Prune & Parsnip Wine 2021 - First Bottle (B4), 3rd-5th February 2022

When I bottled this, I noted that Prune & Parsnip 2021 was a poor vintage. It is pleasing, therefore, that the wine seems to have aged well. This bottle was entirely like Prune & Parsnips that I have known. Possibly it is lighter in colour, but I cannot detect a difference in taste. As always, it has the essence of a semi-sweet sherry.

I opened it on Thursday and we finished it on Saturday. In between, we had Book Group (proper face-to-face Book Group) where we discussed The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett: mostly enjoyed with Catherine dissenting.

A not very interesting photo taken on 7 February

Ginger Wine 2021 - First Bottle (1), 7th-14th October 2021

I opened this bottle of ginger wine very quickly after rejecting a bottle of Apple & Strawberry as being simply unpleasant. This wine, though, is excellent. Perhaps it is just that little bit sweet, but the ginger flavour fights through that. It would be a fabulous base for a whisky mac.

The only reason that it stayed open for so long was that on the few nights we weren't out, we drank real wine. One of those nights was Book Group round our house where we discussed Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. Beautifully written and an overall Hit.

Taken on 7th October

Japonica Quince Wine - First Bottle (5), 2nd-3rd September 2021

Not a terrible wine by any means. I'm not sure it tastes of much, though, other than an overly dry white wine. 'Sharp' will be an adjective that I shall overuse on this page. It is not as dry as the Quince I made about a decade ago, but it is approaching that. Claire suggested adding a sugar syrup and that worked, though did not make the wine any more interesting.

We drank most of the bottle on Thursday, though I had the final glass on Friday before Book Group to celebrate being on holiday. This coming week we will walk The Herriot Way.

A Cake I made on 3 September. I have no memory of this.

If you want to see how I made this wine, click here.

Rhubarb Wine 2018 - Twelfth Bottle (A1), 7th July 2021

I have yet to let on to Claire that this bottle came from the Rhubarb Wine vintage that she claims is nasty. She drank it without complaint. It was a Wednesday evening bottle in a week that has been the most sociable for a very, very long time. We had Pat's 80th on Saturday, an impromptu meal at Mary's on Sunday and wind quintets in Harrogate on Monday, with trios to follow on Thursday and Book Group (albeit that one by Zoom) on Friday. That is pre-lockdown levels of sociability and then some. So of course a quiet night in on Wednesday became a whole bottle night.

Wiggy and I had a disagreement about the chair

Rhubarb, Elderflower & Mint 2020 - Second Bottle (5), 5th June 2021

The week has been a veritable social whirl: to York on Tuesday for Mom's 80th, Book Group on Friday (albeit virtual) and then a proper dinner party at Angie & Phil's on Saturday. Yes, we spent most of it outside, but that was because it was a lovely summer's evening rather than a Government Edict for the Protection of Society. It was a marvelous evening and felt so normal. Life will return to much as it used to be and we are on the first steps of that.

I took this wine at Liz's request and it is an excellent bottle. So much so that I may make a double batch this year.

Angie's recipe for Rhubarb & Custard Cake

Orange Wine 2021 - The Making Of...

One of the 'First World Problems' caused by Covid 19 is the sheer amount of queuing that it creates. Whilst one might point to the 120,000 deaths in the UK, the mental health crisis, the vast unemployment and the failure to see loved ones, it was the time spent standing in lines that annoyed me most on Saturday, 6th March. The greengrocer, the butcher and the post office all had long, slow-moving queues and by the time that I got home Claire had to calm me down with cake.

A crate of 24 oranges

Making things better, though, the greengrocer had set aside a box of 24 oranges for me - large Spanish oranges looking like they had been plucked from their tree mere hours ago. 

I started making my wine that afternoon by thinly peeling half of the oranges and covering the peel in two pints of boiling water. This is always the most tedious bit of making orange wine and this year I separated it out of the process by making it my first task, leaving the orange peel to percolate in its water for 24 hours. I did a particularly poor job of avoiding the pith and if this wine turns out too bitter, that will be the explanation. 

A particularly poor job of avoiding the pith

On Sunday afternoon, 7th March, I squeezed all 24 oranges - changing hands every three oranges so as to avoid a painful and overused shoulder. This is a sticky job and required frequent handwashing.

Some of the oranges with outer skin removed

With the oranges being larger than most years I got far more juice - 6 pints (including all the bits of flesh). I added 6¾ pints of cold water and the two pints of water that had been covering the peel. Into this I poured 5½ lbs of sugar and gave it a good stir. I then started 2 teaspoons of yeast fermenting in half a pint of water with a teaspoon of sugar and put this into the mix once fermentation had begun. I added a teaspoon of pectolase and 1½ teaspoons of nutrient. Though my usual timetable would have me putting the wine into its demijohn on Friday, it was Book Group that night (Grownups by Marian Keyes - hated by some, loved by others) so I did this all on Saturday 13th March instead. There was little to sieve out so the process was quick. I am left with two demijohns of pure sunshine.

