Vintage Wine

[Twostage]

Visited the parents at the weekend and went into their attic to rescue some old brewing kit (a few DJs and a hydrometer). Found a few boxes of wine my dad had made (boxes of bottles that is). It's a while since he made wine so I brought a few down to test.

We only tried one - a 1984 elderberry. It looked and smelled exactly like sherry and really stuck to the glass. The taste was not brilliant, not awful, just not great. I think would be nice with lemonade. Dad was going to wait until the next day to see if any of us was poisoned before he tried any more

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I think I would have done the same. :lol:

 

[tonyhibbett]

The attic is a bad place to store wine, especially if it is uninsulated and even worse if it has a window. An uninsulated loft can get hot and 'cook' the wine. The process is called maderisation, hence the 'sherry' flavour. Sunlight also degrades the quality and colour.

 

[Twostage]

No sunlight but yes not insulated. Maderised is a good description.

Apart from being not too nice (although I still think it would be good diluted with lemonade) I assume it is harmless ?

 

[ManseMasher]

No sunlight but yes not insulated. Maderised is a good description.

Apart from being not too nice (although I still think it would be good diluted with lemonade) I assume it is harmless ?

Should be harmless I think - it's how they make Madeira (if the cause is as you say a hot attic).

 

[tonyhibbett]

I once left a jar of tea wine in an airing cupboard, behind the immersion heater and forgot about it. 10 years later, my parents found it when the heater was being removed. The wine tasted like dry sherry and quite pleasant served chilled.