Wine & Champagne

Green Ginger Wine

Green ginger wine is a sweet British drink fermented from a raisin base and flavoured with ginger; Stone's Original, the bottle most recipes mean, is 13.5% ABV on Waitrose Cellar's listing. At that strength it is not a fortified wine under Regulation (EU) 1308/2013, which sets a 15% minimum, and the same regulation defines wine as made from fresh grapes or grape must, which a raisin base is not. It pours amber, not green, and it is the second bottle in a Whisky Mac.

Quick Facts

ABV13.5% ABVStone's Original is 13.5% (Waitrose Cellar's listing); Stone's Special Reserve is 18% (Difford’s Guide).

Legal categoryAt 13.5% it is under the 15% minimum for a liqueur wine in Regulation (EU) 1308/2013, and its raisin base is not wine under that regulation's definition

OriginBritain

Flavour Strengthstrong

Our keeping timeAbout three or four weeks in the fridge once opened.

Storage

Cool and dark unopened. We refrigerate it once opened and finish it within three or four weeks; in our experience it fades rather than spoils.

Allergens

Contains: sulphites. Waitrose Cellar's listing for Stone's declares sulphites; check the bottle.

The ingredient

About Green Ginger Wine

Flavour Profile

Primary Flavours

Ginger FireRaisinWarm

Tasting Notes

Fermented ginger heat over raisin-wine sweetness: warming, direct and unmistakably British, the hot water bottle of the wine world.

Ginger wine is made from raisins, not fresh grapes

Stone's, the bottle most recipes mean, starts from raisins: Difford’s Guide, a secondary source, says its makers combine a gingered raisin base with an ungingered one, and Waitrose Cellar's listing, a retailer's, names Australian ground ginger. Difford’s Guide says the recipe is said to date from 1740 and the Finsbury Distilling Company in London; Difford’s Guide, also secondary, says the Stone’s name came from Joseph Stone, a grocer who asked the Finsbury Distilling Company to make it. The result is sweet, warming and amber.

The green in the name is old usage. Green ginger meant young or undried root, and nothing in the glass is green.

At 13.5% it is not a fortified wine

Ginger wine is shelved and often described as a fortified wine, but Regulation (EU) 1308/2013, as retained in GB, draws the line elsewhere. In GB, retained EU wine rules define a liqueur wine, the legal fortified wine, as 15% to 22% and made from grape must or wine; wine itself must come from fresh grapes or grape must. Stone's Original is 13.5% and made from raisins, so it sits outside both.

Ginger wine against the bottles it is shelved with (Stone's strengths from Waitrose Cellar's listing and Difford’s Guide; categories from Regulations (EU) 1308/2013 and 251/2014; keeping times our guidance)

Stone's Original Green Ginger Wine

Strength: 13.5%
Made from: Raisin base with ginger
Legal category in GB: Neither wine nor fortified wine
Once opened: Three or four weeks in the fridge

Stone's Special Reserve

Strength: 18%
Made from: The same raisin bases, more concentrated
Legal category in GB: Not checked
Once opened: Three or four weeks in the fridge

Port

Strength: About 20%
Made from: Grape wine fortified with grape spirit
Legal category in GB: Fortified (liqueur) wine
Once opened: Weeks for ruby, months for tawny

Sweet vermouth

Strength: About 16%
Made from: Wine aromatised with herbs and spices
Legal category in GB: Aromatised wine
Once opened: Three or four weeks in the fridge

Drink	Strength	Made from	Legal category in GB	Once opened
Stone's Original Green Ginger Wine	13.5%	Raisin base with ginger	Neither wine nor fortified wine	Three or four weeks in the fridge
Stone's Special Reserve	18%	The same raisin bases, more concentrated	Not checked	Three or four weeks in the fridge
Port	About 20%	Grape wine fortified with grape spirit	Fortified (liqueur) wine	Weeks for ruby, months for tawny
Sweet vermouth	About 16%	Wine aromatised with herbs and spices	Aromatised wine	Three or four weeks in the fridge

The Whisky Mac is two parts Scotch to one

Our Whisky Mac stirs 25ml of ginger wine into 50ml of Scotch in a rocks glass, neat or on one big cube. Other versions vary the balance, and the whisky decides it: smoke needs less ginger wine, a soft blend takes more. The name is said to come from Major General Sir Hector Archibald MacDonald, who is supposed to have first mixed it in India in 1899, Difford’s Guide reports.

Keep it cold once open

Unopened, a bottle keeps in a cool, dark cupboard. Once open we keep it in the fridge, like a vermouth, and finish it inside three or four weeks. Nothing obvious goes wrong; the ginger simply fades, and the drink it makes goes sweet and flat without anything tasting wrong.

Using it

Using Green Ginger Wine

Usage

Our Whisky Mac stirs 25ml into twice as much Scotch, served neat or on one big cube. On its own it is served cold or over ice and sipped like a sweet wine, which at 13.5% is what it is closest to.

