Crab Apple Wine - Seventh Bottle (C6), 12th October 2013

Oh, it is good to be home. We have just returned from two weeks in America, which was fabulous. But after all that travelling and excitement, sitting at home with a glass of wine eating plain food is Just the Thing. My body clock should have been telling me it was not yet noon when I opened this bottle, but in reality it was shortly after six. I am not sure whether this is disgraceful, but it was certainly welcome.

After being on a beer diet for a fortnight, crab apple wine is like the return of an old friend, and this was a tasty, refreshing bottle. As an added bonus, I did not need to put it in the fridge. The house was distinctly chilly when we got back. At least there were no exploding bottles in our absence.

Mount Hood, overlooking Portland - a place we saw.

Blackcurrant & Red Gooseberry Wine - Second Bottle (2), 27th September 2013

It is the night before we travel to America and consequently it has been one of packing and checking and generally feeling hassled. A bottle of wine has helped. It is half past nine, and there is still plenty to do, including setting my alarm for 3:30. I predict little sleep, and my toes will tingle the way they do when I am excited.

Earlier today I thought I might have appendicitis - at work I had severe abdominal pains and was getting ready to cancel the entire trip. It turned out to be lots of trapped wind - [and the rest of the sentence has been removed for grounds of taste]. I wouldn't be writing that down without having drunk half a bottle of wine. And what a particularly good bottle it was. Fruity and delicious.

Elderflower Wine - Third Bottle (A5), 25th-26th September 2013

I have discovered that Claire does not much like elderflower wine. All these years I have been making double quantities, spending hours upon hours of stripping the flowers form their stalks, and Claire thinks the wine is less than merely okay. Whereas I think it is 'Quite Nice'. Whilst I am unlikely to demote it from a regular, I may change it to a single batch wine.

I opened the bottle on Wednesday night, after narrowly escaping having to attend the Yorkshire Property Awards (phew!). Instead we watched The Great British Bake Off and went to bed too late. We finished the wine tonight after I had bottled and sampled my orange wine. Consequently my cheeks have turned numb and the room is not as stable as it might otherwise be.

Prune & Parsnip Wine - Ninth Bottle (B6), 21st-22nd September 2013

I left Claire alone with this bottle on Saturday. There was a Proms concert at Glusburn in which I was playing, requiring me to leave the house at not-yet-one, and I was out until nearly 11:30. Though I complain about Proms concerts, the audience reaction makes them all worthwhile. There was  enthusiastic applause and cheering after nearly every piece, and we had a terrific soprano soloist - Sarah Fox - who has sung with the Berlin Philharmonic.

Anyway, when I got home, three quarters of the bottle had gone and Claire was in a very happy mood. The final glasses were drunk by my parents tonight, who have been round with tales of their 50th anniversary of meeting, which they celebrated on the Marrakech Express. We ate lots of curry and spent a good deal of the conversation talking about our forthcoming trip to Chadron.

The building in which we played

Elderberry Wine - Fourth Bottle (A4), 22nd September 2013

This bottle was yet another controlled explosion. Claire defused it by leaving it in the fridge for 24 hours before taking out the cork, and in doing so lost no wine at all. We saved it for Sunday night to share with my parents, who came round for home cooked curry and to share tales of North Africa. Pop was driving, so only had a sip. Mom, Claire and I drank the rest and showed great self control in sticking at the one bottle.

The curry was fabulous and the elderberry wine good, if too young to really be drinking now. However, we had little choice in the matter.

The Marrakech Express - where my parents celebrated 50 years

Christmas Tutti Fruti - Tenth Bottle (A4), 20th September 2013

I heard this bottle go 'Pop' at about two in the morning. It did not wake me up. I was already awake, lying in the back bedroom, comfort reading William Carries On while fretting about Alan Titchmarsh. (See 'Clove & Ginger Bottle 2' for the whole sorry story.) Stan looked askance at the noise and I took it as my sign to try sleeping.

Later in the morning, at a reasonable hour, I inspected my bottles and found this one without its cork, so our Friday night bottle was decided upon. I have had a sober week, what with the infected wisdom tooth and antibiotics, but I did not let this stop me from finishing the bottle with Claire. The wine was on the thin side, but perfectably acceptable. It helped the elderberry stripping process and was a decent accompaniment to 'Hot Tomatoey Garlicky Chicken', which works just as well as 'Hot Tomatoey Garlicky Prawns'.

Clove & Ginger Wine - Second Bottle (1), 18th September 2013

Well, this wine won't win any prizes for 'Most Alcoholic Home Brew'. Claire and I drank the entire bottle in an hour, late on Wednesday night, and neither of us felt like we had drunk as much as a glass of wine. I picked clove & ginger partly because I had forgotten to put an elderflower in the fridge, but also because cloves are meant to be good for toothache. Despite having been on antibiotics for 48 hours, my tooth still hurts. As does my self-respect. Yesterday I was given the chance to appear on The Alan Titchmarsh Show to discuss wine making. But it was for today, in London. And I turned it down for being too short notice. I am kicking myself. I could have gone. I should have gone. The opportunity is unlikely to return. Why am I so cautious, unwilling to break out of my routines?