Luscombe Farm's elderflower bubbly

It was long after the Hardy days, in the early Eighties, that Julian, Gabriel’s father, a teacher and psychoanalyst, started making cider in the disused cowsheds. The industry was then in decline, and the business struggled. Gabriel was living in Sicily at the time, working in tourism, but begged his father to be allowed to take over.

Cider-making took up three months of the year, but to keep the staff there needed to be something else. “I was never much of a drinker – I was too worried about losing my driving licence and being stuck in the middle of nowhere,” explained Gabriel. So that winter he started making ginger beer, and the following summer, elderflower bubbly.

To a city dweller like me, elderflower drinks were a novelty when Belvoir Fruit Farm’s elderflower cordial first started turning up in smart delis during the late Eighties. But elderflower wine and cordial have been made in the country for centuries and Gabriel remembers as a child gathering flowers and brewing up the mix with friends.

I’ve been making my own elderflower drinks for years, but often wished I could get more of that fugitive scent into my glass. What is the secret?

Lifting a branch of elder hung with creamy white flowers, Gabriel explained that it is important not to pick them too early. “The scent is there to attract insects to pollinate; it won’t be released until the flowers are fully open.”

It must be a dry day when you pick, or rogue yeasts develop with a distinct whiff of cat’s pee, overpowering the proper delicate lemony fragrance. Reject any head with brown flowers, although they may be loose.

“Look,” said Gabriel, giving a head a shake, so the petals fell confetti-like to the ground, “This one is perfect.”

There will be only about three weeks of flowers, but don’t rush. The main crop is the most fragrant. “The earlies aren’t really worth using”, Gabriel remarked, letting a half-open flower head fall.

The best heads form an unbroken cloud of snow-white blossom that gives them their country name: “slice of bread”.

Gabriel sniffed one critically, and this time approved: “Can you smell the lemon? If you can capture that citrus note in a bottle you’re made.”

Smelling the blossom on other bushes, I soon discovered that different cultivars have subtly different smells, but all good as long as there is no hint of eau de chat.

Elderflower Wine | Blog | Rose Red & Lavender

Eventually, I gave up making beer and moved on to other things.

I had the pleasure of going to an old farmhouse every weekend in upstate new york, and in the basement of the house was a treasure trove of wine making equipment.

Wine…very similar to beer…..I remember seeing wine concentrate at the home brew shops, it was usually dusty and in the back corner. Wine was not something that anyone I knew actually made.

I discovered the outlets for fresh grapes and purchased fresh juice from local vineyards…some batches were better than others and then I moved on to other things.

Last week, the Black Elderberry tree that I planted burst open with blooms. Elderflower is a delightful scent and is something that is not that common here, unless you shop at Ikea. St. Germain, a popular liquor, is made with elderflowers.

I decided to make elderflower wine.

Several years ago, I purchased a chamomile rake to harvest flowers. With the help of the rake, it made picking the florets a pretty easy process.

I used about 4 pints of flowers and 5 lemons and put them in a 5 gallon carboy with a sugar solution, white wine yeast and some nutrient. The final SG was about 1.060 which will make a very, very mild wine.

The color is slowly turning pink and the smell is amazing. Can’t wait to try it.

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