Christmas Tutti Fruti - Bottle A3, 27th-29th June 2011

This bottle opened with a bang, though I was woken by Claire hopping out of bed declaring she heard something fizzing. I asked her if she was awake enough to find a cork and put the bottle in the fridge. And then went back to sleep.

Chilled Tutti Fruti may be the way forward - despite it being essentially a red. The cold does not destroy its flavour and this bottle was not as thin as previous ones.

I drank my Tuesday and Wednesday night rations in a poor temper. On Tuesday I took my recently-acquired nineteenth-century French bassoon (how many adjectives?) to summer orchestra and struggled to play it. Then I was made immediately irritable by a cashierless check-out insisting several times over that there was an unexpected item in the bagging area. Wednesday night's bad mood was caused by staying up too late sieving fruit out of my nascent gooseberry wine.

Elderflower - Bottle A2, 25th-27th June 2011

The adrenalin was up on Saturday night and we needed something to bring it down. Half a bottle of Crab Apple wine between us didn't quite pass muster, so I opened this bottle too and did not get to bed until after one - which is virtually unheard of.

We each had a glass on Sunday late afternoon in the garden, enjoying a rare genuinely hot day. The garden is looking fecund and I suspect the courgette plants are plotting to declare independent statehood shortly. As lunch had consisted of flat breads and lettuce, a glass of this and my 'tasting' glass of Bonfire wine had the desired effect, and we set off for our curry with Rachel and Duncan somewhat wibbly.

The last of this bottle was finished on Monday with that well known light summer meal to have on a warm day - sausages, mash and onion gravy. Cooking often makes me irritable, but Elderflower wine helped.

Mostly Redcurrant - the making of ...

Sunday 26th June was a busy day for wine-making. All three buckets are in use - an event that only happens once a year. I was not sure that Redcurrant would figure in 2011, what with last year's batch being disappointing and Julia muttering darkly about buying an air rifle to see off the greedy pigeons. However, Claire and I spent some of Sunday morniing on Julia's allotment and came away with 2 lbs of redcurrants. These were mostly at the bottom of the bushes and so required contortionist poses to reach. When I was not picking fruit, I was watching a beehive at the top of the allotment. When Claire was not picking fruit she was wreaking havoc on bindweed and ground elder - therapy for an altercation she had on Saturday with a woman who insists on parking across our drive.

The top of Julia's allotment

At home I weighed the redcurrants and was all for putting them in the freezer because a single batch requires 3 lbs. Claire, though, produced another 12 oz that she had picked on Friday whilst I was picking gooseberries. We made up the fruit to the full 3 lbs with 4 oz red gooseberries from our garden.

I washed the fruit and started stripping the currants from their stalks. Very quickly I thought "Bugger it" and put everything into the bucket - stalks and all. I'm sure it won't make a difference - or if it does, I will know for next time. And it saved me at least an hour.

Redcurrants, red gooseberries and stalks

I crushed the fruit and poured over 6 pints of boiling water with 2 lbs 12 oz sugar dissolved in it. The yeast and a teaspoon each of nutrient and pectolase were added on Monday morning. I will probably put it all into its demijohn on Sunday.

Crab Apple - Bottle A6, 24th & 25th June 2011

I am finishing this bottle after a day spent mostly playing the bassoon. Today was Airedale Symphony Orchestra's summer concert, and it was possibly the longest concert I have done - over three hours. It was certainly the one with the largest audience. We were playing in Leeds Town Hall in all its overdone Victorian splendour. It was like playing in a wedding cake. There were over 800 in the audience, and they enjoyed the experience more than I. We played Carmina Burana - which has its tedious moments - followed by a whole Proms programme. My ears are still ringing and I have yet to cool down, despite sitting shirtless for half an hour. The wine can only help.

Redcurrant - Bottle B2, 23rd-24th June 2011

Well, that's another bottle of Disappointing Redcurrant finished. The sharp, fresh taste of 2009's batch is woefully absent and replaced with a general mustiness. Oh well.

Thursday night's glass and a half was after a WYSO committee meeting which involved tasty biscuits and a badly behaved cat. We (Claire and I) drank our wine whilst discussing my nethergarment situation. I maintain that my most recent pants are new - bought some time in 2010. Claire insists they are three years old. But she is just wrong.

We finished the bottle tonight: one glass each before a mammoth gooseberry picking session, and a glass afterwards to help heal the scratches.

Rhubarb - Bottle A4, 19th June 2011

We celebrated my 100th birthday with this bottle. More accurately, we combined Julia's 59th with my 41st, and it was a splendidly good evening. I could have cursed the wine by declaring 'This is the best batch of rhubarb I have made', but, in fact, that proved accurate. It is pink and fizzy and delicious.

Julia cooked a game casserole involving bought venison and roadkill pheasant, and Claire made 'Cloud Cake' which consisted of chocolate, Cointreau and no flour. Between the five of us we drank more bottles than is healthy for a Sunday night, including a fabulous bottle of Dandelion 1992. Nineteen years have been kind - it was a superior dessert wine.

We staggered home after eleven and marvelled that it was still light

Crab Apple - Bottle C5, 18th June 2011

We have just returned from Richard and Linda's full of food. It has been a wonderful day, mostly spent travelling around North Yorkshire with my parents looking at art. This weekend was part of the North Yorkshire Open Studios event where artists, as the name suggests, open their studios for members of the public to take a gander. There was a huge range of stuff: jewellery, stained glass, chicken-wire animals, ceramics, story boxes, etchings as well as regular paint on canvas. All of it had some merit, and most of it had lots. We came away with a print by Hester Cox of a hare amongst honesty and, randomly, a large tub of asparagus.

This is similar to the one we bought

The evening meal at Richard and Linda's was - as always - fabulous and Richard - as nearly always - said nice things about the wine.