Cherry Wine 2018 - Fifth Bottle (1), 19th July 2021

As Sunday was an entirely sober evening, we were justified in opening and finishing a bottle on Monday. Also, it was Pop's 80th birthday so that was cause for celebration. We had spent the weekend in York, which was more convenient than being there on the Big Day itself.

The cherry wine was far better than I had expected. Claire used 'medicinal' to describe it, but not in a bad way. There was something rich and deep about its taste and maybe Cherry is one that matures well.

Pop, and the cake that I made him.

Rhubarb Wine 2018 - Twelfth Bottle (A1), 7th July 2021

I have yet to let on to Claire that this bottle came from the Rhubarb Wine vintage that she claims is nasty. She drank it without complaint. It was a Wednesday evening bottle in a week that has been the most sociable for a very, very long time. We had Pat's 80th on Saturday, an impromptu meal at Mary's on Sunday and wind quintets in Harrogate on Monday, with trios to follow on Thursday and Book Group (albeit that one by Zoom) on Friday. That is pre-lockdown levels of sociability and then some. So of course a quiet night in on Wednesday became a whole bottle night.

Wiggy and I had a disagreement about the chair

Rhubarb, Elderflower & Mint 2020 - Second Bottle (5), 5th June 2021

The week has been a veritable social whirl: to York on Tuesday for Mom's 80th, Book Group on Friday (albeit virtual) and then a proper dinner party at Angie & Phil's on Saturday. Yes, we spent most of it outside, but that was because it was a lovely summer's evening rather than a Government Edict for the Protection of Society. It was a marvelous evening and felt so normal. Life will return to much as it used to be and we are on the first steps of that.

I took this wine at Liz's request and it is an excellent bottle. So much so that I may make a double batch this year.

Angie's recipe for Rhubarb & Custard Cake

Gooseberry Wine 2020 - Second Bottle (3), 3rd June 2021

I cooked Hot Tomatoey Garlicky Asparagus on Thursday, which is not as successful as its cousin, Hot Tomatoey Garlicky Prawns - or even the mackerel variety. The asparagus gets lost in the mix. 

Jayne joined us for the meal - the first person (other than us) to eat inside our house for well over a year. It was excellent to be able to play host again. I opened a bottle of Gooseberry Wine to mark the occasion, though Jayne was driving and had none. Whilst Claire thought that this was little better than a mid-week bottle (on account of it not having sufficient gooseberry flavour), I disagree. It is semi-sweet with a bite, and well worth getting stuck into.

It was my mother's 80th birthday the previous day

Apple Wine 2019 - Fourth Bottle (1), 16th-18th April 2021

Mostly this bottle came after a drink in someone else's garden. The most recent easing of Lockdown allows groups of six people to mix outside and we have taken full advantage. On Friday we were drinking cider in Mark's garden - some of the apples came from our tree and the fizzy stuff was excellent. Then on Saturday we drank top quality champagne with David & Liz to celebrate David's birthday. The apple wine was a bit of a come down after that. Alright and little more.

Pear blossom in our garden on 17th April

Blackcurrant & Raspberry Wine 2020 - Second Bottle, 11th-13th April 2021

Sunday was a day of many pleasures. The best of these was spending time in the garden of 60 Heworth Green, huddled around an outdoor stove chatting with Chris, Kate and my parents. It has been months since I have seen any of them and though we were there for only 90 minutes, it was glorious. We were snowed upon but that just made it all the more memorable.

In the evening we had another virtual dinner party with Rachel & Duncan, where this was our second bottle opened, after a bottle of Prosecco to celebrate Cornelia Gruntfuttock's birthday. The wine is excellent and I will save a bottle for Rachel & Duncan to taste when we eventually see them in person.

The snow came later

Orange Wine 2019 - Fifth Bottle (3), 31st January - 2nd February 2021

Sunday night was another virtual dinner party with Rachel & Duncan, this time to celebrate Duncan's birthday. Our Zoom screens went on at 6, we drank our aperitifs and began cooking a Malaysian Chicken Curry from Padian Foods. Early on in the process I opened this orange wine, which was butter smooth and delicious. We had an excellent evening: over three hours of cooking, eating, drinking, conversation and laughter. Once this pandemic ends we will continue these virtual sessions.

