Elderflower wine is a delightfully tasty way to use elderflowers, and it makes for sweet sipping all year long.
Elderflowers are a welcome sight each summer, and their tiny white blossoms brighten the landscape for just a few brief weeks. They’re incredibly fragrant and beautiful, but they’re also tasty edible flowers that can be used in all manner of elderflower recipes.
They’re incredibly popular as a flavoring in Europe, especially Germany and Austria, where elderflower syrup can be found in any grocery store.
Since elderflowers are a natural source of wild yeast, they’re often made into simple elderflower sodas (also known as elderflower champagne). It’s not really a “champagne” as most people envision it, but a simple yeasted soda that’s made with champagne yeast and only fermented a few days. It’s very mildly alcoholic, only about 1-2%, but it’s very fizzy…thus the name champagne.
Since it’s a “soda,” it won’t store, as there’s plenty of sugar in there still, and left for any period of time, it’ll continue to ferment and become wine.
So why not just go all the way and make elderflower wine instead? It’s absolutely delicious and incorporates the fresh flavor of elderflowers in a homemade wine that will keep on your shelf for many years. You can sip these fragrant summer blooms in the depth of winter, rather than just making a quick summertime soda.
If you use honey instead of sugar as the sweetener, it turns into elderflower mead, which is even tastier, in my opinion.
This recipe for elderflower wine and mead follows my basic recipe for flower wines and meads, and if you’re new to winemaking, it can help if you read that article first. It’s a bit longer, and covers more of the basic steps to help you understand what’s happening at each stage of the process. It also goes over the ingredients and equipment in more detail.
Elderflower Mead in a wide-mouth carboy with a water lock.
Ingredients for Elderflower Wine
The ingredients for making elderflower wine (or mead) are very similar to any floral or herbal wine/mead. Flowers or herbs are used for flavoring, but the majority of the fermentable sugar comes from honey or plain sugar. Since the flowers or herbs aren’t acidic or tannic like fruits, you’ll also need to add lemon juice (or acid blend) and tannin powder (or black tea).
Lastly, you’ll need a bit of yeast nutrients to feed the yeasts, as they can’t live on sugar alone, and they need the micro-nutrients that grapes would provide if you were making grape wine.
The basic recipe for a herbal or flower wine is as follows:
- 1 quart stemmed elderflowers (from about 1 1/2 to 2 gallons flower sprays)
- 5 to 6 cups sugar (or 3 lbs honey)
- 6 cups white grape juice (for wine only, skip if using honey)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1/4 tsp wine tannin
- 1 packet wine yeast
This same basic recipe is used to make lilac wine with fresh lilac flowers in the spring, and lemon balm mead with our abundant summer crops of lemon balm.
For the elderflowers, you’ll want about a quart of stemmed elderflowers, which is quite a bit on the stem. Estimate that you’ll need about a 1 1/2 to 2 gallons of blossom sprays.
You can use dried elderflowers as well. If using dried, you’ll only need 2 cups flowers as they shrink when dehydrated.
The sugar or honey may seem like a lot, but that’s almost all converted to alcohol by the yeast in the winemaking process. You need that much to ensure that there’s residual sweetness in the finished wine, as a completely dry elderflower wine is basically flavorless.
Floral wines do best when they finish a bit on the sweet side.
If you use plain sugar, you’ll have plain wine. It will be light-bodied, as floral wines tend to be. With honey, you’ll get what’s known as mead, and it’ll have more flavor complexity from the honey…and also a good bit more body.
Adding white grape juice adds body to sugar wines, and I highly recommend it if making a wine with sugar. It’s not necessary if using honey for mead. If using white grape juice, use 5 cups sugar instead of 6.
The lemon juice is necessary because yeast needs an acidic environment to work, and flowers naturally have a neutral pH.
I’d suggest referring to my guide on ingredients for winemaking if you’d like to learn more about why each ingredient is important and what you can substitute if you don’t have that specific thing on hand.
Wine Yeast for Elderflower Wine
Be sure you use a variety of yeast that’s specifically for winemaking (not bread yeast). The yeast actually really impacts the final flavor (and alcohol content) of wine and mead, and bread yeast will make your wine taste like bread (and top out at 2-3 % alcohol).
