How to Make Dandelion Wine

This guide will teach you all about how to make dandelion wine–a light and refreshing drink that’s perfect for the spring and summer!

With the coming of Spring, so comes the sunshine, the warmth….and the dandelions! Some people see them as weeds, but they can be used to make wine and more!

If you’re like us, you don’t spray chemicals on your lawn, so you have organic dandelion flowers. Why not try your hand at making some Dandelion Wine?

Make Dandelion wine. Unsprayed dandelion flowers can be turned into wine. Make your own wine at home. #dandelions #wine #recipe #vintner #dandelionwine — This is a great way to take dandelions and turn them into something delicious and refreshing!

We’ve been making our own Dandelion Wine for years now.

We never make a lot, but we do get a small batch of wild wine going each Spring.

If this is going to be your first time making any kind of wine at home, you will need a wine making equipment kit. It’s a one time investment and will pay for itself with the first batch of wine.

Dandelion Wine has a light and delicious flavor – give it a try this year.

How to Make Dandelion Wine

Ingredients for 1 Gallon

3 quarts dandelion heads (no stalks)
3 quarts boiling water
1 pound seedless raisins
3 sliced oranges
3 sliced lemons
1 quart water
1 teaspoon wine yeast nutrient

Instructions to “Brew” Dandelion Wine

Gather dandelions blossoms and put them in a freshly washed crock. Note: I have not picked off the green leaves at the back of the flower, but there are no stems in there.

dandelions in a large pot — Remove the stems, but no need to worry about the green bits just underneath the flowers.

Pour boiling water over dandelion petals, enough to cover. Then cover the crock with a clean towel and let stand overnight.

The next day, strain through cheesecloth, pressing until dry. Put strained liquid into a plastic pail or crock.

sliced oranges and lemons on a cutting board. — Adding some lemon juice or orange juice for that delicious citrus flavor.

Cutting up the lemons and oranges to add. The fruit and zest will add a wonderful citrus flavor to the wine.

oranges and lemons in dandelion liquid. — Don’t those citrus fruits look beautiful?

Add oranges, lemons, raisins and a sugar syrup made from boiling 1/2 pound sugar with 1 quart water.

Adding Yeast to Make Dandelion Wine

Sprinkle the packet of wine yeast over the liquid and citrus, trying to distribute the yeast fairly evenly. Cover and ferment for 15 days at room temperature (and in a dark place if possible), stirring every day.

On the last day, you need to make a sugar syrup. Use 1 pound sugar and 2 cups water and heat it on the stove. You don’t want it to boil, you just want to dissolve the sugar.

Make sure the mixture is warm, give it another stir and remove from the heat. Let it cool.

Slowly and carefully, strain the fermented juice through cheesecloth, coffee filters, or a fine mesh strainer to filter out solids. Then add the cooled syrup.

fruit draining through a colander. — Make sure you strain the fruit, but avoid mashing it.

We put the fruit into a colander and just let the juice drip out. It is likely best to NOT mash the fruit as this can result in cloudy wine. Instead, just leave it for several hours to allow all the liquid to drip out.

Pour into a gallon jug fitted with a fermentation lock or a carboy. Leave in a warm place until all fermentation has stopped. I like to wrap an old towel around the jug to keep the light out.

two jugs of dandelion wine, one with lots of sediment. — Racking the wine several times ensures you’ll get rid of all of the unwanted sediment.

Racking and Bottling Your Dandelion Wine

After about 4 weeks, rack it down into another jug. Notice the sediment in the bottom of the jug on the right. You want to siphon it without disturbing this sediment.

Over time you rack it again and again….and each time you are left with clearer wine. This is because you leave the sediment on the bottom of the previous jug.

The longer it stays in the jugs between being racked down again, the better. Wait till it stops working to bottle it. Use a hydrometer to determine specific gravity. If it is at .98 to .99 then the sugars have finished working and it is ready to be bottled.

several bottles of homemade dandelion wine. — Enjoy this wine yourself or give it away as a unique homemade gift!

Here is Dandelion Wine from 2010 all bottled. It was started in the early Spring of 2010. This wine was not bottled until November 25, 2010. We made 2 gallons and bottled it mostly in 375 ml bottles.

a glass of amber colored dandelion wine. — Dandelion wine takes on a beautiful golden color.

We gave it a try. It is fairly citrusy tasting, with a hint of honey flavor. It’s dry, probably a 00.

Storing Dandelion Wine

These bottles are going down to the wine cellar, to be brought out one at a time in a year or so. As long as they are kept in a dark cool place, they will be fine.

Enjoy! We have been making Dandelion wine every year since we moved here in 2006.

Just a small batch; maybe two gallons worth. Sometimes we bottle it in the smaller wine bottles (roughly half the size of a regular bottle). We open a bottle for a special occasion and that gives us just enough to each have one nice sized glass of wine.

Since bottled wine will last for years, we are often drinking 5 or 6 year old Dandelion wine. But we keep making it every Spring!

More Dandelion Recipes You’ll Like

Want to learn how to make Dandelion Jelly? We’ll show you how.
Read here about cooking with Dandelions.
Read here about the different kinds of wine made from the garden.

