This recipe is great if you heat, but not boil, a bottle, with a jar of honey, a few cloves, some grated nutmeg, ¼ pint of water and the juice and rind of a lemon. Add half a small bottle of brandy before serving. Drink whilst still warm.

We drink this every Christmas when family visit and we always run out!

You can also make this one with just elderberries or just blackberries.

Ingredients:

800g elderberries

800g Blackberries

4.5l water (boiled)

1.5 kg granulated sugar

1 tsp pectic enzyme

1 tsp of red wine yeast

1 tsp yeast nutrient

1 campden tablet (optional)

1 teaspoon fermentation stopper (optional)

1 teaspoon Bentonite (optional)

Method:

Put all the berries into a large bucket and crush with a rolling pin. Add the sugar, and the pectic enzyme, and cover with 4.5l boiled water. Stir well.

Once cool, make a note of your gravity.

Add your yeast and nutrient and cover loosely for 1 week before straining into a demijohn with an airlock.

When fermentation ends (once bubbles pass through the airlock at less than one a minute) add a crushed campden tablet and fermentation stopper, if using, as per the instructions on the packet.

Nows the time to check your final gravity, if you haven’t already, and want to know the percentage of alcohol in your brew.

After 3 days clear the wine by adding bentonite, if using, as per the instructions on the packet. Alternatively you can wait until it clears naturally.

Finally, syphon the wine into bottles and cork.

Age for a minimum of 3 months before drinking, but a year is better