Two demijohns of sunshine

Blackberry Wine 2019 - Ninth Bottle (C1), 11th-12th February 2021

It turns out that making stew is really easy. You just put some meat and vegetables in a pot with enough water to cover and then let it cook on the hob for a couple of hours. To mark my new found skill (which was an Irish stew with dumplings) we drank half a bottle of blackberry wine, which is the correct wine for a peasant's meal. The rest was finished on Friday before Book Group, which was an entertaining discussion on Parade's End - a huge book with which I have struggled and not enjoyed.

Patterns in the Ice - taken on 11 February

Prune & Parsnip Wine 2019 - Ninth Bottle (B6), 16th January 2021

Saturday was one of those days where I pottered. It was much like all other Saturdays have been stretching back for months. Post Office, grocery shopping, Scrabble with my mother, bottle of wine (as prune & parsnippy as ever) and Snarkalong film (Ocean's Eight). The only different thing was that I made a serious effort with our Book Group Book: Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford. It is 824 pages long. I have reached page 144 and Nothing At All Has Happened. I am relieved that I still have nearly four weeks until Book Group.

Parade's End

Prune & Parsnip Wine 2017 - Tenth Bottle (A5), 8th-9th September 2020

This was one of those mid-week bottles where both wine and the days on which it was consumed were unremarkable. Not bad by any means - just ordinary. Nothing dramatic happened at Work, in the evenings we ate and watched television, the cats didn't bring anything unwanted into the house. 

I nearly finished our Book Group Book: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, which I have enjoyed but not as much as the superlative comments on its cover would suggest. I wouldn't make everyone read it, it is not an unconditional masterpiece and Ferrante is not the foremost modern writer in the world: all claims on the back of the book. It passed the time.

Taken on 9th September

Blackberry Wine 2017 - Final Bottle (C1), 21st June 2020

Toad in the Hole requires a red wine, and this was how Blackberry 2017 came to an end. Sausages are one of life's great pleasures. And the wine wasn't bad either, though we very nearly finished it before eating. It was the end of a lazy Sunday where I feel that little was achieved. Most notable event was reading a proper chunk of our next Book Group Book - The Bee Keeper of Aleppo by Christy Leferti. It is too harrowing to be enjoyed and right at the moment I need light things.

Taken on 21st June

Elderflower, Mint & Rhubarb Wine 2019 - First Bottle (1), 5th June 2020

It was our Book Group Party and Claire was nonplussed that I had not bought real wine for the occasion. My justification was that we had plenty of wine made from grapes on Tuesday night, and Elderflower, Mint & Rhubarb is one of my better ones. This bottle did not disappoint - all the flavours were there and we managed to get through it quickly and efficiently.

The evening was fabulous - our theme was 'Doctors & Nurses' and everyone's book sounded worth reading. I am particularly interested in The Plague by Albert Camus. Certainly it sounds more than relevant to global circumstances today.

A yellow flower in our garden - taken on 5 June

If you want to see how I made this wine, click here.

Prune & Parsnip Wine 2018 - Ninth Bottle (A1), 10th-14th January 2020

I have been dilatory in the extreme in writing up this bottle. It is 9 days (and possibly 10) since I opened it and I have no memory of the evening of Friday 10th January. I know that I walked home from work, but thereafter nothing. I can't even swear that it was Friday when I opened this bottle. It might have been Thursday. This is quite worrying. No, it was definitely Friday because I was wine making on Thursday. Oh - I think that I may have watched Dangerous Liaisons - our Book Group Book. Obviously the wine made little impression: it will have been bog standard Prune & Parsnip.

The book and the film

Blackberry Wine 2017 - Sixteenth Bottle (C6), 3rd April 2020

This was a Book Group Bottle. The month's book was A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman and I loved it, despite its shaky start. It has been a while since I read the last chapter through tears. Book Group was a little different to normal, what with social distancing and being confined to our houses. We managed it virtually, however, using Zoom and it worked rather well. Seven of us met up and we tried to make it as normal as possible. So, Claire and I ate crisps, pizza and cake, and shared this rather delicious bottle between us. Life in Lockdown isn't so bad.

Blackcurrant Wine - Seventh Bottle (B4), 2nd June 2019

What a good bottle of wine! Sharp and fruity and tasty. We drank it to Toad in the Hole - where I forgot to check the oven temperature, meaning that the Hole/Yorkshire Pudding failed to rise. Damn and Blast. Still tasty, though.

We finished the bottle while watching the last episode of Series 4 of Line of Duty: we have watched the whole series in one weekend, with three episodes today. Really, I should be reading Wild Swans for Book Group on Friday, but I have never 'Binge Watched' before. I feel that this a valuable thing to have experienced.

