Sunday, May 1, 2016

May Day Recipe // May Wine



Happy May Day, everyone! I hope someone reading this is having a bright, sunshine filled day. Unfortunately our May Day is filled with rain, so we won't be dancing around a maypole or making flower crowns. As much as I enjoy a good excuse to hide under a quilt and watch old movies, I would have preferred to spend today laying in the sun drinking may wine.



I learned about may wine from Martha Stewart, obviously. Before bed I like to watch Murder, She Wrote and 1990's Martha Stewart on YouTube. If there were DVD's of her original show, I would buy them all up immediately. When you've watched as many episodes as I have you realize just how much she recycles ideas. She usually updates them or adds some twist, but a traditional German may wine makes an appearance in every spring special.



Traditional may wine is made by infusing Riesling with sweet woodruff, which is a super aromatic flower. For a few reasons, I didn't go the traditional route. I'm personally not a fan of sweet white wine. When I drink white wine, I want it to be light and crisp with subtle flavors. I decided to use Robbie's and my favorite Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa. I didn't get to use sweet woodruff, because it's impossible to find unless you're growing it yourself. Instead I added the dried elderflower from the April birthday cake I made a few weeks ago. If your looking for elderflower, check out the post; there are a few tips on where to find it!



To make sure the wine doesn't oxidize, it's best to infuse the wine cold. This also allows you plenty of time to control how floral you want the wine. After one week, you'll taste the subtle flavors on the back end. A second week of rest will give you much stronger flavors. Once you've made it, step away from the computer, put the phone down, step outside, and marvel at nature.




May Wine:

1 bottle of Sauvignon Blanc
1/4 c dried elderflower

Combine wine and elderflower in an airtight container. Refrigerate. After a week, taste the wine. If it has reached the desired floral flavor you like, enjoy! If not, refrigerate another week. Go outside, and enjoy!






XO
Pat!