Gorse wine recipe

The Gorse bushes tends to grow more or less anywhere! During late and May the Gorse bushes are laden with their attractive yellow flowers, and this makes a good seasonal winemaking opportunity that should not be neglected.

Gorse bushes have one major drawback. They are horrible spiky things that like to inflict as much pain as possible on the poor winemaker trying steal their blooms. Arm yourself with thick stout clothes and ideally leather fingerless gloves, if you have such a thing.

A gallon of wine needs about 2/3rds of a gallon of picked Gorse flowers. This is quite a lot - so maybe not the best wine to make in bulk. The usual way of making Gorse wine is to put the flowers in a net bag and simmer them in a pan of water for about 10-15 minutes. Alternatively, put the gorse flowers in a winemaking bucket and pour on hot water and leave for 24 hours.

All flower wines need added sugar. Bring the gravity up to about 1085 (gorse wine likes being a touch on the sweet side) and adjust the acidity with a teaspoon of citric acid, or the juice of a couple of lemons.

You will need to add a generous amount of yeast nutrient because the must will be very low in winemaking nutrients. Vitamin B tablets are also a good addition at this stage.

There is a simple choice for the actual strain of yeast. Gervin B wine yeast GV9 S. Cerevisiae, Narbonne selection strain is the best yeast in the world for making flower wines. Not only does it preserve the delicate aromas of the Gorse flowers, it also ferments well at cooler temperatures which can be found during april and early may in the UK.

Like a lot of homebrew flower wines, Gorse wine can usually be drunk quite young. After it has cleared, a couple of months maturing will result and a simple but enjoyable white wine. Make sure you savour it, considering the pain you went through with the Gorse bushes!