Ben's Adventures in Wine Making

Blackberry Wine feels like a proper Sunday night bottle. One that you can relax into like a favourite sofa. It had been a gentle weekend ful...

Baked fish requires a citrus wine, and ginger very nearly fulfills that role. The wine was perhaps a little robust, but there was no struggl...

Sunday felt like the second day of Spring. There were blue skies all day and it could have been late April. It was a perfect day to walk 13 ...

Saturday 6th February was a dismal day. I woke to heavy rain and it did not let up throughout the lighted hours. When Claire suggested that ...

Claire requested a light red for our meal, which was 'The Egg & Pepper Thing', and Xmas Tutti Fruti fits the bill nicely. Blindf...

I opened this bottle after a monumentally busy day. I had 12 completions, plus 3 exchanges and all my other work besides. There was never a ...

This was a fabulous bottle of elderberry wine. It was as smooth and rounded as I have ever had, with the rich earthy tones that elderberry d...

Since Lockdown started, I have been working from home. Whilst I thought that I would hate this, it is something that has definite advantages...

I had a delightful walk today: into Leeds City Centre, along to Kirkstall Abbey and home through Headingley. The sky was cloudless and I wor...

Kemps Farm - the Pick Your Own Six weeks ago it was not clear whether I would be able to make strawberry wine this year. With all but essent...

Claire was at work the two nights that I drank this wine and that was partly why I chose it. I had remembered it being thin and uninterestin...

After last year's Magnolia Petal Wine was a surprising success, I decided to repeat it this year.  St John the Baptist's Petals Sinc...

Merry Christmas to one and all. I had left this bottle for several years because I think it is absolutely the best wine that I have ever mad...

I am really happy with this Gooseberry Wine, and as it looks like it is going to be another bumper year for gooseberries, I will make it aga...

Today we were meant to start our annual walking holiday, this year in Ludlow. The cottage was booked in January and the usual crowd were all...

I have made a rather decent vintage of Orange Wine. It may be a tad sweeter than usual and it has plenty of orange flavour without any bitte...

I am on holiday! Until 11th May! I shall, of course, be spending it at home. We were meant to be having our annual 'hire a cottage som...

This year I have decided to do a single batch of Prune & Parsnip, and consequently will do a double batch of Orange Wine next month. Whi...

Carla is leaving Leeds for Oxford, having got a better, more prestigious job in Linguistic Facilities there.* It is hoped that she will rece...

What a literary weekend we have had: a Poetry Walk in Roundhay Park on Saturday and today an 'Adventure Walk' around Leeds where at ...