Nettle Wine

• Type: Beverage
• Owners: N/A (The specific bottles in the story were placed by Severus Snape)
• Maker: Unknown

Nettle Wine is a type of wine presumably brewed from the common stinging nettle plant. In its only appearance in the series, it was contained within two of seven enchanted bottles of various shapes and sizes. The liquid's specific colour, aroma, and taste are not described in the novels. Its defining characteristic within the context of the story is that it is entirely harmless to the drinker. The nettle plant itself is a frequent ingredient in Potions, most notably the simple Cure for Boils taught to first-year students at Hogwarts.

Nettle Wine is not depicted as having any inherent magical properties. Its primary function in the narrative is to serve as a harmless decoy in a complex magical challenge. During the 1991-1992 school year, Professor Severus Snape devised a logic-based Potions puzzle to protect the Philosopher's Stone. The challenge consisted of seven bottles:

• One contained a potion to move forward through magical fire.
• One contained a potion to move backward through magical fire.
• Three contained poison.
• Two contained harmless Nettle Wine.

The purpose of the Nettle Wine was to complicate the puzzle, forcing the challenger to use pure logic rather than simply guessing or testing the potions. It had to be distinguished not only from the deadly poisons but also from the useful potions required to advance or retreat.

The only known appearance of Nettle Wine is in the obstacle course set up to guard the Philosopher's Stone at Hogwarts in 1991. Professor Snape was responsible for this particular enchantment, and he used Nettle Wine as one of its key components. When Harry Potter and Hermione Granger reached this chamber, Hermione successfully applied logic to a riddle left by Snape, correctly identifying the contents of all seven bottles without needing to taste them. She identified the Nettle Wine bottles as safe but useless for their quest.

Nettle Wine plays a crucial, if brief, role in the climax of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It is a key element of the seventh and final obstacle before the chamber containing the Mirror of Erised and the Stone. The inclusion of the harmless wine highlights the nature of the protections placed around the Stone, which were designed to test various types of abilities. Snape's puzzle specifically tested logical reasoning, a skill at which Hermione Granger excels. Her ability to solve the riddle and dismiss the Nettle Wine as a decoy allows Harry Potter to proceed alone to face Professor Quirrell. The puzzle serves to underscore Hermione's famous declaration that friendship and books and cleverness are more important than just bravery.

• In the real world, nettle wine is a traditional alcoholic beverage made from the fermented leaves of the stinging nettle plant (Urtica dioica).
• The Potions riddle, and therefore Nettle Wine's appearance, was omitted from the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. (film)
• The use of dried nettles as an ingredient for the Cure for Boils is confirmed on the Pottermore website and in the Wonderbook: Book of Potions video game. (Pottermore, video game)