Ben's Adventures in Wine Making

It was my first full day back home after two glorious weeks on holiday, and it was a restful, relaxing near-ordinary day. Okay, so I did abo...

Having left it nearly too late to forage for blackberries, I did not intend to make the same error with elderberries. Some years I have l...

Dan Benn , our wonderful bathroom fitter, gave me strict instructions to give Claire lots of wine on Thursday night. The latest thing to go ...

Julia died on Thursday night. Just writing that down makes it a little more real. We came home early from the Lake District to say our goodb...

The first of 2012's exploders. I was sat at the computer on Wednesday night when I heard a 'pop'. Checking Claire in her bath, I...

We had a warming winter meal - a sausage and lentil casserole with mashed potato and diced swede - that called for a bottle of red wine. It ...

I am always pleased when May comes round. Not only is it the month that all trees put out their leaves, looking fresh and green, but it is t...

Having drunk far, far too much on Friday and only far too much on Saturday, I wondered whether Sunday night should be one of sobriety. My ar...

Wednesday was the WYSO AGM (and that is far too many acronyms in the space of a sentence). Which is irrelevant to this bottle, because I rea...

Today's most noteworthy feature was not this wine, lovely as it was, but an experiment I shall not be trying again: I attempted to cut m...

We opened this on Thursday when I was glum - though I cannot now remember why. Possibly because my finger hurt after I had crushed it on two...

I am no longer a policeman. I never was, of course, but I am no longer employed by West Yorkshire Police. This has nothing to do with the ri...