Blckcurrant Wine 2019 - Ninth Bottle (A3), 28th March 2021

Sunday was a day full of domestic chores. The best of these was making Blondies with Peanut butter-cream icing (calorie content: astronomical) but there was also much sweeping and tidying. Not that there is anyone allowed to visit until 17th May, but sometimes I get fed up of living in grime. 

In the evening I opened this bottle of blackcurrant wine - which was as tasty a bottle as blackcurrant can be - and we had a beef & spring onion stir-fry courtesy of Padian Foods. Blisteringly hot as ever - which is not a bad thing. Then Line of Duty and a sleep interrupted by two mice gifted by Wiggy.

Blondies - they were fabulous!

Blackberry Wine 2018 - Ninth Bottle (B5), 3rd October 2020

Claire and I have known each other 25 years. A quarter of a century ago I met her on the way to Newcastle Concert Band. I can barely remember a time before Claire. To celebrate, I bought a vacuum cleaner, which Claire is using as I write. Our previous one broke in March and we have been living in a fog of cat hair ever since. I also opened a bottle of blackberry wine and cooked Toad in the Hole. Both were exactly what was needed on a dark October day.

Self portrait in blue - taken on 3rd October

Rhubarb Wine 2019 - The Making Of...

On a wet Wednesday evening in late May, Claire and I drove to Nick's house in Morley to gather rhubarb. In previous years, Nick has delivered rhubarb to us but we were curious about his allotment and so made arrangements to visit. Nick lives within the Rhubarb Triangle and he has an impressive patch. His rhubarb originated from our garden and, whilst our plants are fine, his are flourishing. Giving rhubarb away in vast quantities helps Nick control his stock but it threatens to take over. The remainder of his allotment is well-ordered and lush and the rhubarb is kept in one (large) corner.

Between us we pulled up 6 lbs of stalks, concentrating on the pinker variety, and this was not a difficult or lengthy task. One cup of tea later we were on our way home with our haul, plus some chard plants for the garden.

I started the wine on Friday night, 31st May, whilst Claire was out rehearsing string quartets for Saturday's party. 6 lbs of rhubarb stalks is what is required for a double batch. I washed these, chopped them into slices of about 1 cm in thickness (only spilling one bowl over the floor and swearing loudly) and put them into my bucket. I added 6 lbs sugar and 12-and-a-half pints of boiling water. Rhubarb wine is really very easy!

Saturday morning I added a teaspoon of yeast and pectolase and a teaspoon and a half of nutrient. Ordinarily I would have put this into demijohns on Wednesday, but Wednesday night is WYSO night, so I did this on Thursday instead. I fished the rhubarb pieces out with a colander as far as I could and kept these in a sterilised bowl. I then used the jug, funnel and sieve method to get the (now striking pale pink) liquid into its demijohns. There was quite a gap in each demijohn by the end so I washed my hands and squeezed down the saved rhubarb, pouring the released liquid into my jug. This went into my spare bottle for topping up the demijohns.

With either great foresight or luck, I emptied the jug into the bottle after getting about three-quarters of a pint. When the jug had another half pint in, I knocked it over, spilling its contents all over everything. There was much swearing at this point, followed by a concerned wife coming into the kitchen and some frantic mopping. Not a great disaster in the grand scheme of things, but intensely annoying.

I racked this on 3rd July, less than a month from putting it into its demijohns. It got half a pint of water and 3 oz sugar divided between the two demijohns.

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

Orange Wine - Seventh Bottle (A5), 21st October 2017

I had not planned on opening this bottle at the Wine Party. At previous parties, ten bottles of wine had been plenty, with some to spare. And this year I initially opened eleven. By ten o'clock, though, I could see that a new bottle was needed so I fished out an Orange. It was not a universally popular choice, coming 9th out of 12. Matthew hated it: he gave it a score of -1 and wrote 'Toilet Duck'. Claire riffed on the same theme - "Superior cleaning fluid" - but was generous and awarded a 3.

Blackberry Wine 2014 - Final Bottle (B2), 24th September 2017

I wrote myself a list of jobs for the day. Saturday had been wasted arsing about on the computer and napping; Sunday had to be better. So I baked bread, made Mediterranean lemon squares for work on Monday, paid bills, tidied, cleaned and swept. Consequently I felt rather better about myself and opened this final bottle of blackberry wine as a reward. It was sausages, onion gravy and mash for tea therefore the wine had to be red. In fact, this wine has aged badly - and it was never the best vintage of blackberry anyway. It was drinkable with more than a hint of blackberry taste, but its flavour has started to decay and, unlike the day, the wine was disappointing.

Blackberry Wine - Thirteenth Bottle (C3), 20th-21st August 2016

It is unusual to drink half a bottle of wine once one has returned from a restaurant. On Saturday night, Claire and I ventured out to a new pizza restaurant on Street Lane, with it Neopolitan wood-fired pizzas. Sounded fabulous. There was, however, a distinct lack of a wine list. The place was not licensed, so I made the best of a bad situation by having a non-alcoholic cocktail involving mango and ginger beer. Within minutes of our food arriving a small boy at the next table vomited profusely. Beige liquid showered out of his mouth, and the restaurant was quickly filled with the smell of Dettol as waitresses came running with mops. We ate quickly, rushed home and opened a bottle.

