BERRY WINES

The most like a grape wine an amateur can make without using a grape. Cold soak macerations are often used to extract as much flavour and colour as possible. Foraged, grown or bought the fruit is best used in season as fresh as possble.

BLACKBERRY WINE A fruity versatile wine that can easily be adapted between a medium or full bodied, sweet or dry wine but maintains the unmistakable blackberry taste it derives from. Ages well especially on oak. Recipe is here and tasting notes here. BLACKBERRY PORT With high ABV and full flavour this is richer and darker than the blackberry wine using light malt and a mountain of fruit and sugar to give a great port like body with a blackberry backbone. Can age for years to bring extra complexity. Recipe here and tasting notes here

BLACKCURRANT WINE Full bodied red that should not be mistaken with Ribena. High in tannin so needs a couple of years to mature but good things come to those who wait. Blackcurrants are hard to buy so growing your own or finding some at a pick-your-own farm may be needed. Blackcurrants ripen in early summer for an early berry wine to be made. Recipe here and tasting here. BLUEBERRY WINE Possibly a favourite of mine. Full bodied blueberry wine that requires a few extra techniques to create a great red. Can be aged on oak chips to give an even fuller rounder luxurious taste. Many think this should be drunk young but it ages extremely well and at about 18 months changes into a unique complex wine unlike any other berry wine. Basic recipe is very good for an intermediate wine maker but the blubec is my best recipe yest. Simple recipe here with the more ambitious Blubec here and finally a tasting here

BLUEBERRY & POMEGRANATE WINE Similar taste to the pure blueberry but with the bite of pomegranate added. Recipe here and some tasting notes here. ELDERBERRY WINE The Le Royale of home made wine. Foraged berries that make a full bodied wine the closest you can get to grapes. Like grapes it seems to react greatly to the processes used to make it and one that needs some skill to master… I’m still trying! Dried elderberries can be sourced from the internet but best reults will be from fresh ones foraged in late summer into early autumn. Foraging guide here. Click here for the last recipe and an earlier one here

ELDERBERRY AND BLACKBERRY WINE Medium bodied red wine that has a classic grape taste through the elderberries with a balanced blackberry after taste. Takes a while to mature but very much worth the wait. Can reuse elderberry skins as a second run if desired. Recipe here GOOSEBERRY WINE A fruity white or rosé wine that almost makes itself as it has tannin and acidity comparable to grapes. Can be adapted in a sparking wine for a classy Sham-pagne. My best version of the recipe is here

ROWANBERRY WINE One for the brave or lucky as I did not have a good time drinking this – the berries may not have been ripe so leave it as long as possible before harvesting. It tastes like horse wee… I imagine. Recipe here… STRAWBERRY WINE & SHAMPAGNE Quick to ferment and mature strawberries makes a versatile wine that can be sweet or dry for any palette. Ideal for beginners as the recipe can be very forgiving. Highly adaptable with a traditional and more modern recipes. The best home made sparkling wine has been an 18 month old strawberry champagne that was better than a £22 commercial version I tried. Still recipe here and a simpler version here. This is the sparkling sham-pagne and the tasting notes. Finally just for fun are the starwberry vermouth experiments.

STRAWBERRY AND RHUBARB WINE I get a lot of hits for this but being honest I prefer strawberry wine but this is nice and ages very quickly. Recipe here and the tasting notes here. SLOE WINE A tart but very fruity wine that I made in two differing ways. It took 4 yeasr to mature but it was a real pleasure when it was ready. I hope to revisit it one day if enough sloes are available. Recipes are together here. Tasting notes for the light is here and the dark here.

MIXED BERRY WINE Raspberry, blackberry and a handful of blackcurrants go to make this wine inspired by Chamboard. Recipe here

(MOSTLY BERRY) PORT RECIPES

These are strong wines that use a lot of fruit to extract a huge amout of flavour. Aged on oak and often sweet they are intended drink after three or more years (the blackberry made it to two! There are three basic ways to make them – a high alcohol yeast like EC1118 pushing to 18% ABV, using a neutral spirit like Spyritus to fortify or using a flavoured spirit of the same fruit to fortify.