I also made biscuits that day, and this is them in progress

Blackcurrant Wine 2019 - Seventh Bottle (B1), 15th January 2021

Having had a massively busy December where I was working 1,000 miles an hour, it is nice to have a gentle January. This week I was able to take Claire's birthday off entirely (and made a Swiss roll!) and on Friday lunchtime Claire and I went for a walk in Moortown Park, which had turned into a winter wonderland. The amount of snow we have had this week has been unusual.

In the evening I cooked a tortilla (chorizo makes everything better), we watched ER and drank this bottle of blackcurrant wine. It was an unexciting yet thoroughly satisfying day.

 

The Swiss Roll that I made

Blackberry Wine 2019 - Third Bottle (B2), 20th September 2020

It has been a thoroughly satisfactory Sunday. After an early morning trip to the Asian supermarket, where we bought vast quantities of pulses, spices and exotic flour, I spent the afternoon gardening and then foraging for sloes. We are having my 50th birthday garden bench delivered this coming week, so needed to clear a space. This is the sort of gardening that I can do - unsubtle manual labour. Then in the evening I made a lasagne, we drank this bottle (entirely acceptable) and watched Line of Duty. A grand Sunday, followed by a night of anxiety dreams about Law Society Finals (sat in 1993). This coming week is likely to be difficult!

My 50th Birthday Garden Bench (which arrived on 25 September)

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2019 - First Bottle (B3), 12th September 2020

I have broken tradition with this bottle but at Claire's suggestion. Covid 19 makes it near certain that we will not be able to celebrate Christmas with others. Therefore, we decided to mark the event three months early in Newcastle instead - as well as celebrating all the birthdays missed (which includes Bob's 80th and my 50th). We had just the best evening at 3 The Alders with all the Taylors in attendance. The food was excellent and the wine rather too plentiful. For an evening we forgot about pestilence and enjoyed each other's company.

As an aside, this wine is rather good. I think blackcurrant is the dominant flavour, which is remarkably odd, given that in the ingredients there is not a single blackcurrant!

The Taylor siblings

If you want to see how this wine was made, click here.

Damson Wine - Final Bottle (6), 14th June 2020

This was the bottle that I chose for my 50th birthday. It is such a good wine - rich plum tastes combined with a vanilla smoothness. We drank it to steak in a blue cheese sauce, and then a second birthday cake for pudding.

One of my two birthday cakes

The day was perfect and I should have a significant birthday more often. In the morning Claire and I went for an 8 mile walk, centering on Lead Church. Then we went to York for a socially distant birthday lunch with Mom and Pop in the garden. Back home for a snooze and we finished by Zooming with Chris & Kate, Mom & Pop, and Todd & Anne.

My Birthday Lunch

Lead Church

On the Walk

 

On the Walk

Elderberry Wine 2017 - Seventh Bottle (A5), 31st May - 1st June 2020

It was Sooz's birthday on Sunday and to celebrate we had a Taylor family Zoom meeting, though Andrew didn't make it - Zoom not really being his thing (I imagine). I haven't seen any of the Taylors since Christmas and it was lovely having an hour or so with them as we got gently sozzled on cocktails and then elderberry wine. Afterwards Claire and I ate lasagne but did not quite finish the bottle. That was saved for Claire on Monday, but the last half glass was rejected: the wine had developed clots that reminded her rather too much of the blood samples she receives at work.

Nascent pears - taken on 31 May

Prune & Parsnip Wine 2017 - Ninth Bottle (B2), 6th June 2020

I am feeling glum about my impending 50th birthday. Why, I'm not sure - it certainly has to do with the onward march towards mortality, but I think it also has to do with the circumstances in which we find ourselves. It wasn't as if my birthday would have been a big celebration anyway - I was due to play in an Airedale concert. But with social distancing, it is now going to be a quiet occasion.

We drank a bottle of Prune & Parsnip which helped improve my mood a little and I was persuaded to watch Pitch Perfect by Sooz, Jayne and Sally. Unexpectedly, I didn't loathe it.

Sage flowers, taken on 6 June.

Rhubarb, Elderflower & Mint Wine 2020 - The Making Of...