Rhubarb & Elderflower Wine - Fifth Bottle (3), 13th September 2015

We wanted something specifically associated with this house to drink in celebration, for today someone has put in an offer to buy it. This means that we no longer have to keep it spotless at all times, make sure the washing up is done and put away, and we can move the cat food back to where it needs to be. So today has been a Good Day. Exhausting too, what with the gardening, wine-making, bread-making and our final tidying session.

The wine was really good, with hints of spice (which is unexplained). We both drank too much, though, because we still had a bottle of rose petal to finish.

Blackcurrant & Red Gooseberry - Fifth Bottle (2), 30th August 2015

Sunday is meant to be a day of rest. I spent it washing floors, tidying rooms and digging soil. It is a hard life. The cleaning tasks are in preparation for putting our house on the market. Until we get a buyer, we are going to have to live without clutter and mess. It will be a challenge. The gardening was at the new house, where we met more neighbours. There is a definite feel of community there - and it turns out a former colleague lives two doors down.

We drank this wine to two splendid curries, one of which involved mutton, and the wine was suitably fruity. It is another one which matures well.

From this ...

... to this

Orange Wine 2012 - Final Bottle (A5), 30th May 2015

Until I cleaned and moved my wine bottles last weekend, I had forgotten entirely that we still had a bottle of Orange 2012 left. Saturday night was appropriate to finish it off. Claire cooked a chicken teggine from her new book of Morrocan recipes, and it was full of citrus, garlic, olives and dried fruit. This was cooked in the ceramic pot that Rachael gave us one Christmas and which has only been used the once. Everything was delicious and this bottle of wine, aged for three years, had a smooth dry orange taste.

I spent the rest of the evening catching up on my 'house move' diary. I now have between three and five diaries on the go: this one, my holiday diary, a book of walks (which I write in very rarely, so hardly counts) and the house move diary. Except that last one is split into two: buying and selling. Five diaries suggests self-obsession and maybe is about four too many.

Kiwi Fruit Wine - Fifth Bottle (5), 25th May 2015

Claire was sufficiently impressed with this bottle to describe it as "like cheap white wine". I could ask for no better compliment. (And, in fact, I think it reaches into the mid-price range.)

We drank this on bank holiday Monday, which was anything but a holiday. Cleaning and tidying was the order of the day, virtually without let-up. But now our house is tidier that it has been since we moved in 17 years ago. I walk into each room just to admire its order. How long we can maintain this is another matter. I think 48 hours will be pushing it.

This level of untidiness is not atypical

Elderberry Wine - Eighth Bottle (A3), 24th May 2015

Claire cooked lamb koftas and a bottle of rich, sweet elderberry was the right choice to complement the heat and the spice. We deserved it, though. Sunday marked our second of three days spent cleaning and tidying. Our attic is now clear of all the carpet offcuts left by previous owners, though we have kept the rather splendid 1970s curtains found in a bag. The kitchen counters are clean and we have generally de-cluttered. We are a long way from minimalism, however.

The 1970s curtains, as modelled by me in a break from tidying.

Crab Apple Wine - Fifteenth Bottle (A3), 23rd May 2015

This bottle of crab apple wine was particularly good. It tasted properly of apples - sharp and fruity enough to make me say "ooh" on my fist sip. Claire brought it to me as I was in the process of cleaning cat hair and dust from my wine bottles in the hall. An Estate Agent is coming on Tuesday and in an attempt to declutter we are hiding my wine - all 150+ bottles of it. But that involves cleaning as I go.

The day also saw me condense 3 years of a history degree into one box file and go to the municipal tip twice. But we also had a fabulous meal at an Ethiopian restaurant as compensation.

About half my wine collection

Prune & Parsnip 2015 - The Making Of ...

If it's February, it must be Prune & Parsnip.

We (and I use 'we' in the broadest sense here; Claire is not particularly keen) are looking for a new house, and on Saturday 7th February I made the psychological leap and went to look at one. It was okay, but no more than, and therefore not the one for us. Immediately afterwards I went to buy parsnips in Harehills - which was far more within my comfort zone.

The rest of Saturday was taken up with getting the house ready for a Feast. Cleaning and Tidying were the priority, so my four pounds of parsnips waited patiently in the coal shed before being turned into wine today, Sunday 8th February. First of all, though, I had to recover from a hangover following the Feast, and go on a six mile walk round Rawdon and Yeadon with Claire, Rachel and Duncan. It was a cold walk with some fabulous views of the open countryside to the north west of Leeds, and the perfect antidote to the previous evening's indulgence.

Back at home, after bottling my rose-petal wine, I chopped the parsnips into small pieces and boiled these in two lots, each covered in 8 pints of water (so 16 pints in total). The first lot got twenty minutes of boiling and the second got half an hour. I poured the water into my bucket, using a collander to catch the parsnips, and threw these out. The bucket already contained 1 lb (actually 500 grams) of prunes, each cut in half, and 5-and-a-half pounds of sugar. Next morning I added the yeast, a teaspoon and a half of nutrient and a teaspoon of pectolase.

