Elderflower and Rose Champagne: A Summer Recipe Worth Making Every Year

There are certain smells that stop you in your tracks. Elderflower is one of them. That warm, musky sweetness drifting off a hedgerow on a June evening is as good a signal as any that summer has properly arrived. The taste of elderflower champagne will always remind me of exactly that — long evenings, fading light, and the feeling that the year is at its best right now.

This recipe is a new twist on that classic. We've added rose petals, and the result is something even more special — floral, lightly fizzy, and gentle enough to drink in a garden without feeling like you should be doing something else. It takes a little patience, but the method is genuinely simple and the reward is worth it.

When to Make It

The window for elderflower is brief — roughly late May through to mid-June, depending on where you are in the country. Here in the Calder Valley the elder tends to bloom a little later than in the south. Pick your flower heads on a dry, warm day when the blossom is fully open and the scent is strongest. The pollen carries the flavour, and rain washes it away — so if the weather has been wet, wait a day or two.

For the roses, you want petals that are genuinely well-scented. Old roses, heritage varieties, and garden roses with a real fragrance are ideal. The highly bred, long-stemmed roses sold commercially for bouquets often have little or no scent — and in this recipe, scent is everything. Pick in the morning when the fragrance is at its peak, and use them fresh on the same day if you can.

The Recipe

Makes approximately 8 litres | Prep: 45 minutes | No cooking, just infusing

You'll need

• 8 litres water
• 8 large elderflower heads
• 1 pint of well-scented rose petals
• 4 lemons
• 4 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1.25kg white sugar
• A large bucket or fermenting vessel (at least 10 litres)
• Muslin cloth for straining
• Screw-top plastic bottles for storing — not glass

Method

Day 1

Bring half of your water (4 litres) to the boil and dissolve the sugar in it completely, stirring as it heats. Pour this into your bucket and top up with the remaining 4 litres of cold water to reach 8 litres total. Leave it to cool until it reaches around 40°C — warm to the touch but not hot enough to damage the flowers. This matters: adding elderflower to boiling water will cook it rather than infuse it, and you'll lose that delicate flavour.

While the liquid is cooling, prepare your botanicals. Give the elderflower heads a gentle shake to encourage any insects to move on. Juice two of the lemons and slice the remaining two. Pick over your rose petals and remove any white or pale green bases from the petals — these can add bitterness.

Once the liquid has cooled to around 40°C, add the elderflower heads, rose petals, white wine vinegar, lemon juice, and the sliced lemons. Cover the bucket with a clean cloth — a tea towel secured with a rubber band works well — and leave it somewhere at room temperature.

Days 1 and 2

Give the mixture a good stir twice daily. You'll start to notice a gentle fermentation beginning — small bubbles are a good sign. The white wine vinegar provides a little acidity to help things along and gives a cleaner flavour than some traditional recipes that use yeast directly.

Day 3

Strain the liquid through muslin into a clean container, squeezing the cloth gently to get everything through. Decant into screw-top plastic bottles, filling to about two thirds full to leave room for the CO2 that will build up as fermentation continues.

And then you wait. Check the bottles every day. As the champagne continues to ferment, pressure will build inside — you'll be able to feel this by squeezing the sides of the plastic bottle. When it feels firm, unscrew the cap slightly to release some pressure, then tighten it again. This daily check is important: over-pressurised bottles can be a problem if left unchecked.

After two weeks, the champagne should be lightly fizzy and ready to drink. Chill well before opening, open carefully over a sink, and serve over ice if you like.

A Few Notes From Experience

Use plastic bottles, not glass. Glass bottles can shatter if too much pressure builds up. Screw-top plastic drinks bottles — the kind sparkling water comes in — are ideal. It's not glamorous, but it's safe.

Taste as you go. After the first week you can open a bottle and try it. If it tastes too sweet and not fizzy enough, give it more time. If it tastes right, move the bottles into the fridge to slow fermentation down.

Don't skip the daily pressure check. It sounds fussy but it takes thirty seconds and it really matters.

The vinegar question. White wine vinegar plays the role that yeast plays in more traditional recipes — it introduces a little acidity that helps kick off fermentation. The flavour it contributes is very subtle once the champagne is ready, but if you find the finished drink a little sharp for your taste, you can reduce it slightly next time.

What It Tastes Like

The elderflower is the main event — that familiar, honey-muscat floral quality that defines any elderflower drink. The rose petals add something softer and more perfumed underneath it, almost like the ghost of the scent rather than a full flavour. Together they make something that feels genuinely summery in a way that's hard to put your finger on. Light, lightly sweet, just fizzy enough.

It's exactly the kind of drink that belongs outside, in the evening, when the day is winding down and there's no particular reason to go inside yet.

If You Want to Find the Ingredients

If you're foraging the elderflower yourself, our June foraging guide will help you with identification and harvesting tips — [link here]. For the roses, the garden or a trusted neighbour with a well-scented variety is your best bet. Just make sure they haven't been treated with pesticides if you're planning to drink them.

Taste the Wild is a wild food consultancy based in the Calder Valley, West Yorkshire. We run foraging workshops, land surveys, and work with estates and hospitality businesses to put wild food at the heart of what they do. Get in touch to find out more.