Blackcurrant & Raspberry Wine 2020 - Fourth Bottle (1), 14th November 2021

The Internet is a marvelous thing. It allows one to order Dim Sum to arrive through the post, complete with cardboard double-decker steamer and dipping sauces. This was Rachel's idea and we had a Zoom Dinner Party with her and Duncan, during which I opened this Blackcurrant & Raspberry Wine. Whilst a white wine might have been preferable, I had nothing chilled. The Dim Sum was fantastic - and my favourite was the pork bun. It all made for an entertaining evening.

An upside-down Mango cake made on 14th November

Ginger Wine 2020 - Fourth Bottle (5), 17th September 2021

Friday night is Take Out night. Sometimes. At least it was this Friday, and we had a Chinese: Salt & Pepper Tofu, Crispy Chilli Beef and Prawn Crackers - all excellent. A bottle of ginger wine seemed like the right choice (though I went for a bottle of 2021's vintage - which I suspect is better - and missed). This wine is very slightly cloying, but not in a "too sweet" way. It was the end of my first week back at the office and on the whole I am glad to have returned, seeing actual people!

The view from my office window

Orange Wine 2018 - Ninth Bottle (B4), 14th -15th October 2020

We drank the majority of this bottle with a Chinese Takeaway from G-Wu, and very fine Chinese food it was too. A chilled orange wine feels like the right one to have in these circumstances. The day itself was not my best day of holiday ever. In the morning we buried Kato (grave digging, even for a cat, is hard work) and in the afternoon I went for a rubbish walk round semi-industrial areas of Batley.

Thursday was better: it was the 25th anniversary of Claire and my first kiss, and we celebrated by walking the Malham Round. You can't beat a good bit of limestone pavement.

A good bit of limestone pavement

Rhubarb Wine - Twelfth Bottle (C4), 13th May 2020

Claire required me to put something in the fridge because, with her unusual work patterns, Wednesday was her Saturday. I picked Rhubarb 2017, but had a back up with Orange in case rhubarb did not work. The wine, though, was fine - better than - and went well with the Actively Delicious Bean Curd in a black bean sauce. Shockingly, though, we had nearly finished the bottle by the time we came to eat. It took some self-control not to drink anything else that evening.

Taken on 13th May - a couple of

doors in North Leeds that I find pleasing

Ginger Wine 2019 - Fourth Bottle (3), 15th-16th May 2020

We are getting through this flavour more quickly than I might otherwise have planned. However, what other flavour should I have chosen for a Chinese Takeaway? Friday evening was beautiful weather, if cold, and it felt so normal (and therefore abnormal) to wander out, hand in hand, with my wife to collect a takeout. Claire donning a facemask, as she went into the shop and I stood outside, was a reminder of course.

We drank half the bottle on Friday and the remainder on Saturday evening whilst watching the Eurovision Song Contest replacement, which was surprisingly lovely as all 41 countries sang Love Shine a Light.

A photo I took on 16th May

Damson Wine - Third Bottle (5), 2nd January 2020

Rachel requested a bottle of damson wine specifically for New Year, and who am I to refuse? It is excellent and has vanilla overtones. We drank it after a day spent in Cambridge where we went to a zoological museum full of bones and animals preserved in jars, followed by dim sum at a Chinese restaurant which possibly got some of their ingredients from this museum.

We finished the damson wine before sitting down to eat salmon, where Richard & Wendy joined us. The May holiday has been organised - we are off to Shropshire this year, though it is possible that Richard & Wendy won't be able to make it. Richard is off to Alaska to climb USA's highest peak.*

My 2nd January photos have disappeared from

my phone - here is a 1st January one instead

* Oh, if only we had known. Obviously the holidays didn't happen.

Blackberry Wine - Second Bottle (A5), 3rd November 2019

It is unusual for my blackberry wine to taste like real red wine, but this bottle gave a good impression of it. There was a richness and depth that I don't associate with Bramble Wine. We drank it to a Chinese beef and red pepper dish - we ate and drank well on Sunday night.

The day was spent starting the tidying process for the Wine Party on Saturday. I would love to be one of those people who can effortlessly keep their house in order and clean. At the age of 49-and-a-third, I think it is time to admit defeat.

Ginger Wine - Fifth Bottle (2), 19th May 2019

It was Actively Delicious Tofu in a sweet & sour sauce on Sunday, so Ginger Wine seemed like the right bottle to have. Both food and wine were excellent. The ginger is dominant in this wine, but not overpowering. It is not what one would call a subtle wine.

Earlier in the evening we had shared a bottle of Cava with David & Liz (the excuse being that Liz needed my corker to cork her rhubarb & raspberry wine) and later we watched the final episode of Line of Duty series one. It has been entirely gripping.

This entry is a little out of order. Apologies.

Rhubarb Wine - Eighth Bottle (B6), 22nd February 2019

Over the last week I have been seduced. Claire is entirely happy with this, for she has been seduced too. We have both fallen for a step-counter. The psychology of it is so obvious that I am cross that I find it attractive. But I have an impetus to go for a walk at lunchtimes rather than sit at my desk, reading the Guardian on-line.

