Strawberry Wine 2019 - Third Bottle (4), 22nd December 2020

Well, this wasn't a great idea. After an intense three weeks at work, the hardest that I have had for an age, I got the £8.4m contract in Calderdale exchanged and promptly drank the greater half of a bottle of champagne. I then opened this bottle of Strawberry - which was superb: a proper strawberry taste - and we finished that too. As I say, not a great idea. One can overdo the concept of celebration. It led to a poor night's sleep, feeling muddled the next morning and a short-lived desire to stay away from the booze.

A dull photo taken on 22 December.
I was trying to get the Leeds skyline.

 

Rose Petal 2016 - Final Bottle (B2), 19th December 2020

I fished out this bottle from under the stairs to go with a supremely hot curry. My reasoning was that whatever wine we had, we would hardly taste it. And Rose Petal is no longer a favourite in this house. In fact, this wine was rather good. The floral taste did not overpower the wine and, despite its age, it had not acquired a sherry taste. We then ruined the evening by watching Nativity! on i-player. Never trust a film with an exclamation mark. It was abysmal.

Taken on 19 December in my local park
I found it emotional, hearing live music again.

Blackberry Wine 2018 - Tenth Bottle (B2), 17th-19th December 2020

Thursday was very nearly a whole bottle of wine night. I finished work at 7:30, having ended with a fractious meeting about an £8m purchase of land in Calderdale that had been stuffed with bad temper and awkward silences. Therefore, most of a bottle between the two of us did not feel excessive. And it is a good one - there is a reason that bramble wine is one of my very favourites. 

Tonight we finished the remainder in a mix with sloe gin - and that works brilliantly. It transforms a good wine into an excellent one with distinct hints of port.

Another Advent Window - this
time in Chapel Allerton

Apple & Strawberry Wine 2018 - Fourth Bottle (1), 12th-16th December 2020

This started life as a Saturday night bottle but was very quickly rejected as such. Saturday night bottles are meant to be rather better than this. It had a dry thinness that caused much face-pulling. Instead, we drank it under sufferance on Tuesday and Wednesday, but Claire improved the wine greatly by adding a splash of sugar-syrup to each glass.

This whole week has been made extraordinary by the amount of work I am doing. I have been working till 7 every night, which is unheard of, but strangely I am enjoying it. There is job satisfaction in doing something well and being appreciated for doing so.

Allotments in Leeds - taken on 12 December

Elderberry 2017 - Eleventh Bottle (A4), 13th December 2020

Sunday was Christmas Card Day - a day that I always dread. The principle of Christmas Cards is one that I wholeheartedly support, and I do enjoy getting them. Therefore, why is writing them such a pain in the arse? Rather than write simply "To X, from Ben & Claire', I put a different snippet of news in each (difficult in 2020). So it takes an absolute age. Still, I managed to do them all, and we drank a rather lovely bottle of elderberry wine (lovely despite the bits) as a reward.

Lovely, despite the bits.

Rose Petal & Orange Wine 2019 - Third Bottle (6), 12th December 2020

I opened this bottle after an abortive attempt at Apple & Strawberry 2018. Saturday night needs a good bottle of wine; not one that is only just on the right side of 'drinkable'. And this wine is excellent - smooth, unusual and delicious.

The Snarkalong Film Club was Dirty Dancing - last seen in 1991 with my awful ex-girlfriend (also called Claire) and I hated it then - probably because ex-Claire loved it. Anyway, without that baggage it was better. Not a masterpiece, certainly, but okay (and so very 80s).

Taken on 12th December

Blackcurrant Wine 2019 - Sixth Bottle (A2), 11th December 2020

In ordinary years, it would have been my Work Christmas Party. For obvious reasons, that is not happening and I suspect that we are not having any virtual event either. Certainly nothing has been said. Mind you, I always think that I am going to enjoy the Work Christmas Do far more than the presented reality. Every year I leave early, having drunk too much, feeling deafened by the Disco. This year, though, I was at home drinking a fine bottle of Blackcurrant Wine watching an episode of ER with my wife. Not a bad alternative.

Wiggy - taken on 11th December