Rhubarb Wine - Third Bottle (A2), 3rd July 2016

I'm pretty certain that Jayne enjoyed this bottle. She drank a good majority of it. This was the last of the house-warming wines to be opened but not the final one finished. I got a glass of it, and this is a good batch of rhubarb. Jayne has excellent taste. Nice children too - the two younger ones went running round the house and garden shrieking, occasionally hiding and sometimes engaging with the adults. The older two were more sedate - both early teenagers with all that entails.

Clementine Wine - Third Bottle (3), 2nd-4th July 2016

This was my 'Comedy Bottle' of wine for the House Warming Party. Only those brave enough dared to have a taste - and I think that was only Becky, Nick, Phil and Phil. Watching the drinkers' faces was entertaining. You could see the "This isn't so bad" turn into "Gah - my taste buds, my taste buds". Nick was offered the bottle and refused to take it, which speaks volumes. In fact, I and the second of the Phils thought it wasn't That Bad. Acidic, yes, and tart beyond measure, but still drinkable. And now the bottle is empty.

Fig Wine - Fifth Bottle (2), 2nd-3rd July 2016

I have just counted up. We had 44 people through our doors this weekend. Having owned the house for exactly a year, we though it high time that we throw a party. This meant getting every room tidy (it took a week), buying more cheese than was strictly necessary, baking three types of cake and 2 types of biscuit, and opening seven bottles of wine. Fig was one of these, and as good as always. Many peopled were intrigued by this flavour and I heard someone compare it to port.

Blackcurrant Wine - Sixteenth Bottle (B3), 2nd-3rd July 2016

This was one of two 'reds' and one of seven bottles opened for our two-day house warming party. It was a bottle I retruned to at least twice. Jaynes's 15-year-old (also Ben) was allowed a glass but was unenthusiastic. He said it burned his throat. I told him to avoid whisky. Otherwise I think people enjoyed it.

Elderflower Wine - Fifth Bottle (5), 2nd-3rd July 2016

One of the reasons I chose this bottle for the House Warming Pary was so I could say to Charles "I didn't recognise you with your clothes on," and hand him a glass. [For reason, click here - it is safe!] Alas, Caroline and Charles (and their two young sons) were some of the last visitors, by which time the elderflower had gone. Much of it was drunk by other neighbours who came - Don & Sandy, and Lenny & Joan. It is a very English thing not to know who else lives on your street, and I am delighted that we had numbers 15, 16 and 24 come over. Don, Sandy, Lenny & Joan have lived here for decades and I think enjoyed the opportunity to have a poke about our house and garden.

Mango Wine - Second Bottle (2), 29th-30th June 2016

It is not often that we have two mid-week bottles, of which this was the second, but Claire says that we need additional insulation from current events. I chose Mango on the basis that I remember it as rather ordinary, and to my mind it is. There is the vaguest tropical taste but otherwise is a dull, semi-fizzy white wine. Claire disagrees and (for once) has a higher opinion of my wine than I do. She thinks it a rather decent quality white and on that basis I may make it again one day.

Blackberry Wine - Eleventh Bottle (C2), 27th-28th June 2016

I have been grumpy all evening. Mostly through a combination of existential worries about our nation and having to cook. Plus I have spent some of this evening tidying the attic in anticipation of the housewarming this weekend. Fizzy, dry blackberry wine (not my best vintage) helps a little. We would not ordinarily have a bottle on Monday & Tuesday, but the weekend was stuffed with concerts and therefore wine-free. Saturday was the Pontefract Castle Proms concert. Playing Land of Hope and Glory was particularly inappropriate.