I was going to put this into its demijohns on Friday evening, but was desperately tired. I ended up going to bed at half past eight, and I think I was asleep by nine. Instead, I transferred the liquid on Saturday morning, 14th February - and I only got nascent prune and parsnip wine down my shirt front and all over the kitchen the once. It is worth remembering that my sieve doesn't quite balance when forming the diameter of my bucket.

The ingredients fermenting

The wine is paler than in past years, which means it is an attactive orange colour rather than a dingy brown.

 

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

Christmas Tutti Fruti - Tenth Bottle (A4), 15th November 2014

We are now into the realms of the Wine Party's bottom half. Christmas Tutti Fruti came seventh out of twelve, with an average score of 3.286. Katie summed it up with "not awful". Actually, it was better than that - just a little thin and bland.

One of the benefits of the wine party is that I end up with a tidy house. It takes a lot of work getting there, but I enjoy that 15 minutes of stillness before anyone arrives and everything is done. It is a time to relax and pretend that I am the sort of person who can live an ordered existence.

Rhubarb Wine - Fourth Bottle (B2), 16th-17th August 2014

What a lot of cleaning and tidying I have done this weekend. A wind quintet that I do not know is coming here to rehearse on Thursday and our house is in a state. So I have put things from places they shouldn't be into places they should, scrubbed the floor, dusted, brushed and vacuumed. Oh, and mowed the lawn too. My reward has been rhubarb wine, which is fizzy and light and refreshing. I love the hint of pink to its colour that is only there if you look for it.

Before ...

Christmas Tutti Fruti - Sixth Bottle (A5), 26th May 2014

It has been the last of the Spring Bank Holidays today and I spent much of it cleaning windows. Cue George Formby.
This is not a task I enjoy and certainly not one I do with any frequency. I think the last time was more than two years ago and the only reason I did it today was that we returned from York yesterday to find a large amount of birdshit splattered against our kitchen window. The upstairs windows haven't been washed since we moved in - and that was 16 years ago. Many will view our lifestyle with horror.

Anyway, it being a bank holiday Monday, and therefore effectively a Sunday (and we didn't have anything to drink at all yesterday) I opened a bottle of Tutti Fruti. It has a thin, dry taste and is not one of my finest vintages. This didn't stop us finishing the bottle, however.

Strawberry Wine - Second Bottle (4), 26th October 2013

Wine parties are always a huge amount of effort. I spent all Saturday cleaning and tidying. All those jobs that have needed doing for a year or more get done. So, I dusted, I cleared the drive of weeds and moss, I washed the stairs and I even vacuumed the ceiling of its cobwebs. This on top of the general tidying that gets done about once a month. I do live in squalor. It is all worth it, though. The party was excellent.

Surprisingly, strawberry wine was fifth out of ten, with an average score of 3.83. Rachel said it was "really, really lovely" and Angela wrote "A hint of summer afternoon on the night when summer officially ends" but others were less keen. Claire, again, thinks it tastes of hot plastic

Crab Apple Wine - Tenth Bottle (C1), 26th September - 3rd October 2012

I think this bottle was opened on Wednesday last week after WYSO, but possibly on Thursday. It was so long ago that I can barely remember. Certainly it was finished on Wednesday this week - again after WYSO whilst I was getting to grips with a stack of washing up. It became one of the many things mouldering away in the fridge. One item in an inventory that included the remnants of a bean-lash (over a week old) and a bowl of blue cheese soup (getting on for a month). There has been an amnesty - of that trio only the wine was consumed. We are disgusting.

Crab Apple Wine - Eighth bottle (B2), 11th August 2012

A Saturday afternoon nap was rudely interrupted by a loud pop. Another bottle of crab apple had exploded. I sprang out of bed, put the bottle in the fridge and grabbed a mop. Any neighbours peering too closely through our frosted glass would have had a nasty surprise. Naked mopping has little to recommend it.

As before, half the bottle had been lost. Claire and I drank the remainder during a quiet evening where I read the Guardian and did little else. After an active fortnight of high living, the rest and relaxation was welcome.

Redcurrant - Bottle A2, 6th-8th September 2011

I opened this bottle on Tuesday as a minor celebration. A major celebration would have called for something better. The first draft of 'Ben's Adventures in Wine Making' has come back from the publishers. Commenting that this is a month after I had expected it and three weeks before planned publication would be churlish. I am very excited and have spent most spare minutes (which have been remarkably few) proof-reading it. So far I am not quite halfway through.

Then, on Wednesday - and during glasses 'two' and 'two-and-a-half' from this bottle - I mopped our kitchen floor, which was disgusting and is now slightly less so. This is 'in advance' cleaning in preparation for the singer that will be staying with us on Friday. It was late night cleaning - the first WYSO rehearsal of the new season preceded it,, where we mostly played the first movement of the New World Symphony.

Tonight I have finished the bottle after playing wind quintets and taking an executive decision not to follow my recipe for elderberry wine - making the whole process about two hours less faff.