Jam Wine - First Bottle, 4th-6th November 2021

This wine is very much a dessert* wine. It has a fruity sweetness to it that would make it a poor one to go with many meals but which could be shared afterwards by a roaring fire. Perhaps the flavour is a little 'one note' but it is not a bad wine by any means. Claire described it as "Better than expected"^. We drank most of this on Thursday, which was an unremarkable day: working at home, followed by blue cheese & spinach quiche (I should have taken a photo - it looked fantastic) and a joyously silly episode of Taskmaster.

Taken on 1 November - the River Aire

* Claire inserted "last resort"

^ Claire changed to "Not as nasty as I expected"

Blackberry Wine 2020 - Eighth Bottle (A5), 19th November 2021

The second I walked through the door, Claire handed me a glass of blackberry wine. It was quarter past seven and it had been a long, intense day at work. I have much of the coming week on holiday - mostly to avoid losing days from my annual allowance - and so I wanted to leave the office having done everything required. When I turned off my computer there was not a single email in my in-box, which is an unusual state of affairs. The blackberry wine was hugely welcome and this is a fine vintage with hints of real wine.

On 18th November, I made a Christmas Pudding.
These are some of the ingredients.

Rhubarb Wine 2020 - Second Bottle (B3), 16th-17th September 2021

There is a burnt taste to this wine and it is quite unlike any rhubarb wine that I have made before. It has a flavour of "Early stages of Lockdown" when the supermarket shelves were bare of anything useful, like white sugar. That I have another ten bottles does not fill me with delight.

Thursday was a strange day. I was in the office (first week back!) but - due to the new hybrid working arrangements, just about no other bugger was. Sitting in a room by myself, but commuting to do so, seems like the worst of both worlds in this new regime.

No photos taken on 16-17th September.
Here is one from my last day of holiday.

Orange Wine 2020 - Fourth Bottle (B4), 15th August 2021

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 about two and a half hours work, but I also made a cake (gooseberry orange drizzle), had a short walk, bathed with Claire, started my blackcurrant wine and watched an episode of The Crown. We also drank this bottle of orange wine to smoked haddock fishcakes, which was an excellent combination. Both are strong flavours and I could understand not liking either. However, I think both are fab!

Gooseberry & Orange Drizzle Cake

Ginger Wine 2020 - Fourth Bottle (5), 17th September 2021

Friday night is Take Out night. Sometimes. At least it was this Friday, and we had a Chinese: Salt & Pepper Tofu, Crispy Chilli Beef and Prawn Crackers - all excellent. A bottle of ginger wine seemed like the right choice (though I went for a bottle of 2021's vintage - which I suspect is better - and missed). This wine is very slightly cloying, but not in a "too sweet" way. It was the end of my first week back at the office and on the whole I am glad to have returned, seeing actual people!

The view from my office window

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2019 - Thirteenth Bottle (C6), 22nd October 2021

Christmas Tutti Fruti, when done well, is one of my best wines. It has depth and is just a delight to drink. That this was my first booze for five days may have helped. It was a gentle Friday night after a busy and productive week, and one where reheated macaroni and Taskmaster were exactly what was needed.

A rainbow on my way home from work.

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2019 - Eleventh Bottle (C4), 12th September 2021

This bottle marked the end of a week's holiday. We had spent most of the week in Wensleydale and Swaledale walking the Herriot Way in glorious sunshine. If anything, it had been too hot. Sunday, though, was a quiet day in which I failed to pick any elderberries. In the evening I was feeling strangely anxious about work. Monday was to be my first day back in the office after 18 months of home-working. Change never sits well with me. The wine was delicious, which helped.

No photos taken on 12 September, but here is one from the Herriot Way

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2019 - Tenth Bottle (B2), 30th July 2021

We are on holiday. And this time the holiday will involve going away from home! After the disaster that was 2020, Rydal is back on. Whether sitting in a confined space blowing down my bassoon with 40 friends surrounding me is entirely sensible remains to be seen, but I cannot express my joy sufficiently. Friday, though, was exceptionally busy at work and a bottle of wine afterwards was a given. I didn't really pay much attention to this flavour - I was more interested in the effect. The day's edges became suitably blurred.

