Traditional fruit, flower, vegetable and herb wines — tested, practical recipes for the home winemaker.
73 recipes
Lime trees have been admired across Europe for centuries, not only for their majestic appearance but also for their intensely fragrant flowers. These blossoms have long been used to prepare herbal infusions and tradit…
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Lilac has been grown in British gardens for centuries, admired for its spectacular spring display and unmistakable fragrance. Traditional home winemakers discovered that these fragrant blossoms could also produce a re…
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Oak leaf wine has been part of British country winemaking for centuries. Long before commercial oak barrels became common in home winemaking, country brewers recognised that young oak leaves naturally contributed tann…
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Nettle wine is one of Britain's oldest recorded country wines, with recipes appearing in household and herbal manuals dating back hundreds of years. The humble stinging nettle has long been valued not only as a food a…
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Mint has been cultivated in Britain for centuries for culinary, medicinal and aromatic purposes. Traditional country winemakers soon discovered that its fragrant leaves could also produce a refreshing and elegant wine…
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While not traditional in British hedgerow winemaking, orange wine has become a popular experimental fruit wine due to the availability of citrus fruit year-round in the UK. Historically, citrus wines were more common …
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Mirabelle plums are traditionally associated with continental Europe, particularly France and Germany, where they are highly prized for preserves, liqueurs, and desserts. They are less common in the UK but can be grow…
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Pine needle wine has been made for generations in northern Europe, where fresh spring pine needles were valued for both their refreshing flavour and their naturally high vitamin C content. Country winemakers discovere…
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Quince has been cultivated for thousands of years and was historically prized in Europe for its fragrance rather than its raw eating quality. In winemaking, it is one of the most aromatic fruits available, producing a…
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Plums have been used in traditional British winemaking for centuries due to their abundance in orchards and hedgerows. They offer a flexible base fruit that can produce anything from light, aromatic wines to deep, str…
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Pear wine has long been a traditional country wine made from orchard surplus fruit. Because pears are naturally soft and aromatic but low in acid, they require more adjustment than apples or berries, but the results c…
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Primrose wine has long been associated with traditional British country winemaking, particularly during the Victorian period when spring flowers were widely used to create elegant homemade wines. The soft yellow bloss…
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