Flower / Herb Wines

[Winorick]

I was wondering if any of you had been to this web site for flower and herb wine ideas. http://wineworldfdw.com/wine_recipes.html

I've made a fair amount of Hibiscus wines and once I made a Hibiscus/Dill that I thought was absolutely wonderful. I'm going to make some of the Bulgaria Red in the next week and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions or snide comments!

 

[BernardSmith]

I was wondering if any of you had been to this web site for flower and herb wine ideas. http://wineworldfdw.com/wine_recipes.html

I've made a fair amount of Hibiscus wines and once I made a Hibiscus/Dill that I thought was absolutely wonderful. I'm going to make some of the Bulgaria Red in the next week and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions or snide comments!

No snide comments from me. I have made several batches of hibiscus wine and routinely give this as gifts. I have also added chocolate to it but have never tried it with dill. I cannot imagine how that would taste but from the recipe it looks like (though this is not clear) that this is dill seed and not the plant itself. Will have to check my notes but 30 g of hibiscus/gallon seems a mite thin

 

[GreginND]

I made a sweet wine out of Thai Basil one time. It had an interesting iridescent shimmery look.

 

[the_rayway]

Thanks for the link!
I've been working on a Lilac Mead since last spring. Hoping to bottle some time this spring. Tastes similar to a Gwurztraminer.

Experimenting with the idea of doing either a Dandelion or an Apple Blossom this spring.

 

[Winorick]

No snide comments from me. I have made several batches of hibiscus wine and routinely give this as gifts. I have also added chocolate to it but have never tried it with dill. I cannot imagine how that would taste but from the recipe it looks like (though this is not clear) that this is dill seed and not the plant itself. Will have to check my notes but 30 g of hibiscus/gallon seems a mite thin

When I make my Hibiscus wine, I use 2oz/60g of dried flowers / gal. I believe that this recipe for Bulgaria Red is on the light side because of the 20g of Heather, for a total of 50g of flowers. The recipe that I have for Hibiscus calls for 1 or 2 oz of flowers, so it is probable in the ball park.

When you make Hibiscus do you boil the flowers in the water and then remove them or do you leave the flowers in the primary?

 

[Winorick]

I made a sweet wine out of Thai Basil one time. It had an interesting iridescent shimmery look.

So - was it drinkable or just a GREAT cooking wine?

 

[Winorick]

Thanks for the link!
I've been working on a Lilac Mead since last spring. Hoping to bottle some time this spring. Tastes similar to a Gwurztraminer.

Experimenting with the idea of doing either a Dandelion or an Apple Blossom this spring.

I was going to make a Lilac wine last year, but I got real discouraged when I saw how small the flowers were and how much work to get 5 gallons worth!! I made another batch of wild rose petal instead. I did make a Day Lily wine, once.

How is the flavor of the Lilac Mead?

 

[the_rayway]

Lilac so far is really good! I'm very impressed. I used 1L of petals to 1 gal (UK) and it's just right. So for 5 Gal you don't really need that much!

Like I mentioned, very similar to a Gewurztraminer. I've got more info on my thread here: http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f5/notes-my-wine-mead-making-newbie-32900/index6.html

Thus far I highly recommend trying it Just make yourself comfy in the living room with a bucket of flowers and your favourite show/movie. It'll take no time at all!

 

[GreginND]

So - was it drinkable or just a GREAT cooking wine?

It was definitely drinkable. It ended up sweet and balanced the anisey flavor of the Thai basil. It was very very interesting.

 

[BernardSmith]

When I make my Hibiscus wine, I use 2oz/60g of dried flowers / gal. I believe that this recipe for Bulgaria Red is on the light side because of the 20g of Heather, for a total of 50g of flowers. The recipe that I have for Hibiscus calls for 1 or 2 oz of flowers, so it is probable in the ball park.

When you make Hibiscus do you boil the flowers in the water and then remove them or do you leave the flowers in the primary?

I also used 2 oz of dried hibiscus/gallon and treated the infusion much like tea so I removed the petals after a few hours in boiling water and then pitched the yeast. My sense is that most of the flavor is transferred to the water after a short period.
My comment about the strength of the flavor was aimed more at the recipe for hibiscus and dill. Do you know whether this uses dill seeds and would this be a table wine or a wine for marinating and cooking?

 

[Winorick]

I also used 2 oz of dried hibiscus/gallon and treated the infusion much like tea so I removed the leaves after a few hours in boiling water and then pitched the yeast. My sense is that most of the flavor is transferred to the water after a short period.
My comment about the strength of the flavor was aimed more at the recipe for hibiscus and dill. Do you know whether this uses dill seeds and would this be a table wine or a wine for marinating and cooking?

I used dill seed that I had crushed, but I'm not sure if there would be any difference in using the leaves, etc. I used it for just drinking. It would be fine to cook with it and it would be delightful along with certain foods. The wine was on the sweet side and the dill taste was mild enough that many people had to be told what it was, but they could all tell that "it" was there!