On Friday, after having this pace counter for a week, I got over 18,000 steps and rewarded myself with a bottle of rhubarb wine. This was drunk with a take-out Chinese (which we both walked to collect, getting 2,000 steps or so). It has been an age since we had Chinese food, and I think it is the prawn crackers that I like the most. I had far more of the bottle than Claire, but I had done eighteen thousand steps. Have I mentioned that already?

Blackcurrant Wine - Fourth Bottle (B6), 13th January 2019

This bottle of blackcurrant wine rounded off a splendid weekend. Saturday was a many-pleasure day, involving viola master-classes, art galleries, dim-sum, the twenty-first floor of a hotel and cocktails in Harvey Nics. Dom (the bar manager there, and also Ros's son) extended our range from Margaritas to Cosmopolitans and Negronis, and I will visit those again.

Sunday we were back in Leeds and had an afternoon rehearsal with the Airedale - shortly after which I opened this bottle and sank gently into the evening.

A Negroni and Cosmopolitan at Harvey Nics

Blackcurrant Wine - Fifth Bottle (4), 21st-22nd June 2018

I was at Pat & Peter's on Thursday night when Claire opened this, though I had a fortifying glass on my return. This left over half the bottle for Friday, and half a bottle between two on a Friday night is distinctly Not Enough. We solved that particular problem by drinking margheritas in the garden, enjoying our summer heat and then went for a Chinese Takeaway, which I have not done for many, many years. The alternative would have involved turning half a leek and three carrots into something edible, as this was all we had in the fridge. Even with half a bottle of blackcurrant wine, that would have been an unsatisfactory meal.

Rhubarb Wine - First Bottle (A3), 9th May 2018

I decided that our holiday in Dorset would be a suitable occasion on which to open the first bottle of rhubarb wine. This was to accompany a pork, ginger & rhubarb stir-fry, made by Nick (who supplied the rhubarb for this wine). The general consensus was that this is a rather decent white wine, and possibly the best of the holiday.

We had an excellent day before the wine, walking around Cerne Abbas and its hillside chalk giant. The village is impossibly beautiful - the sort of village I thought only existed in films. The giant is intriguing - a rampant masculine figure that can only be viewed from the other side of the valley. In the evening I named my gin & tonic 'The Cerne Abbas Giant' on account of it being large and stiff.

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

Elderberry Wine - Third Bottle (A2), 1st April 2018

Judith cooked an enormous slab of beef for our Easter lunch, and I opened a bottle of elderberry wine to go with it. The food was superb and the wine was passable. This is not my best vintage of elderberry. Andrew's adjective of choice was 'frunty' and I have no idea whether that is a compliment or not.

The weekend was excellent, starting with a lovely visit with Keith and family (we taught Ellis how to play 'Cheat'), going round Craster to buy kippers, watch the waves crash against the pier and get thoroughly cold walking much of the way to Dunstanburgh Castle, and finishing the Guardian cryptic double crossword.

Rhubarb Wine - Seventh Bottle (B3), 23rd September 2017

I have discovered that Claire thinks my onion cooking technique is poor. Apparently I don't let them fry for long enough - particularly when making Boursin Noodles. My bacon cooking technique also has room for improvement. With this in mind, and a glass of rhubarb wine to hand, I made sure the onions were meltingly soft and that there was some browning to the bacon for the evening meal. We should have been at Music Club, but an evening in the company of rhubarb wine (which is excellent this year) and an episode of Torchwood on the sofa seemed preferable.

Here is an occasional recipe for Boursin Noodles (serves 2) - which are both easy and delicious:

Ingredients

1 onion
Large clove of garlic
Olive oil
3 or 4 rashers of bacon (maybe streaky, can be smoked or unsmoked)
several mushrooms
A good dollop or two of soft cheese (I used Philadelphia - the recipe says it should be Boursin)
Parsley if you have any and can be bothered.
Some pasta or noodles

Method

1. Slice the onion thinly and fry it in your main pan in the oil for longer than you think is absolutely necessary, making sure your partner is happy with the result.
2. At some point during this frying, crush the garlic and add that
3. Cut the bacon into strips and fry that in a different pan until it goes brown enough to your partner's satisfaction.
4. Put the bacon into the pan with the onions and garlic. Let it fry a bit longer.
5. Slice the mushrooms and add them.
6. Cover the pan and let the liquid come out of the mushrooms
7. When it all looks like it might be done, stir in the one or two dollops of soft cheese and stir.
8. By now you should have been cooking the pasta or noodles.
9. When the pasta or noodles are done, add the parsley to the oniony-bacony-garlicky-mushroomy-cheesy mix.
10. Serve up the pasta and sauce.
11. Eat and enjoy.

Rhubarb Wine - Eighth Bottle (B2), 13th-15th February 2016

A good bottle of rhubarb, which this was, is a delight. It has a dry complex flavour that could be mistaken for wine of the grape variety. We drank most of it on Saturday to Chinese roast pork, having spent the day buying unexpected flooring and curtains, and dressing up as builders.

