Blackberry and Elderberry wine - best ratio?

Hi All,

It's that time of year again when there's an abundance of blackberries and elderberries, yey! 

I've made elderberry wine in the past (very nice!) and started my first ever batch of blackberry wine a few weeks ago (still bubbling away and smelling rather lovely so far), but have never combined the two so am going to give it a go.


I've found loads of recipes, all with varying ratios of blackberry to elderberry - some more blackberry, some more elderberry and others equal quantities, but which is best??

I'd imagine there's a degree of personal preference involved, and I'll probably try different quantities in time but as I don't have space for multiple batches any thoughts on where to begin would be great - and does anyone have a tried and tested recipe they would share or point me in the direction of?

+1 for this idea

I would make the two wines separately right up to bottling.  Then you can have three wines.  Elderberry, Blackberry or a mixture of the two and adjust to your own personal preference trial and error and keep a record of your chosen ratio.

Cheers,    Tony.

Yup, agree with this too. Its how my Dad often used to make and then blend the wines. The blending could be fun to help with. But do keep notes.

Really a choice for you to make. I made a blackberry wine some years back, turned out reasonable but not what I was hoping for. Actually fairly pale (did nave about 4lb of blackberry's so not skimped on them), expected darker, use it for cooking with.

Have read that blackberry and elderberry can make a "heavy" wine, thino it must be the elderberry content as the black berry does not in my experience give it. Have not made elderberry as I am too lazy to strip the things off the stalks - just seems like a lot of trouble.

Elderberry can be high in tanin, so expect a couple of years for it to smooth out and be drinkable.

If possible visit a winemaking/homebrew shop and get a yeast that is good for fruit wines and aim for around 14%.

Do you make much wine and do you have the bits like a hydrometer etc ?

thanks for all the replies - I hadn't thought of making the two separate and then mixing to my liking, great idea!    


Think I've made 10-15 gallons over the couple of years, SG6, mostly using home grown, foraged or gifted fruits and veg,  but I'm no expert and have never mixed different fruits before

I do have a hydrometer too and have so far been aiming for the 13ish % mark and used young's super wine yeast for everything   


I'll give the cooling tray over bucket method a go, Tony - although, to be honest, I don't mind the fork method, it's quite therapeutic...


thanks again for all the replies - I'm looking forward to the mixing / tasting session and thinking I should have a few volunteers, but if I need more will be sure to let you all know     

With respect you are sort of asking the wrong question  firstly the ratios are not fixed it will vary almost from day today as the fruits ripen or get wet  the amounts of sugar flavours ect change all the time thats the fun part of wine making / also what sort of wine do you want  light dry or full bodied or heavy sweet . then you can think about what fruits ratio sugar etc you require