Taken on 30th July. I like the idea of a shop where
those plotting evil deeds buy their food and drink.

Prune & Parsnip Wine 2020 - Third Bottle (6) 14th-15th July 2021

Work has been tedious and anxiety-making this week. We have had a Subject Access Request and that means that I have spent literally half my working hours reading through old emails and spreadsheets, harvesting relevant information to present to the Requester. Therefore I was much in need of this Prune & Parsnip on both Wednesday and Thursday. It is at the upper end of midweek bottles and a white that does not need to be chilled. Television also helped - an opiate for the masses.

Wild flowers in Potternewton Park

Xmas Tutti Fruti Wine 2019 - Eighth Bottle (A5), 27th-28th May 2021

Since Lockdown began in March last year, I have been into the office six times. Four of those were to pick up stationery. Visits five and six were on Thursday and Friday this week - and were to tidy up for the impending office move. It was strangely melancholy throwing out handwritten notes from 2013, which were important at the time but have not been looked at since. 

We drank this Tutti Fruti both evenings in front of the computer watching Derry Girls and ER respectively - both well made television. The wine was as good as ever.

Telephones stored in the Office

Rhubarb Wine 2021 - The Making Of...

Sunday 9th May was a day for domestic tasks. Most Sundays are. Ever since I made a cake for Claire's birthday in January, and thereby discovering that I could, I have used Sunday mornings to make a cake or similar to keep us in treats throughout the week. This Sunday it was my Aunt Jennifer's Traveler's Biscuit Cake - neither cake nor biscuit but somewhere in between and the winning combination of delicious and easy.

Traveler's Biscuit Cake - neither cake nor biscuit

Most of the rest of Sunday was occupied by wine-making. I racked my orange and bottled both the crab apple and the crab apple & strawberry. But the day's main task was starting this year's rhubarb wine.

Rhubarb in the front garden

All rhubarb used this year is home-grown. Last year Claire relocated several rhubarb plants into our front garden, which gets the sun nearly all day. This year they are thriving and these were the plants that produced most the rhubarb for the wine. In comparison, our rhubarb in the back is a sickly cousin; limp and weedy.

Freshly picked rhubarb

With judicious picking of stalks, I got 3 lbs 12 oz. Whilst I could have got another 2 lbs 4 oz for a double batch, I decided to do a single instead. We have plenty of rhubarb wine dotted around the house and I should start decreasing our excess.

Rhubarb sticks being washed

I chopped 3 lbs of rhubarb stalks thinly (after washing them, of course) and put these in the bucket with 3 lbs sugar. I boiled up just over 6 pints of water and poured this in, stirring to dissolve the sugar. On Monday morning I added the yeast, pectolase and nutrient (a teaspoon of each) and I was moderately diligent at stirring once a day throughout the week.

Rhubarb chopped thinly

The wine went into its demijohn on Friday evening, 14th May, after a hugely busy day at work - by early afternoon I was on the honey & lemon to ease my throat. I had spent the day on call after call. Anyway, the wine making tasks were relatively quick and I now have a demijohn of pale pink liquid bubbling away.

The rhubarb in its demijohn

Strawberry Wine 2018 - Fifth Bottle (3), 14th May 2021

I think that this vintage may have improved. Claire described it as at the good end of a midweek bottle, which is definitely a step up. Though the strawberry flavour is subtle, it is present and otherwise this felt like a soft white, but with a glorious red colour.

Friday has been a busy day at work but the evening was pleasantly relaxed. After a tortilla, I made rhubarb wine and then we curled up on the sofa to watch ER. Not a Rock & Roll lifestyle!

Taken on 14 May

With some apologies for the above image (it is the only one I took on Friday), but I have got all concerned about my health again. I looked in the mirror sideways on, and all I could see was ribs. And I have been trying to gain weight for the last few months: instead I have lost a couple of pounds. This photo is, in some way, to encourage me to go the doctors again - even if I do come across as a neurotic hypochondriac! 

