'll make it!

 

[Rice_Guy]

At present I'm still debating . . . . . Being retired can be tough.

I know the feeling, when working I said never again to dandelion but by now I have done five more variations, , , and I’ll put away the carboys (retire to something else) when I get a blue ribbon at state fair.

Say have you ever had a good pine needle, or sumach or gensing wine?

 

[Kantuckid]

Beware of using yellow Carolina Jasmine as a type of honeysuckle! It looks similar flower wise but is poisonus! Contains strycnine!!! It is commonly sold and much in the wild in warmer states of deep south. It's illegal to sell in some states.
Asian vine or bush, or native red honeysuckle is safe as far as I'd know. I'd never live long enough to collect enough red flowers though.