Has anyone made honeysuckle wine?

[BigDaveK]

I'm about to start my Annual Futile Honeysuckle Removal-athon. Best I can hope for is to marginally control it. The flowers should be opening this week and I look at those vines and see wine!

I'll probably go with Keller's recipe for the first time. Has anyone made honeysuckle wine? What did you think of it? Should I make 1 gallon or bump it up to 10 or 20 gallons. I can - I have honeysuckle everywhere, dammit.

 

[BigDaveK]

Almost 5 days! No responses? Where is everybody? (Where have I read that recently?)

I noticed that my honeysuckle vines had white and yellow flowers. After some research, yellow flowers are older. The white flowers actually tasted good, a little sweet, but the yellow were noticeably bitter. I stuck with mostly white.

Too easy - stood and picked, moved 5 feet, stood and picked, done - 7 cups.
Yeast tomorrow.
Unfortunately it's one of those damn wait-a-year-before-tasting wines.

 

[vinny]

Almost 5 days! No responses? Where is everybody? (Where have I read that recently?)

I noticed that my honeysuckle vines had white and yellow flowers. After some research, yellow flowers are older. The white flowers actually tasted good, a little sweet, but the yellow were noticeably bitter. I stuck with mostly white.

Too easy - stood and picked, moved 5 feet, stood and picked, done - 7 cups.
Yeast tomorrow.
Unfortunately it's one of those damn wait-a-year-before-tasting wines.

View attachment 89119

Hi Dave, I've never made it so can't offer any insight.

I've got your back though. You got this!

 

[ChuckD]

So what species is this. We have tartarian honeysuckle ( Lonicera tatarica), an invasive bush… not a vine.

 

[BigDaveK]

So what species is this. We have tartarian honeysuckle ( Lonicera tatarica), an invasive bush… not a vine.

It's very possibly Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japanica). Grows everywhere but seems to only flower once it gets vertical, which can be 15 to 20 feet.

I have the bush type near the pond. Invasive also but a little easier to control. I'll have to taste it today.

I also have a problem with the burning bush. Very invasive, pull hundreds each year. At least it grows a little slower. Areas I clear will have native ferns growing in a year or two.

 

[winemaker81]

Oddly enough, I stopped at my LHBS yesterday and the guy on duty (relatively new, don't know his name) mentioned he had a batch of honey suckle wine in progress. He said it was delicious. We compared to dandelion, and he said the effort for honey suckle was trivial.

 

[BigDaveK]

Oddly enough, I stopped at my LHBS yesterday and the guy on duty (relatively new, don't know his name) mentioned he had a batch of honey suckle wine in progress. He said it was delicious. We compared to dandelion, and he said the effort for honey suckle was trivial.

Wow, thanks for that, Bryan!
The effort truly is trivial. I have a window of opportunity here and may have to get another (or larger) batch going.

Also oddly enough, I just discovered that the Hocking Hills Winery which is 2 miles down the road from me make/sell a honey suckle wine.

 

[vinny]

Also oddly enough, I just discovered that the Hocking Hills Winery which is 2 miles down the road from me make/sell a honey suckle wine.

Sounds like the perfect opportunity to have a taste before a fella makes a huge batch, or lets his harvest go to waste.

 

[BigDaveK]

Sounds like the perfect opportunity to have a taste before a fella makes a huge batch, or lets his harvest go to waste.

Well.....
Sounds like a good idea but -
Tourism is the #1 industry in the county. I would have to mingle (however briefly) with tourists. For the most part, rude condescending SOB's.
And after further research I found that their wine is grape based and 24 bucks a bottle. I'll let the tourists fork over the dough.

I decided to do a second batch, different recipe, took me 15 minutes to pick 6 cups.

To recap, I picked enough flowers for 2 batches of wine from about 20 feet of fence line. Lordy, there's a boatload more!

 

[vinny]

Sounds like a good idea but -
Tourism is the #1 industry in the county. I would have to mingle (however briefly) with tourists. For the most part, rude condescending SOB's.

No need to explain. I live in the woods!

 

[BigDaveK]

No need to explain. I live in the woods!

Me too.
We're advertised as "Ohio's Outdoor Wonderland". An incredible place to live.

My pond is almost an acre. Every summer I chase away people fishing at least half a dozen times. I really like it when they say they have permission from the owner!!!!
And I have to lock up my canoe and kayaks because they'll use them.

If I had the money I'd have "No Trespassing" etched in boulders so I wouldn't have to replace them so often.

