If in doubt google it. I looked it up and it said that the berries are toxic if eaten when green but ok if cooked. I suppose this applies to making wine when they are ripe but I would check to make sure.

YES. I have used the berries to make a superb wine. Although I usually use the common sambuca nigra that overhangs my property from a railway line and grows in abundance, I can pick 2 carrier bags full in about 10 minutes and combined with raisins and sugar produces about 5 gallons of superb port. I've made it for years and give most of it away to family and friends who tell me that it's indistinguishable from a decent shop bought port.

If you would like the recipe which I think I've perfected over the many years that I've been making it Lyda, then P.M. me and I'll send it to you.

The only time I made elderberry wine I bottled it too soon and all the corks blew out. The smell was awful and the waste even more so! I'm surprised the berries on your Black Lace are worth picking - mine are very small and seedy. The ones on the self sown wild one are much more worth while but the birds always get there first.

I believe you usually need to keep the wine for a number of years for it to mature to a really porty taste so be patient! Perhaps Myron's recipe is ready sooner.