Gorse flower wine advice

[winingkiwi]

Hi :)

Made a gallon batch of gorseflower wine 3 weeks ago, loosely following the recipe on the guardian site (which I can't link to because it's too spammy for a new user. Hey ho. Let me know if there is anything you need to know about it).

Started at 1065, did 4 days in the bucket and on to the DJ and is now stable at 994 so looks like about 9.4% ABV according to your calculatormathingummy on the front page. Tasting the sample I used for the hydrometer it's a little uncomplicated but quite drinkable. Typical gorse smell, a little bit of fizz on the tongue, and a decent dry finish. I'm sure it'll improve after a few more weeks/months anyway - so I'll chalk it up as a success (first gorse adventure for me). It's not completely clear yet but not milky either.

My question is what to do next:
1. Rack it to a fresh DJ and stop it with a campden tablet, then bottle after a few more weeks, and drink it over the next year. (As we say around here... yeah, right!)
2. Bottle it with a tsp sugar per bottle and try to put a bit of fizz in it for Christmas, and drink the lot then. :party:

Supplementary questions: is a tsp sugar the right amount, and brewers dextrose or table sugar?

What say you, o gurus of gorse?

 

[PD]

I would leave it under an air lock in the DJ for a month or so to let it clear itself. It will eventually. ( Keep an eye on water in air lock during this time )
After that, rack and bottle. Nothing else needed, except further time.

 

[winingkiwi]

I would leave it under an air lock in the DJ for a month or so to let it clear itself. It will eventually. ( Keep an eye on water in air lock during this time )
After that, rack and bottle. Nothing else needed, except further time.

Ah, option 3... leave it alone. So that's a no to bung in some extra fizz? Is that because you would prefer a wine to a bubbly, or because bad things could happen with the sugar addition?

 

[PD]

Its because I found that Gorse ( or Broom ) flowers were more suited to a still wine, when fizzy all you can taste is the bubbles.
By all means try a carbonated one, your taste might be different. Carbonating it will not cause bad things to happen.
Flower wines are by their nature light wines and some are very flavoursome, but they do take time to develop those flavours,and I've never considered them a " quick " wine.
In the past they were always made one year for drinking the following year.

 

[winingkiwi]

In the past they were always made one year for drinking the following year.

Thanks for the advice - when I started this i did expect a good 6-9 months of storing, but the sample taken now does smell and taste like a fizzy version could be nice which is what got me thinking. I'll keep thinking...