It is with this wine that I say Adieu to my forties. They have mostly been very kind to me. At their start I was just finishing off my MA in Medieval Studies and now at their close I am in a job that I enjoy and I feel settled in my life. The decade has seen two redundancies, a published book, moving house, a dear friend dead, two new cats, a strange and frightening world order, two nephews and the current pandemic. Put like that, my forties sound far more traumatic than they, in fact, were. They have certainly not been uneventful. What better way to mark their close than (or, alternatively, as I had a free Saturday, how else should I spend it except by) making Rhubarb, Elderflower and Mint wine?

Our rhubarb is very much past its best, so I sent a message to Liz to find out if she had any spare. Happily she had plenty and brought round 2 lbs. I managed to get a further pound from our plants to obtain the 3 lbs required for the recipe.

About half the elderflowers came from the elder tree growing in the Synagogue hanging over our back fence; the rest came from trees on Bentcliffe Drive and the elder in Allerton Grange Field. Stripping these to get a pint of flowers was always going to be the dullest part of making this wine, but was enlivened by listening to Mark Steel's in Town on BBC Sounds.

Over the past few years my 'handful of mint' used in this wine has been getting larger and Claire thinks that this is to the wine's detriment. Therefore this year I have only picked a small handful - and mostly spearmint (rejecting those leaves with cuckoo spit on them).

I chopped the rhubarb into thin pieces and put this, the elderflowers and the chopped mint into my bucket with 3 lbs of sugar. I poured over 6½ pints of boiling water and left this overnight. On Sunday morning, 14th June (my 50th birthday), I put in a teaspoon of yeast, nutrient and pectolase.

I meant to put all this into its demijohn on Friday night, but instead had a Zoom meeting with Rachel and Duncan, where we drank a gin and tonic and then a bottle of (real) red wine. Doing anything productive after that was not going to happen. Instead, the wine went into its demijohn on Saturday morning, 20th June. It is a light pink and fermenting as it should.

The wine and Kato

If you want to see how this wine came out, click here.

Ginger Wine 2019 - Second Bottle (2), 11th January 2020

Claire has blue hair. It is really very blue indeed. Pretty much the colour of the Tardis. She has been planning this for over a year as a way to mark her 50th birthday. I shrieked when I saw it and then laughed and then decided that it looks fabulous.

Once she had come back from the hairdressers we went up to Newcastle where this ginger wine was the first bottle of the evening and enjoyed by all. Claire's family reacted to her blue hair as one would expect. Andrew asked if she was having a mid-life crisis and Claire replied that now was the time to have it.

Claire's blue hair - yes, really that blue

Apple & Strawberry Wine - Third Bottle (3), 12th April 2019

After last weekend's excesses (particularly Friday) I decided to have a week off alcohol. I managed Sunday to Wednesday. But, Thursday was Cornelia Gruntfuttock's birthday, so a bottle of champagne was obligatory. Then Friday night wouldn't be proper without at least part of a bottle. We had a whole bottle instead.

Have I mentioned how good apple & strawberry wine is? It is so light, so refreshing and the fruit flavour is present without being overwhelming.

Rhubarb, Mint & Elderflower Wine - The Making Of ...

Quiet weekends are a marvellous thing. Whereas last weekend was a whistle-stop tour of Newcastle and family, this weekend has had nothing specific planned. A perfect opportunity to indulge in some wine-making. And, in fact, Rhubarb, Mint & Elderflower is one of those wines which requires much of the day to be set aside. I didn't help myself by also deciding to bottle 3 demijohns of blackberry wine. Rinsing and sterilising 18 bottles is perhaps not the speediest or most interesting aspect of the wine-making process.

And elder tree in bloom

On Saturday, 9th June, early afternoon, I set out to Allerton Grange fields with plastic bag in hand. The elderflowers are a week earlier than usual and gave off more pollen than I remember seeing before as I picked them. I concentrated on the blooms with a hint of citrus yellow and only took a few per tree. This bit of the elderflower process takes no time at all and I came away with less than half a bag full.

