Last year I made a blackberry “port” that turned out to be one of the best wines I have made. Even at one year it was a rich, velvety and sweet and since then the oak has started to mature and age making it even better. I am hoping that the remaining bottles can sit for at least another year and maybe even three for a smoother taste. It was made with a guide rather than a recipe trying to extract as much blackberry flavour with an incremental feed of sugar to maximise the alcohol produced to pump it towards the 19% of a traditional port.

CLICK HERE FOR THE BLACKBERRY PORT RECIPE

CLICK HERE FOR THE BLACKBERRY TASTING

This year I have decided to make an elderberry port as the elderberries have been so bountiful and great tasting while blackberries have withered in the heat. Foraging elders has been easy with dense clusters of sweet fruity berries with virtually no pests due to the hottest summer I can remember. I did manage to get some blackberries so this is technically a mixed berry “port” but skewed towards the fuller tannic elderberries than the sweeter fruitier blackberries with a 3kg to 1.8kg ratio.

GUIDE TO FORAGING ELDERBERRIES

Elderberries are less sweet with a heavier slightly bitter and darker cherry fruit flavour than blackberries. This port is dryer but still with some sweetness and less oaked so as not to compete with the darker flavour. Due to the fruits used the recipe seems a lot simpler than last year. I don’t need extra tannin added as elderberries have so much present due to so many seeds and thick skins. Body is already present but a little extra is provided by bananas rather than raisins. I want the banana’s polysaccharides to hopefully bind with the tannins as the port ages to build extra depth and complexity compared to the rather one note bitter tannins of pure elderberry.

The fruits did need to be separated from each other during fermentation as I wanted to remove the elders at about 3 to 4 days of maceration to manage tannin extraction. The blackberries were left to extract flavour from the skins for the duration and required an occasional punch down. After a decent maceration that required a stepped sugar addition the must was drained through a sterile muslin and all the blackberry juice squeezed out.

I will have to add some extra alcohol with a drop of Spyritus ( I will pretend I am fortifying it like a true port) as my chosen yeast was not as tolerant of high alcohol as last year – a slight oversight on my part! Upon the next rack 15g of oak chips and 70g of light malt will also be added. If I am luck I may get a little taste next year as I make a damson port – sadly it has been a terrible year for damsons just like the poor blackberries.

ELDERBERRY PORT – 4.5 Litres

Suitable yeast – red wine yeasts with a higher alcohol tolerance or EC1118.

RECIPE

3kg elderberries (its not an exact science – go with what you have)

1.8kg blackberries

2 ripe bananas

Approximately 1.5kg or more of sugar

70g light malt

500ml water

Yeast

Pectic enzyme

METHOD

Place the elderberries into a sterilised bag and give a decent squeeze to extract the juice then place the bag into the fermenter too. Then add the blackberries to the fermenter and crush. Add a campden tablet and pectic enzyme and leave for 24 hours.

Chop the two ripe bananas into centimetre chunks then boil for 15 minutes. Leave to cool then drain into the fermenter and throw the banana flesh away.

Add about 500g of sugar to a Starting Gravity of 1.09. Add yeast and leave to ferment stirring twice a day or more. Give the bag a gentle push to help the elderberries along.

Things now go a little freestyle!

On day three or four remove the elderberries and squeeze out all the juice you can. It will be to personal taste so test every day to monitor how much tannin and fruit flavour is extracted. At this point half a tsp of yeast nutrient and can help the fermentation along and sugar if it is starting to taste dry. Do not be tempted to add a huge amount of sugar in one go but maybe a rough 100g every night and morning tapering it down as fermentation slows. Continue to stir twice a day and add sugar if it needs it until bubbling stops, radically slows or a hint of sweetness persists.

Pour through a sanitised funnel and muslin into a secondary fermentation vessel and squeeze as much blackberry juice as you can. Top up with boiled and cooled water if you need to. Add the air lock and leave in secondary fermentation. I say secondary fermentation but it will in all probability have maxed out and you are now letting yeast and sediment settle.

Rack if sediment gets to 1.3cm deep or after 5 weeks which ever is earlier. Top up with sterile water (or a little vodka or spyritus if using a low alcohol yeast) and malt and add 15g of oak chips if you can.

Rack again after 2 or 3 months and leave to bulk age as long as you can – a full year if possible.

Back sweeten to your own taste then bottle.

Probably needs at least two years to mature maybe even more. Store on its side in a cool area. Once opened a bottle can last for months in a fridge for certain. A campden tablet added a few days before bottling may help but I chose not to use one.

References: I don’t know who Dave is but he’s the Daddy! http://winemakersacademy.com/davids-blackberry-port/