Mike
This is the first day I have visited this NG for several months and I don't intend to resume posting on here in the near future. It all gets too much on here ( I posted far too often!) and I have spread my net wider and very much more thinly.
Winemaking goes on gently and keeps me and my two sons and their families with reasonable "cellars" of wine.
My 2005 elderberry/blackberry ( 3:1 ) is now sitting in its 23 litre bulk aging carboy at 20% abv having been fortified. It will sit there until about December this year -- then racked off the lees again and bulk aged for another year before doing the same again. At the end of the second year I shall rack again and also adjust the sweetness as necessary before continuing the aging process.
I would not expect to start drinking it much before its 5th birthday -- maybe a taste at year 4 it if is ready for bottling
You can drop me an email after removing the spam trap
I am now busy breaking my brand new touring bike ( my old one was stolen just b4 Christmas) and have started serious training for my cycle/camping trip from the source of the Rhein to Rotterdam -- with a side trip up and down the Mosel).
I have even started very, very, early planning for a West to East Coast trans USA cycle camping trip in 2007 which will be my 70th year! -- if I can manage to afford it! It would be a gentle 4 month trip but if I don't do it then it is likely that I shall never do it.
"Tempus fugit" at a fast gallop these days
Bye all