More Wine Recipes from the Garden

Learn how to make Strawberry wine using fresh strawberries.

This Saskatoon Raspberry wine is a favorite for red wine lovers.

Now you know how to make Dandelion Wine, be sure to give it a try in early Spring!

originally published 2011; latest update July 2022

How to Make Wine From Your Garden

By Annie

Wondering how to make wine from your garden? Read one for some great ideas.

We enjoy making our own wild wine and usually put on at least two different kinds each year. Dandelion wine is a must! Since we use no chemicals at all on our lawn, we know the flowers are healthy and organic. Here are several different wines we make here on our homestead.

How to Make Wine from your Garden

The first year we made this delicious wine, we had enough flowers for 1 gallon wine. The following year, we increased the picking and got enough for 2 1/2 gallons of wine. Dandelion Wine is very tasty with a citrusy flavour, due to the oranges and lemons that are added.

Here’s the recipe – why not give it a try? It’s a very light wine, perfect for late afternoons while sitting on the porch looking out over our gardens.

We also make a Berry Wine. Because we grow Raspberries, Rhubarb, Strawberries and we also have native wild Saskatoon berry bushes, we often make a blend of these different types. If you are new to making berry wines, read about our Saskatoon Raspberry wine. You can use any kinds of berries, just follow our process and give it a try!

How about some Parsley Wine? It’s my friend Paula’s favourite and it never fails – every Spring she asks me if I am going to make some this year.

Excuse the fancy labelling! But look at that beautiful colour of the Parsley Wine. It may not sound like a great tasting wine, but it is. It really is.

Carrot Wine? Yup, we’ve made that too. If you’ve got a bumper crop and more than enough to feed the family, get a little batch of this going.

Since we grow so much Rhubarb, we make a batch of Rhubarb Wine every year. Everyone loves this one! Plus, we made this Homemade Strawberry Wine! It’s quite light tasting.

Making wine from native flowers and berries is easier than you might think. Check out the links above for the recipe for that specific wine. These make great dinner wines and also nice hostess gifts.

How to Make Carrot Wine

By Annie

Ready to try something different? Here’s how to make Carrot wine!

Ever tried making Carrot Wine? If you have had a really good harvest this year, why not give it a try? Here’s how to make carrot wine! And you can read here about all the different wines made from our gardens.

2 glasses of carrot wine sit on a dinner table. — Learn how to make homemade Carrot wine at home.

This recipe is to make 1 gallon of wine. If you make less than that, make sure to decrease the amounts of ingredients properly. Get yourself the wine making equipment (you can get them all on Amazon or eBay) you will need and then get started.

Freshly dug carrots sit on a porch in front of the vegetable garden. — Lots of fresh carrots here to make homemade Carrot Wine.

Since we grow all of our own carrots for the year and have extras, we have plenty! Carrots are one of our most prolific root vegetables we grow.

Carrots being warmed up to make wine. — Simmer carrots on the stove.

How to Make Carrot Wine

Wash 5 pounds of Carrots really well, then bring them to a boil, reduce the heat and let them simmer them in about a gallon and a half of water (the water measurement isn’t precise. Remember you will lose some liquid each time you rack down your wine) for about an hour. When the roots break easily and the carrots are tender, they are ready for the next step.

If you like, you can slice the carrots before putting them on the stove to boil. Some people prefer thin slices of carrot for making wine.

Chopped raisins added to crock of carrot wine during fermentation. — Take the time to chop the raisins.

Using a slotted spoon, remove the carrots carefully. Add half a pound of finely chopped golden raisins to the liquid. (I find chopping raisins is a bear of a job….but it must be done.) Add the juice of two oranges and just a little bit of the orange zest. Be sure you don’t add pith, you want just the peel. Simmer for about another hour.

Some recipes I have seen call for lemons instead of oranges but we have not made it that way. I have also heard of adding honey, which would add a nice flavor.

Fermenting Carrot Wine

Put 2 1/2 lbs of white sugar into a large bowl or crock. You can also use a fermenting bucket, if you have one. Pour the simmered mixture over the sugar and stir it well. Make sure all the sugar is dissolved. Sprinkle 1 tsp. of yeast nutrient on top and cover, leaving it for 3 days. This will start the fermentation and get the brew bubbling.

You can also add the yeast by the following method:

After sugar is dissolved, take off 2 cups of the hot liquid. Mix it with 2 cups of cold water. Add your yeast to this, stir it well and leave for half an hour or so. Then pour it into the crock and cover.

A carboy full of carrot wine after fermenting. — Keep your wine covered; we just wrap a towel around it to keep out of the light.

After three days, rack the wine into a secondary fermenter, using a wine siphon hose. You can use a straining bag if you like.

This is where we use a carboy as our secondary. So we rack the wine and strain liquid into a carboy or a demi-john. Use a bung and an airlock to close the carboy; you need to have some type of fermentation lock.

Leave it in a warm place for six weeks or a couple of months. We rack it down one final time, then let it sit in the carboy two more weeks, before bottling. This step will help clear the wine and any sediment left will have settle to the bottom, and we can avoid it when bottling. This Carrot Wine should then stay in the bottle for at least six months before drinking. Enjoy!

