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Well my first year of wine-making has been fairly successful but I've made a batch of fizzy elderflower wine which is unspeakably vile and I'm wondering if there's anything I can do with it?

The first problem was that I used dried elderflowers - WAY too many of them - the taste is totally overpowering. The second problem is that I bottled it WAY to early in an attempt to make it a bit less than bone dry - and of course it's totally sickly sweet (and fizzier than hell).

I'm quite prepared to chuck it down the sink but if anyone has any smart ideas then I'd love to hear them - even 'use it as a sink cleaner'

any tips?

Malc

Only a suggestion, as I can never understand why people want to make this stuff - different tastes, I suppose.

Get it out of the bottles and into a demijohn or two. Put an airlock over it and allow it to dissipate its fizz. When that's happened, keep it until the summer when you may want to make other flower wines. When you get to that stage, water the stuff down until the elderflower flavour is just a hint in the background. Now you can use it instead of the water in any wine recipe.

Just keep a mental note of the alcoholic strength after you water it down, as you may have to adjust any added sugar - but I wouldn't have thought it will make more difference than an ounce or two.

Mike

Thanks Mike - will give that a go.

PS: I'm starting to wonder why I'm making this stuff myself - some has been lovely but it's quite a faff...