Mint, Elderflower & Rhubarb - Fifth Bottle (5), 9th November 2019

I opened this bottle for my 2019 Wine Party, where I decided that I would serve some of my best wine. My expectations were that this wine would come second only to Damson. In fact it came fourth, with blackberry and blackcurrant above it. Aaron, who I had never met before (who came with Laura, who I had only met once) described this wine as 'Exceptionally Drinkable'. He can come again.

Blackcurrant - Fourth Bottle (A5), 9th November 2019

Blackcurrant took the bronze at the Wine Party, getting a very respectable 3.81 out of 5. Mark said it was "Dangerously drinkable" and like 'Grown-up Ribena'. In fact, two other people noted 'Ribena' within their comments. Duncan was less impressed, giving the wine its lowest score of the evening (a 2) and calling it "Drier than a gerbil's cage on a summer day in the Kalahari".

The Wine Party was smaller than it often is, with 15 people making it (including me and Claire), and five of those only attended for a small proportion. We still managed to do a lot of damage to twelve bottles of wine.

Cherry Wine - Second Bottle (5), 9th November 2019

I thought that this bottle was rather better than our last bottle of Cherry Wine. I did not notice the bitterness, and this was only one of two bottles finished at the Wine Party (the other being the winner: Damson). It was only just in the top half, though, coming sixth out of 12, with an average score of 3.25. Nick noticed a slight chemical tang but admitted that it was drinkable. Janet and Mark were in complete disagreement about the bouquet, with Mark writing 'Not such a good nose' and Janet writing 'Good cherry nose'. Mark and Janet are married to each other.

Damson Wine - First Bottle (4), 9th November 2019

This was the clear winner of 2019's wine party. It was a fruity red with a distinct damson taste and enjoyed by nearly everyone, getting on average a score of 4.125 out of 5. Pleasingly this was Claire's favourite of the night, which means that I may get a claim to some damsons from our (relatively new) damson tree next year.

Janet detected a citrus aftertaste and Mary thought it would go well with a white chocolate cheesecake (but, frankly, what wouldn't?).

I didn't score the wine this year but if I had I think this would have been my personal winner as well. I am now regretting having given a bottle away to Emma!

Strawberry Wine - First Bottle (5), 3rd-7th November 2019

It has taken us until early November to drink the first bottle from this batch of strawberry wine. This is because I stored all the bottles in the crypt and I rarely venture down there. When I opened it up to store some prune & parsnip I discovered that this bottle had popped its cork. I haven't had an explosion for years! There is no telling how long it has been open for, but we decided to drink it anyway.

Claire had a sherry-glass full and decided that this was plenty. I pretended that the wine was acceptable (it wasn't) and had two glasses. By Thursday night and another half glass, I decided that the only acceptable place for this was down the sink.