Ehrlich Brothers Elderberry Wines
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ehrlich brothers winery blog

The Winery and the Wines

2/24/2024

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Ehrlich Brothers specializes in two unique wines made from the farm's own harvest.

The winery is situated on a high ridge above the Hudson River Valley, in Argyle, New York. Ehrlich Brothers has propagated and expanded its nurseries of cultivars of the American Elderberry Sambucus canadensis, obtained from a Vermont horticulturalist and now thriving on Washington County lands favorable to the native plant.   













Both the flower and the mature fruit of the elderberry plant are used, for highly contrasting styles of wine: from the flowers, Elderflower Bubbly; from the fruit, Elderberry Dessert Wine.

Ehrlich Brothers winery specializes in inventive vinification methods which are needed to get the most from the intense fruit and the exceptionally fragrant flower head.

Elderflower Bubbly is a beautiful and delicate sparkling wine that can only be made during a short time window of a few weeks during the June bloom.  The white flower heads, once picked, are rushed to the winery to be processed within 2 hours, carefully, to avoid bruising.

Although preserved elderflower concentrates are readily available commercially, they absolutely can not compete with the proceeds from fresh flowers. Ehrlich Brothers uses no concentrates of any kind, ever. All flavors come from the thousands of flower heads giving their all to the wine-in-process.


Ehrlich Brothers Elderberry Dessert Wine is made in the style of a port wine, using fully-ripened elderberries and carefully-chosen yeast strains.

The berries of a single elderberry bush do not all ripen at the same time - so each bush must be revisited multiple times to ensure harvest of properly-ripened berries only.

The wine is fortified - at just the right time - with brandy spirits from Finger Lakes Distilling in Burdett, New York.

The Dessert Wine is aged for a minimum of ten years before it is judged ready for sale.

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Elderberry Dessert Wine At Long Last

5/6/2023

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Ehrlich Brothers Elderberry Dessert Wine has been aging since 2014.

Now, in May of 2023, this special treat of Argyle origin is ready to enjoy.

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Flavors from 100% elderberry, 100% farm-grown, are concentrated in this sipping wine, and are enhanced by fortification to 18% alcohol.

With so much going on in the bottle, just as it has continuously in the barrels for 9 years or more, organic sediment will continue to form. How to deal with that?  Easy: put on your velvet-collared satin smoking jacket (or pretend to) and very slowly decant the dessert wine into a decanter.

Or strain it through a stainless-steel wine-strainer funnel.

Or just ignore any sediment. "Dinna fash!"  This wine is for quiet relaxation.

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Where can you find it? Check our "Availability" page on this website.

We always invite and appreciate customer reactions and comments.

Best regards to our customers.  Enjoy.

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New Phone Number for Ehrlich Brothers LLC

1/11/2022

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518-769-1247 is the new number for contacting Ehrlich Brothers. 

[email protected] is also a very reliable way to reach us. This email address is unchanged.
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Sure, it is ridiculously wintry now, but summer will come around again; no fear.
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Picking the Flowers and Making the Wine

6/25/2021

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Elderflower harvest 2021 is abundant, fragrant, and looks - well, see for yourself:
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Hundreds of little, white, 5-petaled flowers make up each panicle. When the panicle of flowers is at just the right stage of bloom, Ehrlich Brothers snip it off the bush. They toss it in a collection bucket with hundreds of other such panicles.

Elderflower bubbly is made from thousands of flowers, which give the wine all its flavors and fragrances. No extracts of any kind are used. It's just the real deal.
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Sometimes a bumblebee or a hummingbird comes along and robs some of the nectar. That's okay; there is enough for them, too.

Have no fear: there is plenty of Ehrlich Brothers Elderflower Bubbly 2021 on its way into being. Next fall and winter, we will be able to enjoy it as we Remember Summer!
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Just Waiting for Spring

2/16/2021

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One of Ehrlich Brothers' plots of Elderberry bushes is arrayed near the margins of a swampy former beaver pond. The bushes "like to have their feet wet," so they do well in that location.

Lovely in its own way just now, it will provide a very welcome sight of green when leaf-out happens in April. It's one of many things to which to look forward.

Best wishes to all our customers!
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2020 Elderflower Harvest

7/5/2020

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It is blossom time at Ehrlich Brothers. The older, established plantings, those just getting into their stride, and even the new plantings offering their first blossoms are all in bloom. The perfume fills the air and the blossoms gladden the eye.
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The bushes overwintered well and had a good start this spring with good rains.
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The flower heads are brought in to the winery, by the bucket. All the Elderflower Bubbly is made as a series of small batches. The wine yeasts are hard at work.
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The colors of the flowers - the gold of the pollen and stamens, the pale green of the tiny flower-stems - combine in the brilliant yellow-gold of the Elderflower Bubly. Enjoy!
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Spring Nursery Work

5/1/2019

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Ehrlich Brothers' elderberry nurseries continue to expand.  Over the last several weeks, we have planted dozens of young bushes that overwintered 2018-2019 in pots.  These will begin to be harvested in 2020.

Another nursery job has been pruning the larger bushes. The best-looking pruned branches are ready for potting.  They will grow in pots until fall 2019 or spring 2020.
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These cuttings are just beginning to leaf out.
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A Happy Spring to all our customers!
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Upcoming Wine Tasting, Saratoga Springs, Friday, 12/27/18

12/26/2018

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Divine Wines at Healthy Living Market & Café will host a tasting, to include Ehrlich Brothers Elderflower Bubbly.  

Friday, 12/27/18, from 3pm to 6pm, Bubbly will be on offer for sampling at Divine Wines at the Wilton Mall.  Kelsey Latham invites you to taste and prepare for the New Year celebrations!
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Happy New Year from Ehrlich Brothers !
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Remember summer !
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Upcoming Wine Tasting 12/22/2018

12/18/2018

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Saratoga Wine & Spirits, the cozy shop at 556 Maple Avenue, Saratoga Springs, will host a wine tasting all the livelong day, 11am-9pm.  That's Saturday, 12/2218.  Lisa Canfield will be happy to provide you with a taste of Ehrlich Brothers Elderflower Bubbly!
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Schuylerville Prepares for Thanksgiving

11/22/2018

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Things were lively Olde Saratoga Wines & Spirits on the evening before Thanksgiving.  Ehrlich Brothers thanks all who tasted our Elderflower Bubbly and Elderberry Red table wine.  Enjoy your holiday!
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Remember Summer !
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