Monday, May 04, 2009

Elderberry Cordial, Mint Cordial and wines

I had a busy weekend, working on several on-going wine and cordial projects. Two wines, a Chardonnay and Viognier, have been racked, and a Shiraz has been fined and is now settling out.

I've been experimenting with mint cordials over the last few years, since we grow cinnamon mint in the garden. I've found that filling the jar as full as possible with mint, then filling the jar as full as possible to eliminate air space helps preserver the light green color. If there is more air in the jar as it steeps, the color becomes much darker.

Since I love elderberries, the elderberry cordial is one of my favorites. Beautiful aroma and color, and the flavor is incredible. This batch will probably need to be racked one more time before I do a final bottling.