It is a rare Saturday that we do not finish the bottle, and this was one of those occasions. The last glasses were drunk tonight, Tuesday, after an intense visit (is there any other sort?) from a Wesleyan Financial Advisor.

Us Dressing Up as Builders

Prune & Parsnip Wine - Tenth Bottle (B1), 26th October 2013

We are now getting into the realms of bottles that did badly at the Wine Party. This flavour came sixth out of ten, scoring 3.5 out of 5. It had the smallest range of scores for any wine served - no-one giving it lower than a 3, no-one giving it higher than a 4. Philip labelled it a sweet and sour sherry, which makes it sound like it should be served by Chinese takeaways up and down the country. Lindsay commented 'inoffensive', which sums it up.

The party itself was marvellous. We had ten guests, so twelve in total, and I had worried that this would be too few. But, as last year, I was proved wrong and it meant there was often one conversation going round the room in which everyone took part. And we drank more wine, far more, than has been known previously.

Orange Wine - Fourth Bottle (B6), 16th June 2013

This batch of orange wine is one of the best that I have made. There is an absence of bitterness, and it has a clear, open taste. It was our Sunday night bottle and unusually our meal was 'The Sick and the Weak', postponed from Friday because that was my birthday. The elderly vegetables were transformed into a Chinese stew with noodles and Actively Delicious Bean Curd (shallow fried with a flour and pepper coating). Orange wine goes particularly well with Chinese food, and I am unsure as to why this should be.

After eating we finished the bottle to a couple of episodes of Absolutely Fabulous. It was a birthday present. I had asked for the first ever episode of Doctor Who but Claire couldn't find it, so bought this as a substitute. I suspect motives of self interest.

Crab Apple & Strawberry - Fourth Bottle (2), 19th-21st February 2013

This flavour would not, ordinarily, be a mid-week bottle. However, Claire wanted something nice to open on Tuesday. She had missed out on Monday when Julia took over a Chinese restaurant in Oakwood, partly as a delayed 60th birthday party. I was designated drinker, allowing Claire to drive. So on Tuesday, whilst I was out playing quintets at Madeleine's, Claire opened this bottle.

We each had a glass on Wednesday after a quick yet irritating monthly Sainsbury's shop. This usually puts me in a bad mood, and expectations were fulfilled. The wine helped a little but I still maintain it is too dry.

Claire finished the bottle on Thursday because I had already downed two gins before seven.

Christmas Tutti Fruti - Third Bottle (A6), 15th February 2013

Tonight I have discovered that Claire and I hold chopsticks differently. I go for the 'thumb and two fingers' approach, whereas Claire uses her entire hand. I like to think that my method is the more authentic. Claire, however, can also do chopsticks left handed, whereas in my left hand they are simply sticks.

We have been drinking this bottle of Christmas Tutti Fruti to a meal of corn flour and pepper covered stir-fry pork in a broth of mushroons and noodles and I am currently wondering if there is any pudding (there isn't). The wine is alright - drinkable and fizzy, to the extent that it maintains a frothy head which is aesthetically a bit wrong - but it is on the bland and dry side.

Ginger Wine - The Making Of ...

It has been a long time since I made ginger wine - at least eight years. On that occasion a large solid lump formed in the liquid, looking like a diseased organ stored in formaldehyde. I hope I shall have more success this time.

The raw ingredients

Last time I remember bananas being in the recipe, but I could not find this in any of my books. Those books all require such a pathetically small amount of ginger - 1 oz in the case of C J J Berry, and a quarter of this from Brian Leverett - that I ignored these recipes entirely. Instead I found instructions on the Guardian website, which was bold in the amount of ginger - five inches worth. In fact, I have shied away from that much and probably used three inches instead. Skinned, this weighs 2½ ounces. I am also concerned about the number of lemons. Four strikes me as too many, but that is what I have used.

So, on Sunday 4th November I skinned the ginger and sliced it as finely as I could. I grated the zest off the lemons and minced one pound of sultanas. The Guardian recipe asks for raisins, but I didn't have any of those in the cupboard. All of this went into my bucket and I have covered it with 3½ pints of boiling water. Again I am going to deviate from the given instructions. I am meant to leave this for 24 hours before doing anything else, but I need to put it into its demijohn on Friday night, and leaving this till Monday will be too late. I have boiled another 3½ pints of water and added the juice from all four lemons and 3 lbs sugar into the pan in which I have boiled the water. This will stand around and cool until I return from Julia's tonight, at which point I shall pour that into the bucket and add the yeast and a teaspoon of nutrient.

The processed ingredients

I put the liquid into its demijohn on Friday night, 9th November, and this was rapid work. Which was lucky, as I did my wine making tasks (including bottling the Rhubarb) before eating, and by the time I had finished I was ready for my steamed trout, plum sauce and noodles.

The wine has been smelling fabulous every day I have stirred it, and the small taste I got at this stage was promising.

*

If you want to read how the first bottle turned out (and it was good!) click here