Pro Tip

A Whisky Mac that tastes flat usually has an old bottle of ginger wine in it, not the wrong whisky. Opened ginger wine loses its heat in the fridge over a few weeks; a fresh bottle at the same 25ml brings the drink back.

Top Tips

Adjust a Whisky Mac to the whisky: a little less ginger wine with a smoky malt, a little more with a soft blend.
We keep an opened bottle in the fridge and finish it within three or four weeks. The ginger fades before anything spoils.
Read the strength on the label. Stone's Original is 13.5% on Waitrose Cellar's listing; Difford’s Guide gives Stone's Special Reserve 18%, sweeter and with double the ginger.
Try it cold on its own before treating it as a mixer. It is a dessert-wine strength drink with real ginger heat.

Possible Substitutions

Ginger liqueur: sweeter and spirit-based, a different chassis
A strong ginger syrup in half measure: the emergency sketch, fire without wine

Production Method

A raisin base fermented with ginger: Difford’s Guide says Stone's combines gingered and ungingered raisin bases, and Waitrose Cellar's listing names Australian ground ginger and 13.5%. That is under the 15% minimum for a liqueur wine in Regulation (EU) 1308/2013, so in law it is neither wine nor fortified wine.

History & Context

Difford’s Guide, a secondary source, reports that the Stone's recipe is said to date from 1740 and names the Finsbury Distilling Company of London as its maker. Difford’s Guide also says the Stone’s name dates from the mid-nineteenth century, when Joseph Stone, a London grocer, asked the Finsbury Distilling Company to make a ginger wine under his name.

Go further

More to explore

Common Questions

What is green ginger wine?

A sweet, amber British drink made by fermenting a raisin base and flavouring it with ginger. Stone's Original, the familiar bottle, is 13.5% ABV, and Waitrose Cellar's listing names raisins and Australian ground ginger among its ingredients. It is drunk cold on its own or mixed with Scotch in a Whisky Mac.

Is ginger wine a fortified wine?

Not under Regulation (EU) 1308/2013, as retained in GB, though it is often called one and shelved beside port and sherry. The same regulation sets a liqueur wine, the legal fortified wine, at 15% to 22%, made from grape must or wine. Stone's Original is 13.5% and made from raisins, so it is neither a fortified wine nor, strictly, a wine.

How strong is ginger wine?

Stone's Original is 13.5% ABV on Waitrose Cellar's listing, about the strength of a full-bodied table wine. Stone's Special Reserve is stronger at 18%, by Difford’s Guide. In our Whisky Mac, 25ml of the Original with 50ml of Scotch at 40% comes to about 2.3 UK units, almost all of it from the whisky.

Why is it called green ginger wine?

We have found no primary record of why it is called green. The drink pours amber-gold, so the word is not its colour, and Waitrose Cellar’s listing for Stone’s names Australian ground ginger, which is dried.

What is a Whisky Mac?

Scotch and green ginger wine, stirred together without ice or over one large cube. Our recipe is 50ml of Scotch to 25ml of ginger wine, two to one; Difford’s Guide, a secondary source, gives 45ml to 30ml, and says legend ties the name to Major General Sir Hector MacDonald in India in 1899.

How long does ginger wine last once opened?

We give it three or four weeks, stoppered and refrigerated. It will not turn unpleasant quickly; it fades, losing the ginger heat a Whisky Mac depends on, so a bottle opened last winter makes a sweet, dull drink. Unopened, keep it somewhere cool and dark.

What can I use instead of ginger wine?

Nothing does quite the same job. A ginger liqueur is spirit-based, stronger and usually sweeter, so use about half as much. A ginger syrup gives the heat without the wine, so add a little more whisky. Either makes a different drink from a Whisky Mac, which is worth knowing before you serve it.

Does green ginger wine have preservatives in it?

Stone's Original contains sulphur dioxide and sulphites, the usual wine preservative, according to Waitrose Cellar's listing, a retailer and so a secondary source. The same listing names raisins and Australian ground ginger. Recipes change, so check the label on the bottle for anything else.

Sources.

Checked between 16 October and 19 October 2026.

Waitrose Cellar, “Stone’s Original Green Ginger Wine” (retailer listing: ingredients, 13.5%, allergens).
Difford’s Guide, “Stone’s Special Reserve” (secondary source).
Difford’s Guide, “Whisky Mac” (secondary source: 45ml Scotch and 30ml ginger wine; the legend of Major General Sir Hector Archibald MacDonald, India, 1899, and a cholera outbreak).
legislation.gov.uk, “Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, Annex VII, Part II (retained)”.
legislation.gov.uk, “Regulation (EU) No 251/2014, Article 3 (retained)”.

Make something

Made with Green Ginger Wine

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Whisky Mac

Often Used With

Updated 19 October 2026

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