Good choices for elderflower wine include:
- Red Star Cote des Blancs (Geisenheim Epernay) ~ Brings out the fruit character and sweetness of both red and white wines. A slow fermenter with low foaming, it’ll take longer to finish but help to maintain volatile esters and subtle flavors. Often selected for apple wines and ciders, as well as sweet white wines like chardonnay. Low alcohol tolerance, especially when fermented at low temperatures, means more residual sugars. Alcohol tolerance to 12-14%, ideal temperature range 64 to 86 F.
- Lavin D47 ~ Adds a strong fruity, floral character to wines with spicy aromas that would add complexity to any fruit wine. Specifically adds tropical fruit and citrus notes. Only a moderately vigorous fermenter, and may start slowly. Alcohol tolerance to 15%, ideal temperature range 59 to 86 F.
- Lalvin K1-V1116 ~ A dependable fermenter that works well in difficult fermenting conditions (low/high temperatures, low nutrients, etc). It’s also known for contributing more fruity and floral esters than other types of wine yeast. It’s generally used with “uninteresting” juices that can use a bit of perking up. High alcohol tolerance, up to 18%, and an incredible temperature range from 50 to 95F.
Equipment for Elderflower Wine
My guide to winemaking equipment walks you through each thing, and provides substitutions using common kitchen equipment instead. That said, I used the following equipment to make this wine:
- One Gallon Wide Mouth Glass Carboy
- One Gallon Narrow Neck Glass Carboy
- Rubber Stopper and Water Lock
- Brewing Siphon
- Wine bottles
- Bottle Corker
- Brewing Sanitizer
When making flower wines, I like to do the primary fermentation in a wide-mouth fermenter because that allows the flowers to infuse for the whole 2 weeks of primary fermentation. If you use a regular narrow-neck fermenter, the flowers will clog it up and make a big mess.
I move everything over to a narrow-neck carboy for secondary, as that’s a longer ferment, and you want to minimize the surface area exposed to air to prevent the wine from turning to vinegar.
How to Make Elderflower Wine (or Mead)
Start by harvesting the elderflowers, then very carefully stripping the blossoms from the stems and greenery. A fork works well for this task, but your fingers are great too.
If you’re using dried elderflowers, they’ll already come stemmed from your herbal supplier. In that case, use about half as much (2 cups instead of 4).
A few small green stem pieces is ok, but you’ll want to remove as much as possible.
Bring about a half gallon of water to a boil on the stove, and then add the sugar or honey. Stir to dissolve.
Remove the pot from the heat and allow the sugar mixture to cool completely before proceeding.
Pour the cooled mixture over the flowers in your wide-mouth fermenter. Add the remaining ingredients, except wine yeast.
Rehydrate the packet of wine yeast in about a cup of water and allow it to “bloom” for about 10 minutes. This allows it to wake up before it goes into the concentrated sugar mixture. Without this time, yeast can shock and have trouble doing its important work.
Once you add the yeast, cap the container and seal it with a water lock (or cover with a towel for primary, as a water lock is optional until secondary).
If all goes well, the mixture should be actively bubbling in 24 to 72 hours.
Allow the mixture to ferment with the elderflowers for 10 to 14 days. This is known as “primary fermentation,” and it’s the most active part of the fermentation process. It should be bubbling actively every day, but it’ll start to slow down at the 10 to 14-day mark.
Once primary fermentation is over, things slow down a bit, and it’s time to use a siphon to move the elderflower wine into a clean container.
The sediment at the bottom of the container, known as lees, can create off flavors if you leave the wine in the same container as the primary. It’s also time to filter out any flowers and let the finished flavors develop.
Once the wine is moved to a clean container, it’s now in “secondary fermentation,” and less alcohol is made each day. However, this is when most of the complex flavors develop, and the wine (or mead) will mellow a bit.
Secondary fermentation usually lasts 4 to 6 weeks for wine, and 4 to 6 months for mead. Make sure the wine is in a container sealed with an airlock during this time so that it doesn’t turn to vinegar.
Once secondary fermentation is complete, it’s time to bottle the wine.
