Elderberry

When I was a young Pharmacist I had a colleague who made his own 'wine'.

I use the term advisedly because half of the time he didn't use grapes and the wine snobs and pedants among you will poo-poo his artifice.

The fact was, he made startlingly good wine-like fermented drinks with non-grape substrates. One of which was elderberry.

He was so pleased with his elderberry 'wine' that he challenged us to tell the difference between good burgundy and his home made hedgerow plonk.

We had a cheese and wine evening and he brought along some of his best efforts and we blind tasted them against the best france could offer [with a touch of fromage to clean the palate between tastings]

Needless to say, no-one could tell the difference! We all got just a bit merry and staggered home 'happy' on public transport.

Which all goes to show, a good artificer can make great things from the humblest of building blocks. You just have to believe, and give credit where it is due.