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2019 - Fifth Bottle (B5), 19th March 2021

A Friday night bottle at the end of an irritating week. Irritating because of work not going entirely to plan, rather than anything more profound. The wine is excellent and rather too easy to drink. Much of it was drunk to a Taylor family Zoom, in which we mostly discussed Covid. Claire and I have our first vaccinations tomorrow. At last - something that the Government is doing well and efficiently.

A random photo of an ornament taken on 19 March

Elderberry Wine 2017 - Twelfth Bottle (C5), 17th-18th March 2021

Oh, I was in a bad mood on Wednesday. All my plot sales seemed to go wrong at once. No-one wants to complete before Easter and there is little I can do about it. I don't know why I care so much, because there is no personal effect on me. Claire argues that it is good that I do - being in a job where one does not care would be soulless. She prescribed me this bottle of elderberry wine, and she is a doctor after all, so why would I refuse? Well, it was lumpier than ideal, but we are blessed with sieves.

Poetry pinned to a Park Notice Board on 17 March

Blackberry Wine 2019 - Tenth Bottle (A2), 26th February 2021

A beer, a Negroni and a bottle of blackberry wine on a Friday night do not make a particularly joyful Saturday morning. However, they seemed like a good idea at the time. It had been a difficult couple of days at work - not bad at all; in fact more interesting than most - and drinking to excess was a way to close off the week. The wine was no more than okay - Claire described it as a disappointing red. It led to an entirely sober Saturday, which is distinctly unusual, but was needed.

Catkins - taken on my morning walk

Prune & Parsnip 2019 - Tenth Bottle (A1), 25th February 2021

Claire and I are both working really hard at the moment. By Thursday evening our brains were still full of the day just gone and this 500 ml bottle of Prune & Parsnip seemed like the perfect amount with which to blur the edges. I cooked a family cookbook recipe - Kittery Baked Fish - which was both easy and delicious. Turns out that bacon and white fish is a winning combination and I shall definitely make this again. It being a Thursday, we watched Taskmaster which is gloriously, addictively silly and just the tonic for the day.

A new shirt

Ginger Wine 2018 - Final Bottle (5), 23rd February 2021

Tuesdays should not be a full-bottle night, but Claire returned from work in such a foul mood that anything else would be unthinkable. After plying her with wine and cooking a quiche, all became so much more right with the world.

We finished the evening watching Lupin on Netflix - an entertaining French Crime Thriller, stylishly done. Otherwise, it was an entirely unremarkable Tuesday. Oh, this ginger wine is lovely - it has a bite to it.

Snowdrops in our garden

Rhubarb Wine 2017 - Fifteenth Bottle (B1), 19th February 2021

Two things of note happened today: I gave a training session to the Sales Department in the morning, and I made a smoked haddock risotto in the evening. For the former, because it was outside my comfort zone, I wore my battle-armour - a nice shirt with Uncle Gerry's waistcoat. It worked, and I found myself enjoying giving the talk. For the latter, no special clothing was required and the result was delicious. I can now do Risotto! The wine went well with it: an ordinary white wine strangely not dissimilar to one made from grapes.

Some of the ingredients for the risotto

Gooseberry Wine 2019 - Fifth Bottle (1), 29th January 2021

Friday was a day of meetings and broken cafetierres. Actually only one broken cafetierre, but I bought it only two weeks ago to replace another that I broke, so total cost per cup of coffee is higher than I would like. Two of the three meetings were about me - my favourite topic of conversation. One just a legal quarterly meeting and the other to set 2021's Objectives. I opened a fine bottle of gooseberry to recover.

My collection

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2016 - Eleventh Bottle (B5), 28th-29th January 2021

Claire's verdict on this bottle was 'Better than a midweek bottle, not quite good enough for the weekend'. That is quite niche in its categorisation. My verdict is that it has the dryness of real red wine but (despite all its fruit) neither its complexity or depth. I had planned a booze-free night on Thursday but Claire returned from work irritated by bureaucracy so I was easily persuaded. Also I had a rare day of feeling low about the virus. Thursday's continuous drizzle didn't help.

Photo taken on Sunday,
Cake finished on Thursday