BLACKBERRY PORT This was done on a whim and it turned out to be one of the best wines I have made. Strong, complex and deliciously sweet. Even my chronically honest dad said he loved it as one of his Christmas presents and bragged about it in the pub. Recipe here and tasting notes here. DAMSON PORT Using a slightly different technique to the blackberry, genuinely fortify the “port” using a spirit. Has a beautifully rich taste so far buit needs time to age before I can say how good it is. Recipe here.

ELDERBERRY PORT Fortified with a neutral spirit this will need an absolute age to mellow and become drinkable. I am hoping it can be amazing in a few years. Recipe here. GREENGAGE PORT Certainly an oddity but it looks like it will age into a fun white “port” that is better than the gimmick suggests. Fortified with a spirit for a more complex taste and aged on oak chips. Recipe is here

FRUIT WINES

These wines use fruit other than berries to make wines that are less comparable to the grape like berry wines. Some people may get sniffy about them but they can be missing out on some lovely drinks.

JUNIPER BERRY WINE Its not a berry… or even a fruit… I think it is a pine cone. Anyway an experimental recipe I have updated from a Victorian one I found on the interwibble. Never got around to making it but here it is for a laugh. If any one does make it drop me some notes! Recipe here. QUINCE WINE Ugly fruit but great wine. Quince wine recipe to make in the winter months when fruit is usually scarce. Makes a dry fruity white that needs mature for an absolute age to be good but when its good it is very very good! Recipe here.

QUINCE AND ROSE PETAL WINE Just as nice as the quince wine and needs just as long to age. Geting the correct balance of rose petals to quince may have just been luck! Recipe here. RHUBARB WINE Love it or loath it recipe to make rhubarb wine including taming the oxalic acid naturally present. From reports it is great for a sparkling wine which I do plan to try. Recipe here.

ROSEHIP WINE Delicate rosé for a still or sparkling wine. Foraged rose hips are easy to pick in September/October time or dried hips can be store bought. Recipe here BLOOD ORANGE WINE Slightly more advanced version of the Seville orange wine I have made. It refines the acidity but is still untested. Recipe here.

SEVILLE ORANGE WINE Unfairly maligned it maked a lovely wine for me. Apparently good with fish or Thai food this easy to make white wine can also be drunk chilled on summer evening. Recipe here and some surprising tasting notes here.

FLOWER WINES

Usually delicate whites that can be made sweet, dry or sparkling wines easily.

BLACKBERRY TIP WINE A quick to forrage wine to make before any fruit is really available. Makes a wonderfully perfumed white/rose wine. Currently untested but seems to be looking good. Recipe here. DANDELION WINE Labour intensive white wine that can also be adapted to a champagne. Light and gingery taste though I find it hit and miss to make. Recipe here and the tasting notes here.

ELDERFLOWER WINE The classiest of home brew white wines. A floral explosion of summer every one will love. Easily adapted to champagne here and worth the effort to pick the elderflowers on a warm May/June morning with a guide here. Finally the still recipe here. GORSE WINE Funky little white wine that initially tastes like… coconut but mellows into a wine that tastes a bit less like coconut. Recipe here.

ROSE PETAL WINE Unsurprisingly a light rosé to make with either fresh petals if you live in a public park or dried if you don’t. Recipe here.

LEAF WINE RECIPES

Tannic sherry like wines that are easy to make but take over a year or probably two to mature. Do not think yopu can use any old leaves from trees as some like elder are toxic.

OAK LEAF WINE Easiest recipe I have seen with great results for a unique and complex fino sherry like taste. Can be made with fresh spring or autumn leaves for a differing result. Recipe here. WALNUT LEAF WINE Finding a walnut tree will be the hardest thing to do making this wine. Similar in style to the oakleaf wine but using far fewer leaves and creating a mellower sherry like wine. Recipe here and the tasting notes here.

VEGETABLE WINES

Suprisingly versatile for making wine despite what some say.

BEETROOT WINE I hate people that call beetroot, “beets,” just say it like a normal person you freeky weirdo. Any way a wine made from beets that taste a bit less like beets and oddly okay when aged. Recipe here and tasting notes here. GARLIC WINE A cooking wine infused with garlic to add to risotto, paella or to roast meat in. Easy to make and wards off vampires. Recipe here.

MARROW RUM Just read it… here PARSNIP WINE AND SHERRY Dry almost sherry like recipe that creates a unique deep tasting wine with a residual sweetness even if made bone dry. Can be made in the winter months when demijohns free up from your summer wines. Recipe here.