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Hello All. I am new here so bare with me. Do any of you out ther in port land make your own? I have 5 Gal. of elderberry port that did not turn out the way I envisioned. It is not sweet enough, it has too much berry and not enough twany characteristecs. All suggestions are welcomed.

hopinjon wrote:Hello All. I am new here so bare with me. Do any of you out ther in port land make your own? I have 5 Gal. of elderberry port that did not turn out the way I envisioned. It is not sweet enough, it has too much berry and not enough twany characteristecs. All suggestions are welcomed.

Add sugar, let it referment and when you get your desired sweetness, add a neutral spirit to kill off the yeast, throw it in an oak barrel and age it for 5 years.

Hi, and welcome. I never tried making my own port (or wine), and wouldn't know how an elderberry port should taste like, but if you like a tawny characteristic, the most important thing is ageing. G-man's suggestion is very sound.

Many years ago, elderberry was sometimes illicitly used to make Port wine darker, and thereby command a better price.

So widespread became the practice that an attempt was once made to grub out every elderberry bush in the region.

Is it still used? Who knows - I doubt it does much harm..

If you want to make a port-style wine as a home brew, you need to read up on the principle of fortification as a means of stopping fermentation. This is done by adding grape spirit, which effectively makes the yeast drunk, and unable to function further. The wine is then left with a proportion of the natural sugars unfermented, which gives it its characteristic sweetness.

- Good luck!

Tom