More Wine Making Recipes:

Here’s how to make Homemade Strawberry Wine

Try this delicious homemade Dandelion Flower Wine

This Saskatoon Raspberry Wine will be a favorite for red wine lovers

Got Rhubarb? Try your hand at this Rhubarb Wine

Ever heard of a Parsley wine recipe?

Learn more about making wine from garden vegetables

Glass of homemade carrot wine on a table outside, with carrots and grapes alongside. — Save this homemade Carrot wine recipe to your Pinterest board.

How to Make Carrot Wine

Yield: 1 gallon carrot wine

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 2 hours

Additional Time: 8 months

Total Time: 8 months 3 hours

Use fresh carrots to make this unique homemade carrot wine.

Ingredients

5 pounds carrots, scrubbed
1/2 pound golden raisins, chopped
2 oranges
2 1/2 pounds sugar
1 tsp. yeast nutrient

Instructions

1. Add 1 gallon water to a large stockpot.

2. Add the scrubbed carrots, sliced or whole.

3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer one hour.

4. Remove carrots; set aside.

5. Add raisins to the liquid.

6. Cut two oranges and add the juice to the liquid.

7. Add some of the orange zest, careful to not use the pith.

8. Let this liquid cool until just warm.

9. Add sugar to a clean crock, then pour the hot liquid over the sugar.

10. Stir well, until sugar is dissolved.

11. Sprinkle the contents of yeast packet evenly over the liquid.

12. Cover crock.

13. Each day for next 3 days, briefly remove the cover and let the fermenting liquid vent. Then recover.

14. After 3 days, carefully use a wine siphon hose to rack the wine into a clean carboy.

15. Add water to the airlock, and close the carboy with the bung.

16. Leave the wine in the carboy for 6 weeks.

17. Rack the wine down into another clean carboy or container.

18. Let sit for 2 weeks; sediment will fall to the bottom.

19. Bottle the wine, being careful to not disturb the sediment.

20. Store bottles for six months before sampling.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 16 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 376Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 85mgCarbohydrates: 96gFiber: 5gSugar: 86gProtein: 2g

Originally published 2011; latest update Oct. 2024

How to Make Homemade Parsley Wine

By Annie

This Parsley wine recipe makes a lovely wine with a delicious slightly flowery taste.

You may think the idea of enjoying a glass of parsley wine sounds unusual to say the least. But, of all the herbal wine and berry wines we make here, this homemade parsley wine is my favorite.

We all know popular ways of using fresh parsley, like on seafood dishes like scallops or shrimp, and of course, in pasta dishes, broth and soups and sprinkled on chicken. But, to enjoy a glass of wine alongside dinner is always welcome.

So, consider upping your home brewing skills and make up a small batch of this delightful herbal wine. We love the flavor and hope you will too!

How to Make this Parsley Wine Recipe

Fresh parsley leaves sit in a bowl ready to be weighed for wine. — This easy parlsey wine recipe is a real treat.

Use the following method for this wine:

To make one gallon of this wine, take one pound of freshly picked parsley. Leave larger stems behind, but freely use the smaller stems. There is no need to use only the leaves.

Wash the leaves, then place in a ceramic crock, a small fermentation bucket or a small brewing bucket.

.Pour eight pints of boiling water over the leaves, then cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap. Let the parsley infuse for three days.

Let the parsley infuse for three days. At the end of that time strain off the liquor into a large pan. Discard the parsley.

To the liquid, add half a pound of raisins, well chopped, together with the pulp and juice of a lemon and an orange, and the thinly peeled rind of the orange.

Simmer this liquid for an hour and at the end of that time, stir in three pounds of white sugar and allow it to cool.

When the liquid is lukewarm, draw off a pint of the liquid into a clean jar and prepare a starter with a little wine yeast.

A healthy Parsley plant with text overlay reading Parsley Wine homemade recipe. — Save this pin to your Pinterest board.

As soon as it begins to froth, strain it and add along with the rest of the liquid, into a small carboy or demijohns. Add airlocks, and leave it to ferment, covered well with a thick cloth.

This wine can usually be bottled after six weeks and will be fit to drink almost immediately. We like to use mini wine bottles for this and always use corks, rather than screw cap lids.

In a year’s time, it will have lost a good deal of its sweetness and will be an excellent table wine. Enjoy in moderation!

Which type of Parsley is Best?

You can use either curly parsley or a flat-leaf parsley for this wine. Some people prefer the curly parsley variety; we often use the flat leaf parsley for this recipe.

What Can I Make with a Bunch of Parsley?

If you have an overabundance of fresh Parsley, you can preserve it by drying to use year round. Here’s an article that teaches how to dry herbs.

But, if you have an extra pound of fresh Parsley, making this small batch parsley wine will both be fun and delicious.

Want to read more about winemaking? Here’s all our wine recipes using vegetables or fruits from the garden.

Originally published Mar 2011; latest update April 2025

How to Make Dandelion Wine

How to Make Dandelion Wine