Not quite a pint of elderflowers and rhubarb sticks

It was the next bit that was tedious in the extreme; stripping the flowers from their stalks. I did this outside so that the tiny flies could roam free (and not end up covering our windows) and it took me over an hour. Even at the start I was not particularly careful about avoiding the thinnest bit of the stalks, and by the end I cared not a jot. This produced a little less than a pint of flowers, which is Good Enough.

Spear mint from our garden

I plucked just over 3 lbs of rhubarb stalks from our garden, sliced these up - they are starting to get woody - and put these in the bucket. I added the elderflowers and a medium sized handful of mint - both pepper and spear (but not water-mint which is unpleasantly bitter) - which I shredded.

The main ingredients in the bucket

I poured in 3 lbs of sugar and 6½ pints of boiling water, gave it all a stir and left it over night. On Sunday morning I added the yeast and a teaspoon each of pectolase & nutrient.

I put this into the demijohn on my birthday (Thursday) whilst drinking pink champagne. The wine will not be suitable for vegans. It has a number of black specks, which I assume are tiny drowned flies. Still, it is a pretty pink colour.

The end result

Fig Wine - Fourth Bottle (1), 18th March 2018

When will it be warm? The weekend has seen yet more snow and I long for a proper Spring. We were in St Albans over Saturday night for Lou's 50th birthday and hot footed it back to Leeds on Sunday morning for a two o'clock rehearsal in Ilkley. Sunday night was spent curled up on the sofa in front of the stove watching Lewis and apologising to the cats. I opened the fig wine for our meal of defrosted leftovers (which was better than that sounds). The wine is lovely - really figgy.

Blackcurrant Wine - Twentieth Bottle (C2), 13th January 2018

The most notable part of today does not involve wine at all. Claire has started trombone lessons. This was my birthday present to her - my colleagues thought it a terrible idea, but Claire had an excellent time and I am now expecting delivery of a plastic trombone at some point this week. I can only imagine how the cats (and neighbours) will react when she starts practising.

We drank this bottle of blackcurrant wine to a lentil lasagne and then to The King's Speech on DVD. I enjoyed both the wine and the film but did not love either of them. Blackcurrant wine and films about English aristocracy are both dependable.

Ginger Wine 2018 - The Making Of...

Now that I have finished my Wine Alphabet, I am inclined only to make nice wines. Experimentation is all well and good, but when I look through my wine cellar I see that I still have too many bottles of Punishment Wine. I have yet to finish Whitecurrant, Vanilla, Lemon & Lime or Ya Ya Pear, and I haven't even started drinking Inca Berry & Raisin, or bottling Jasmine Tea. All were made to tick a letter off my list and I wonder if these will be left for my executors to distribute. Therefore, I have promoted Ginger Wine to a regular - on the basis that 2016's batch was so good - and it will now be my January brew. It should remain a single batch wine, however, on the basis that it has an unusual taste.

The ingredients measured out

I started making this wine on Sunday, 7th January and I have followed my 2016 instructions nearly precisely so far. I weighed out a 5 oz piece of root ginger and 1 lb sultanas, and I counted out four lemons. I skinned the ginger and then sliced it finely - so finely that it is more accurate to refer to the pieces as shavings. Each lemon had the outermost bit of peel sliced off - this was a dull task and I was not entirely successful in avoiding the pith. I minced the sultanas in the food processor and squeezed the lemons. The ginger, outermost lemon peel, sultanas and lemon juice all went into the bucket and I poured 3½ pints of boiling water over it. I am dubious that leaving this 24 hours before I put in 2½ lbs of sugar and another 3½ pints of boiling water has any effect, but this is what I did in 2016 and therefore what I did this time.

The ingredients prepared and in the bucket

I added the yeast and a teaspoon each of Pectolase and Nutrient on Tuesday morning. After stirring the mix once or twice a day, I put the wine into its demijohn on Friday 12th January - Claire's birthday. This was a quick job, which was a Good Thing, because we weren't allowed to have Claire's Birthday Champagne until I had finished.

I left a large gap in the demijohn overnight to allow the initial vigorous fermentation to settle down before topping it up from the wine saved over.

For this wine, my water measurements were exactly right and I have a good feeling about how it will all turn out (and if that isn't tempting fate, I don't know what is).

Ginger Wine in its demijohn

If you want to see how this wine turned out, click here