WV Elderberries
The Mrs. and 3 (2006) (left), 4 (2007), 5 (2008) and
6 (2009) year old year old Elderberries Flowering in our WV Wineyard
CrackedCork attracting bees June 2009
We started making country wines in 1996 in our little townehouse
from fresh fruit and concentrates. We made an elderberry from
concentrate, and while it was ok, it wasn't great. It wasn't until we
moved back out into the countryside where we belong and had a real
Wineyard where we could grow our own berries that our elderberry
winemaking started to really take off.
In 2004 we bought our first elderberry bush from a chile farmer,
but he didn't know what variety it was. We didn't have a pollinator
and so we didn't get any fruit. In 2005 we added another unknown
variety of elderberry and together they produced 9 pounds of berries.
I know we could have gotten more berries but we didn't give them
enough water. We picked the berries and stripped them off by hand and
we made our first batch of homegrown elderberry wine using Pastuer
Red yeast. It was oaked, and back sweetened a little with welches
grape concentrate. It turned out surprisingly good young, probably
due to the modest amount of tannins released from such a small amount
of berries. We took it to some expert tasters and they thought it was
good, but that it needed more body. Future batches will have at least
3 lbs of fruit for body and will likely take more time to age before
being drinkable.
In 2006 we expanded our Wineyard to more than 30 Elderberry
bushes, Sambucus Canadensis varieties Johns, York, Adams, Nova, and a
Sambucus Nigra European variety, Sampo. The Elderberry Improvement
Project at the university of Missouri has tested many Elderberry
cultivars and described two new American varieties named Wyldedwood 1
and 2. In 2007 we planted both Wyldewood 1 and 2 and hope to get some
berries in 2008 in our WV Wineyard to compare with the other
varieties. We also planted a golden colored S. Nigra Elderberry,
Greenberre, to make a white elderberry wine. Drip irrigation was
installed in early 2007 and it has made a dramatic improvement in the
growth of all the elderberries, they really like to have some water,
especially when its hot and they are filling up with berries. In 2008
we planted two other S. Nigra varieties, Samdal and Hatchberg. We
also planted 5 more Novas and 30 Johns, both of which produce the
largest berries in our WV Wineyard in 2007.
We put this page together to localize as much information about
growing Elderberries, harvesting the berries easily, and making wine
with them and including some recipes. There are links to the safety
of eating elderberries, the elderberry improvement project, Mr. Jack
Kellers winemaking website with recipies, and to the winepress.us and
other forums where you can learn a great deal about not only making
elderberry wine but everything about making any wine.
Cracked
Cork in WV
The Elderberry Forrest, Bushes are in Their 2nd
(2007) (left) and 3rd (2008) and 4th (2009) Season of Growth and are
Under Drip Irrigation in the WV Wineyard, and a Frozen Eldberry Picker
Blizzard Feb 2010
Big Elderberry Flower Second Season of Growth in the
WV Wineyard June 2007