Tannins in Elderberry Wine

I ran into a friend who runs a small commercial operation and has made a lot of elderberry wine. He claims that the secret to achieve color stability is the ADDITION of tannins.

I've read that elderberry is normally high in tannins. So this seems to run against the conventional wisdom.

My elderberry is in 2 3-gallon batches. It has beautiful color right now, an inky purple. I did a boil, then cold soak for 3-4 days, and then fermented on seeds/skins for 3 days. The wine doesn't seem excessively tannic at this time. It is very fruity and actually lovely. I'm using oak cubes in one 3 gallon batch and had planned on doing so in the other. I did not use any fermentation tannins. I would really like to preserve the color I have now.

Does anyone add tannins to their elderberry? If so, when and what kind? Is color instability generally a problem?

We have only added oak to ours using mostly raw juice and plenty of it plus sulfites to protect against oxidation. You cook yours so the color is "set" I think is the term some people use, not sure how it happens but cooking it is supposed to preserve the color, I think taste is more important then color so prefer to go raw. The use of fermentation tannins in an elderberry, to sacrafice themselves and save the tannins in your juice sounds like an interesting experiment. If you get enough berries for a side by side, on raw juice instead of cooked, and at least 50% juice if not 100% if you like it that way, to see year after year if the color changes any. I might have to pull a young vs old bottle out this holiday to see if there is a perceptible difference. WVMJ

We do a raw ferment on ours and have no color issues.

Now, I understand what's being said about tannin stabilizing color. But I just don't think it's necessary on elderberry since the tannin is already so predominate. We never have any plating out of color in the bottle--something you can see if you don't have enough tannin in the wine. So I'm not sure what that guy said is any REAL issue on elderberries. We have carboys of elderberry that are a couple years old--never any color issues.

That's what I thought.
Thank you both for your replies

I have made a few jugs elderberry melomel over the years using both cooked berries and raw juice. I have bottles that are several years old. (with Synthetic Corks) of both styles and there is no visible difference. I in fact just uncorked a bottle of each for comparison. and can not see any visible difference. They are both bright with no browning. So My conclusion would be that elderberry melomel holds good color without additional tannin. I have never made elderberry wine so I cannot confirm this to be a fact in wine. However, I suspect it is.

Tenbears, I'm glad I could give you an excuse to uncork a couple of bottles!

Stressbaby said:

Tenbears, I'm glad I could give you an excuse to uncork a couple of bottles!

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Although I rarely need one, It is greatly appreciated.