Use a siphon to move the elderflower wine into wine bottles and cork with a bottle corker. Allow the wine to bottle condition for at least another two weeks (preferably another two months or more) before drinking.
Enjoy however you like, but I personally think it’s best chilled.
Ways to Use Elderflowers
Looking for more fun ways to use elderflowers?
Elderflower Wine (or Mead)
Ingredients
- 1 quart stemmed elderflowers (from about 1 1/2 to 2 gallons flower sprays)
- 5 to 6 cups sugar for wine (or 3 lbs honey for mead)
- 6 cups white grape juice (for wine only, skip if using honey)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1/4 tsp wine tannin
- 1 packet wine yeast
Instructions
Decide whether you're making a flower wine (with sugar) or mead (with honey). The ingredients for both are the same, except that honey is used in place of sugar in mead. In wine, it can help improve the body of the finished wine if you add 4 to 6 cups white grape juice in place of part of the water, but that's optional. Mead naturally has a nice full body, so you don't need the grape juice if using honey. If using white grape juice, use about 1/2 cup to 1 cup less sugar.
- Add about half a gallon of water to a stock pot and bring it to a boil on the stove. Add the sugar or honey and stir to dissolve. Allow the mixture to cool completely before proceeding.
- Add the elderflower petals into the primary fermenter and pour the cooled sugar water over the top of them.
- Add the remaining winemaking ingredients (except yeast), and stir to incorporate.
- Add cool water to the fermenter to nearly fill the container. Mead will require more water since there's no grape juice. Make sure the mixture is cooled, and no hotter than 90 degrees F, but ideally around room temperature.
- Once cool, dissolve the yeast packet in about 1/4 to 1/2 cup room temperature water and allow it to rehydrate for 10 minutes. Add the yeast water to the fermentation vessel. See notes for yeast-type recommendations.
- Fill with water (if necessary) to reach the neck of the fermentation vessel, and seal with a rubber stopper and water lock.
- Allow the wine to ferment for 10 to 14 days until fermentation slows (primary fermentation).
- Use a siphon to transfer the wine to a clean fermentation vessel, taking care to leave any sediment behind. Filter out the elderflowers at this point, and switch to a narrow-neck fermenter if you've been using a wide-neck fermenter. Re-cap with a water lock. For wine, allow it to ferment in secondary for about 4 to 6 weeks. For mead, a minimum of 4 months.
- Bottle the wine or mead in wine bottles. Allow wine to bottle condition for at least 2 weeks, and wait at least 2 months for mead. Flip-top Grolsch style bottles will work for short-term storage, but wine bottles are better if stored for more than 2-3 months.
Notes
Be sure to use a wine yeast (rather than bread yeast), as the choice of yeast really impacts the final flavor. Good choices for wine yeast for an elderflower wine or mead include:
- Red Star Cote des Blancs (Geisenheim Epernay) ~ Brings out the fruit character and sweetness of both red and white wines. A slow fermenter with low foaming, it’ll take longer to finish but help to maintain volatile esters and subtle flavors. Often selected for apple wines and ciders, as well as sweet white wines like chardonnay. Low alcohol tolerance, especially when
fermented at low temperatures, means more residual sugars. Alcohol tolerance to 12-14%, ideal temperature range 64 to 86 F. - Lavin D47 ~ Adds a strong fruity, floral character to wines with spicy aromas that would add complexity to any fruit wine. Specifically adds tropical fruit and citrus notes. Only a moderately vigorous fermenter, and may start slowly. Alcohol tolerance to 15%, ideal temperature range 59 to 86 F.
- Lalvin K1-V1116 ~ A dependable fermenter that works well in difficult fermenting conditions (low/high temperatures, low nutrients, etc). It’s also known for contributing more fruity and floral esters than other types of wine yeast. It’s generally used with “uninteresting” juices that can use a bit of perking up. High alcohol tolerance, up to 18%, and an incredible temperature range from 50 to 95F.
Flower Wine Recipes
Looking for more flower wine recipes to try?
Homemade Wine Recipes
Elderflowers make a tasty wine, but they’re not the only thing you can put in a bottle this season!
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