Herbs and Wine

Paul, I've made wine out of herbs with a base of Welch's 100% grape or white frozen juice, but I have not added any herbs to any of my wines. And most of the herb wines I've made I use for cooking/marinating. Sounds interesting though and good-luck. Darlene

Aren't vermouths a wine base infused with herbs and spice? and I would include Lillet in this category...

curious regards, bobdrob

Hi Paul

I always prefered the "mixed drink" approach since this allowed me to make up something different each time I opened a bottle. But others asked me to try to find a way to bottle the stuff so they could enjoy just a glass or two without having to mix up a big batch each time. Once you start thinking "country" rather than "noble" (grapes), you can do just about anything you like by following just a few simple rules.

1. If the alcohol is high enough (20% plus), it will be stable in the bottle no matter what it is. Think of Port or that lemon vodka drink that Joe makes.

1. If the alcohol is lower but still above 10% you will need the added protection of sulfite. Since sulfite is pH dependent, you will need to get the pH down to ~3.6 or less so modest amounts of sulfite will be effective.

2. If, in the case of number 2 above, there is also sugar present in the finished product, you will also need sorbate/benzoate for added stability. I suppose sterile filtration would also work but I never tried that because I never trusted it not to get reinfected after filtration in my "home" environment.

And it doesn't matter if you ferment these things or just mix up something and bottle it. Stability in the bottle is what matters.

Some herbs and spices can have very different characters depending on method of extraction. Generally these are hot water, cold water, and alcoholic (during or after fermentation). Easily checked by making a little of each in your kitchen and tasting each.

I have been cautioned about rambling on too much, so I hope this little bit helps.

Frederick

Ramble on, I'll read it.

What I have done so far is to experiment with some already made and bottled wine.

For example, I have put a leaf of Anise Hyssop in some opened wine and then recorked it with a bar top and let sit a couple days. It adds a LOT of Liquorice flavor and bouquet which I like but others may not. It seems to work best on wines that are not oaked.

I have some more herbs in my garden that I plan to experiment (Tyme, Rosemary, Sage, Tarragon and Lavender) with and unfortunately some bottled wine that is not all that great and therefore can not hurt it much. If anyone has some wine that they are going to pour down the drain anyway, it is worth a try - in my opinion. Seems like it could be good to make a "cooking wine" also even though my definition of "cooking wine" is wine you drink while cooking ;-)

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Hi Paul

Not sure anyone can give you any solid advice in this area. It's all too personal. Folks tend to develop love hate relationships with individual herbs/spices. Example: I_hate_anise/liquorice flavor any time, anywhere, any way !! So, if I had a bottle of your wine, it would go straight down the drain. Personal. I also_hate_any kind of chemical "heat" (ie chilli peppers). Again, personal.

The things I used most often were cinnamon and real vanilla extract. Rarely things like ginger, nutmeg, or mint.

Tried oak a few times in "country" (non grape)wines and didn't like it. Decided it didn't belong there. Personal. A drop (or 3) of real vanilla extract can give a similar effect but without the "woodyness" if you know what I mean. (is that a real word ?)

Bad wine should go straight down the drain every time. Even mediocre wine should be dumped. A good but "less than wonderful" wine can usually be saved by "dressing it up" in any number of ways. When poor wine is used in cooking, as soon as it hits the heat, the alcohol gets blown off. And, as the sauce is reduced, it further concentrates the bad flavors from the wine. Don't understand why folks do this. Life is much too short to settle for "mediocre" anything !! HTH

Frederick