Blackberry Wine - Eighth Bottle (A6), 31st March - 2nd April 2019

Having started our Sunday evening with negronis, we exercised some self-control and only drank half a bottle of blackberry wine. According to my step-counter, I had had a sedentary day (fewer than 3,000 steps) and this was because I spent the morning reading The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy - trying to get it finished in time for Book Group. Therefore, I could not justify having additional wine due to an active and exhausting day.

The blackberry was as good as ever and accompanied a slow-cooked lamb stew. I didn't get a look-in for the remainder of the bottle. Claire had a glass in the garden to celebrate her first Monday off work and then finished it on Tuesday whilst I was out playing Glinka trios with Madeleine.

Ginger Wine 2019 - The Making Of...

We are only six days into the New Year and already I feel like an old man. My back is aching and I know that I shall be stiff tomorrow. This is the result of barely two hours gardening. All I was doing was shovelling horse manure into bags and then digging it into our front garden, plus some low-level weeding. Gardening is meant to be a healthy activity, so why do I feel like I have been given a thorough pummelling?

A selection of dried fruit ingredients

The other thing I have done this weekend is to begin my ginger wine. I had already decided that Ginger will be my regular January wine, but the bottle we drank on New Year's Day confirmed this choice - it was excellent. I bought all my 'fruit' ingredients: 5 oz root ginger, 4 lemons and 1 lb sultanas: from the Continental Supermarket in Harehills. Though they sell every type of pulse and flour that you can think of and many more besides, the only sultanas they had were 'Golden Sultanas' which had a best-before date of April 2018. I bought them anyway. It makes this wine the yellowest of all wines that I make.

On Saturday (yesterday), I shaved the ginger of its skin and sliced it as thinly as possible before putting it into the bucket. Next I minced the sultanas in the food processor and put those in. Then I peeled the lemon-skin as finely as I could, doing my best to avoid the pith, and put this in, followed shortly by the juice from all lemons.

The ingredients in the bucket

I poured over 3½ pints of boiling water, making our kitchen smell citrussy and left the wine until this afternoon. During a break from gardening I poured in 2½ lbs sugar and another 3½ pints of boiling water. Several hours later I put in a teaspoon each of yeast, nutrient and pectolase.

I waited until Friday evening, 11th January, before putting the wine into its demijohn. This was done before Book Group (Treasure Island - our 'winter classic') so I had to be quick. Happily this was not a drawn out process, and I now have a demijohn full of pale yellow, ginger-flavoured liquid.

If you want to see how this wine turned out, click here.

Apple & Strawberry Wine - First Bottle (6), 2nd-3rd November 2018

I have mad a decent batch of wine. This bottle is light, and has a slight fizz and a beneficial sweetness to it. The flavour is clearly both apple and strawberry and it is really very drinkable. Attractive too - with a pink blush.

I opened it on Book Group night, where we were discussing The Bloody Chamber - a series of disturbing Fairy Tales written by Angela Carter. I loved it: her writing is exquisite and the tales are dark and inventive.

Claire and I finished the wine on Saturday to a splendid dish (cooked by me!) of Red Snapper in a Creole sauce. Just delicious.

If you want to see how I made this wine, click here.

Crab Apple Wine - 23rd Bottle (C3), 3rd February 2018

I nearly took this bottle with me to Book Group, but decided that a Rioja would be more acceptable. This was the correct decision, I think. There isn't anything wrong with this crab apple, but presenting it at Book Group at someone else's house would be a little weird. Instead, we drank it on Saturday after a day of doing not much at all - mostly lying on the chaise-longue reading The Wimbledon Poisoner (not a book I would recommend, but rather lighter than East West Street). Claire cooked a fabulous fish stew and we watched Lewis whilst finishing the bottle. Lewis was well plotted and entertaining; the bottle was a bog-standard crab apple.

Elderberry Wine - Eighth Bottle (B1), 5th November 2017

What a great bottle of wine. Everything that elderberry should be - dark, earthy, sophisticated. It was also my only bottle of the weekend: Friday had been Book Group and we were playing Handel's Coronation Anthems in Pontefract on Saturday. Having just the one bottle is a rare event, and I savoured it all the more for that reason. Claire cooked a slab of beef in Madeira, auditioning the recipe for Christmas, when all the Taylors will descend. It got a definite approval from me - far better than turkey. And we will have enough of that in a few weeks for Thanksgiving.

One of the Coronation Anthems involves this man

Prune & Parsnip Wine - Ninth Bottle (A6), 31st October - 3rd November 2017

It was the Bake Off final on Tuesday night, and of course that called for a bottle of wine. I opened Prune & Parsnip for no better reason than we have not had one in a while. There is nothing that suggests 'baking' about it (though it could be used in a trifle). I will miss our Tuesday nights, curled up on the sofa, watching Reality Television and eating treats.

Claire had what remained of the bottle (which was not a right lot!) on Friday before Book Group (South Riding by Winifred Holtby, a book I cannot recommend enough - I loved it). I was driving and she was in need. But her new job starts Monday, which means things should start to look brighter.