I am in competition with Debih.

[miasmum]

If the worst comes to the worst you can use it to clear your drains

[Kaz]

[debih]

How did I miss this?

I will eagerly await your feedback WM. I have never mastered the art of wine making - mine all tastes exactly the same. It doesn't matter if it is red, rose or white - it still tastes the same.

The best wine I ever made was the first lot - from a kit that Mick bought me. It cost around £20 and was really nice. It made around 30 bottles. I had another go at some shiraz but I forgot to put in sachet number 3 - it came in useful as red wine vinegar! I keep intending on going to get another kit to make some more.

I have looked at the wine kits in Wilkos and wondered what they are like so I shall await your review.

I have some red currant wine on the go at the moment that should have been bottled a couple of months ago. I really ought to get it done. I have wine in the shed that is ready for drinking - elderflower. That one does actually taste like elderflower (even though it still has that underlying taste of whatever they all taste of - I have never worked it out. Is it cleaning fluid I wonder. If it is it doesn't taste too bad so maybe I should just skip the whole wine making stage and just drink the sterilising fluid!!!).

I am currently quaffing a bottle of gooseberry (well, not at this very moment in time - it is only 11.30am. It is in the fridge. I stupidly had two glasses of the stuff on Tuesday night and had to retire to bed feeling rather drunk) wine which tastes exactly the same as all the others!

I need to get my act together really as I have loads of gooseberries, rhubarb and red currants in the freezer from last year. I think I feel a wine making session coming on!

[Workingman]

Hi Debs, that back taste you are talking about might be tannin, or it could be ALCOHOL!!!

If it is tannin, too much will give the wine that 'stick-to-the-teeth' effect, too little and the wine will be 'thin' or lacking a bit of body. You can add tannin by making a strong cuppa tea, without the milk and sugar, and mixing it into a wine. To reduce it you need to remove skins and seed and stems from any fruit you use before starting fermentation. It is more noticeable in red wines.

If all your wines are tasting the same it is probably because you are not using enough fruit. All the fruit sugars are being turned into alcohol and alcohol tastes of.... alcohol. Either start with more fruit or add some ordinary white sugar so that some of the fruit sugars are left to help flavour the wine.

A few good freebies are coming up: Oak leaf, made from the new leaves; Beech sap, but only one drip per tree; and the Elderflower that you already make.

[JoM]

You're bringing back childhood memories now - my parents always used to make wine and I'd sample them, I remember loving elderflower and also parsnip wine

[Workingman]

Hmmm, parsnip, now there's an idea!

[debih]

Thanks WM.

Wine making is a very new experience for me - I only really started last year and then the kitchen disaster struck and I didn't get very far with it.

I have all the stuff - a friend was having a clear out of all her stuff so I inherited it.

I have to say, I do prefer my flavoured vodkas! Much easier to make and they do have more of a punch - but they aren't as cheap. Oh, and you don't have to wait as long for the vodka!

I must go to Chesterfield to the wine shop there and start off another batch of the Shiraz - this time not forgetting sachet number 3 this time!

[Kaz]

My first hubby used to make wine, when we lived in London. He used to keep the demi-johns in the tiny lean to/conservatory on the back of the flat. One exploded once and made a heck of racket in the early hours..........we thought a bomb had gone off

I had some friends over for lunch one day and we got totally blotto on a couple of glasses of elderflower, then decided to go clothes shopping to the nearby Ealing Broadway