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.

Wine Making Class at Listermann's in Cincinnati

Last night was my final wine making class. The class is held at Listermann's in Cincinnati, taught by Walt Huber. Walt has been making wine since 1974, and I sure learned a lot. I highly recommend this class.

There are 5 classes over 3 months. The first 2 classes are a week apart, the rest a month apart. Each student makes a batch of wine as part of the class. After the final class is a tasting of each students wine. It was fun tasting all the different wines. Some were from kits, some from concentrates, some from fresh fruits.

Where to get Wine Making Kits

Yesterday I posted about wine making kits without mentioning where to get them. I have been happy with service at Listermann's, but have also seen them locally at a few other places, like Jungle Jim's. Please note that while Listermann's web page isn't as fancy as that of some other sellers, like Midwest Supplies, they do in fact carry about everything. As they told me when I mentioned it, at Listermann's they're "Beer guys", not so much into computer stuff. And Listermann's ships free east of the Mississippi.

Oh, and I should say I am in no way involved with any of these businesses. Just a satisfied customer.

Making Wine from Kits

The fine folks at Wine Experts make a lot of wine making kits. I've made up a number of them and have been pleased with the results. Follow the directions and in a few months you'll have wine! It's fun to make. It doesn't give the creative aspects that making wine from fresh fruit gives, but it's sure nice to have around. And there are times when I like that I can just make it, knowing the results will be good.

Elderberries

In the part of the country where I live the elderberries are blooming. From the time I was a child I've always watched to see where the elderberry plants are during the blooming season so I'll know where to find the berries when they are ready.

These days I'm lucky enough to have elderberries growing in our garden. I've been tending them closely and have learned some things that I hadn't known before. Elderberries seem to live 2 years. They will flower both years, but then seem to die off. They spread by sending runners underground, so a new shoot will pop up out of the ground some distance from the base of the main plant. Over time a thicket can grow up, spreading each year.

To keep things tidy I've been removing the dead branches/stalks every year. New shoots come up and the plants are doing well.

This year I'm hoping that I'll get enough berries to make some things. I also plan to talk to a neighbor who has a lot of elderberries in the fence line if I can pick them.

My family doesn't eat much jam or jelly, so I won't make any of that. We will eat a pie once in a while, and I love elderberry pie! There are two other things that I made from elderberries two summers ago that I'm hoping to make more of: wine and cordial. Both of these came out extremely well, and I sure hope I get enough to make more.

One very nice thing about elderberries is that they freeze wonderfully. Whatever I don't get put up I'll be freezing for later use.