 

[winemaker81]

If I had the money I'd have "No Trespassing" etched in boulders so I wouldn't have to replace them so often.

Any concrete areas? Use paint to draw a permanent outline of a body .....

 

[Sailor323]

I made honeysuckle wine many years ago.
2 1/4 pints blossoms, 1/4 lb raisins, juice of one lemon, juice of one orange, 1 tsp tannin, 1 gal H2O, Yeast (probably EC1118 but I'd probably use QA23 today), DAP. My notes: I put the must in primary for one week, racked into secondary with airlock after one week, racked again one month later. Taste at that time, a bit rough, raw. About one month later, bottled. "This wine very pleasant as sipping wine. . ."

 

[vinny]

Me too.
We're advertised as "Ohio's Outdoor Wonderland". An incredible place to live.

My pond is almost an acre. Every summer I chase away people fishing at least half a dozen times. I really like it when they say they have permission from the owner!!!!
And I have to lock up my canoe and kayaks because they'll use them.

If I had the money I'd have "No Trespassing" etched in boulders so I wouldn't have to replace them so often.

Most people are pretty respectful, but some are just dicks. Not sure how some people get so entitled, but they do!

I found a guy baiting bears on my place. Completely illegal (and ignorant) within the distance of all my neighbors. He came out from the city, and had all the finest camo hunting gear you could find. Just forgot to buy a clue.

Another guy was cutting wood. I drove by his truck on the road. Walked in to where he was from the center of the property and scared the $#^! out of him. He told me it was crown land ( Canadian Gov. holdings). I told him he was mistaken. Then he went on to explain how it was good for the land to be selectively harvested. 'I won't take much more. Do you mind?'

I said, yes. Even had you had the courtesy to ask..

He walked in off the main road 20 yards off my private property sign, which are all 15 feet in the trees, eye level from the road, but too high to be pulled down.

You would think you would be more respectful in the country. There's bears and cougars all over this area, and shotguns are no less common.

My neighbors are in their 70's. They have diamond signs all down the driveway on their power poles. The first one has an elderly couple walking with a cane. As you progress towards their house they increase their readiness to protect themselves. In the last one, Gramma is right behind the old man with her shotgun in hand, as well. It's cute... But they mean it.

 

[vinny]

Do you have a continuous water source for your pond? I would like one. My neighbor has a large one. He often finds moose swimming in it. His is spring fed so he doesn't have to worry about dropping levels in the heat of summer. I suspect it would be half full most of the summer without topping it up, which isn't too attractive, and it's an extra burden I don't want on the well or the pump..

 

[BigDaveK]

Do you have a continuous water source for your pond? I would like one. My neighbor has a large one. He often finds moose swimming in it. His is spring fed so he doesn't have to worry about dropping levels in the heat of summer. I suspect it would be half full most of the summer without topping it up, which isn't too attractive, and it's an extra burden I don't want on the well or the pump..

Yes, spring fed. Has never stopped. Beautiful clear water.
I also have what I think are called wet springs. A while after a heavy rain I'll have water coming out of the ground in 2 other places.

 

[BigDaveK]

Honeysuckle update -
It breaks my heart but I'm stopping at 2 batches. I conservatively estimate enough flowers for 10 more gallons.

This will be an interesting test. The recipes are night and day how they treat the flowers. Keller's recipe uses boiling water and makes a honeysuckle tea first - a common procedure. The other recipe just dumps them into the primary.

Now it's a matter of time. I guess I'll update here how they taste at first racking and again in maybe a year.

 

[vinny]

Honeysuckle update -
It breaks my heart but I'm stopping at 2 batches. I conservatively estimate enough flowers for 10 more gallons.

This will be an interesting test. The recipes are night and day how they treat the flowers. Keller's recipe uses boiling water and makes a honeysuckle tea first - a common procedure. The other recipe just dumps them into the primary.

Now it's a matter of time. I guess I'll update here how they taste at first racking and again in maybe a year.

At first I was concerned, but carrots will be up soon enough!

Hopefully next year your annual removal-athon will become an exciting harvest. You might actually be disappointed that you don't have more.

 

[thebarter]

Hi i made 3 gallons of honey suckel a couple of years ago a very good wine sweet and easy to clear almost like mead in flavour

 

[BigDaveK]

Hi i made 3 gallons of honey suckel a couple of years ago a very good wine sweet and easy to clear almost like mead in flavour

Thanks! That's good to know!
I might have to make another batch!