Prune & Parsnip Wine 2020 - Fourth Bottle (5), 23rd October 2021

It has been a quiet Saturday, though originally Chris & Kate were meant to stay for the weekend. That they have both fallen ill (not Covid, I think) is unfortunate but at least it meant that I didn't have to spend two hours tidying frantically. Instead I have shopped, played my mother at Scrabble, made a fabulous bread & butter pudding (from the remains of the Gugelhopf) and tried to watch Lego Batman, which was a fail from me. Oh, and drunk half a bottle of Prune & Parsnip, which is Perfectly Pleasant

Wiggy on 23 October

Blackcurrant & Raspberry Wine 2020 - Second Bottle, 11th-13th April 2021

Sunday was a day of many pleasures. The best of these was spending time in the garden of 60 Heworth Green, huddled around an outdoor stove chatting with Chris, Kate and my parents. It has been months since I have seen any of them and though we were there for only 90 minutes, it was glorious. We were snowed upon but that just made it all the more memorable.

In the evening we had another virtual dinner party with Rachel & Duncan, where this was our second bottle opened, after a bottle of Prosecco to celebrate Cornelia Gruntfuttock's birthday. The wine is excellent and I will save a bottle for Rachel & Duncan to taste when we eventually see them in person.

The snow came later

Damson Wine - Final Bottle (6), 14th June 2020

This was the bottle that I chose for my 50th birthday. It is such a good wine - rich plum tastes combined with a vanilla smoothness. We drank it to steak in a blue cheese sauce, and then a second birthday cake for pudding.

One of my two birthday cakes

The day was perfect and I should have a significant birthday more often. In the morning Claire and I went for an 8 mile walk, centering on Lead Church. Then we went to York for a socially distant birthday lunch with Mom and Pop in the garden. Back home for a snooze and we finished by Zooming with Chris & Kate, Mom & Pop, and Todd & Anne.

My Birthday Lunch

Lead Church

On the Walk

 

On the Walk

Gooseberry 2019 - Second Bottle (6), 24th May 2020

Chris posted on Facebook that he had dusted off the Family Recipe Cookbook and made pineapple chicken. Claire suggested that I do the same whilst she was at work on Sunday, and that we would need a sharp white to go with it. The recipe was remarkably easy, and very 1970s. I spiced it up with an orange pepper, garlic and a couple of chillies, and the result was delicious. It may become a regular dish rather than something remembered vaguely from childhood. Gooseberry wine was exactly the right choice: bone dry, distinctly gooseberry and, as wanted, sharp.

Taken on 24 May: Shadows of 

Leaves on a Birch Tree

Pineapple Chicken

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sherry

1 tblsp sugar

1 tsp soy sauce

2 tsp cold water

1 tblsp corn flour

4 tblsp pineapple juice

1 or 2 celery stalks

1 onion

1 pepper

Clove or two of garlic

A chilli or two

4 tblsp olive oil

4 slices canned pineapple

1 lb chicken pieces (cubes)

Marinate chicken in cornflour, water, salt, sharry, soy sauce for half an hour. Slice celery diagonally, onion and peppers lengthwise, chop chillies (leaving in such seeds as you dare), crush garlic and saute them in the oil until they look about right. My recipe says 2 mins, but that sounds like a ridiculously short time. Add in the chicken until brown. Slice the pineapple in wedges and add with sugar and juice. Simmer until thoroughly heated. Serve hot with rice.

Xmas Tutti Fruti - Second Bottle (B1), 25th-26th January 2019

Claire is working far, far too hard. She is contracted to work 9-5 Monday to Thursday. Currently she is doing 11 hour days and this week she did 4 or 5 hours on Friday as well. On Friday the only decision she could make was that we were to have a Take-Out. When I asked about wine, she looked at me blankly and then repeated that look when I suggested Xmas Tutti Fruti.

Chris and Kate came by to stay overnight on an unplanned trip to Leeds and it was lovely to see them. Neither tried the wine, however. I finished the bottle (which is a good, fruity red) on Saturday after performing a wind quintet at Leeds Music Club - which went as well as could be expected.

[NB - Photo failing to load - I may need to try from work on Monday. Imagine a photo of some sheet music!]

Blackberry Wine - Sixth Bottle (C5), 29th December 2018

We have done the Taylors and now it is the turn of the Hardys. Christmas really is an opportunity to see as many people in as short a time as possible. Our visit to York has coincided with Chris, Rachael, Paul and Myles being here - and I saw Keith and family on the 27th. It has been fabulous to catch up with everyone and I had not seen Chris since early June.

Myles is squarely into his dinosaur phase and three quarters of his presents - socks, books, toys, Bingo - were dinosaur related.

There was plenty of booze in the evening and I contributed this bottle of blackberry. It was rather better than the Parma-Violet flavoured gin on offer.

Blackcurrant Wine - Third Bottle (2), 27th January 2018

This bottle of blackcurrant wine rounded off an excellent day. Chris and Kate came over, and the first thing we did was to experience an Escape Room. This is a concept where you are locked in a room for an hour with a series of puzzles to solve against the clock. It was a huge amount of fun, and we did it with 3 minutes to spare. Then we chatted to Todd and Anne via Skype, planning our trip to San Francisco in October and catching up generally. Finally, we had a wonderful meal of various curries made by Claire. I know that none of that makes interesting reading but good days rarely do!

The wine was far better than the Mango wine finished earlier, but that sets a low bar.

The Escape Room from which we escaped

Mango Wine - Fifth Bottle (3), 26th-27th January 2018

I see that it is exactly a year since I last opened a bottle of Mango Wine. It will be some time before I open the final bottle. This was truly horrible. I only once got a hint of a taste resembling fruit. Otherwise the wine was dry and bitter and did not even have the grace to be interesting. Of course we finished the bottle - though it took a Friday and Saturday to do so.

On Saturday Chris and Kate were here. After a bottle of champagne, to celebrate their engagement (my brother, getting married!) I poured them each a glass of Mango. Kate was distinctly unimpressed and declined to finish her glass. How rude!

Prune & Parsnip Wine - Eighth Bottle (A3), 29th September 2017

I hadn't meant to open this bottle, but it was clear that once the elderberry was empty something further was required. And we are officially on holiday (Corfu on Sunday!) so there is excuse enough.

Rachael, Paul and Myles were here to help us share the wine (well, not Myles - he's four) and of the three bottles, this was Rachael's least favourite - too sherry-like. We discussed the Hardy method of washing up and how Rachael and I are both excellent at balancing clean dishes to dry. I wonder if Chris and Keith at both similarly good.

Blackcurrant Wine - Fifteenth Bottle (A4), 4th June 2017

I opened this bottle on Sunday night after an active weekend in which I discussed the merits of Bonkbusters at Book Group (very few, it turns out), ran through the wood shooting people with a  laser gun, and celebrating my brother's 50th birthday. A worrying number of party guests asked whether I was older than Chris. Which means they thought I look at least 52. I'm forty-bloody-six. How very dare they?

It was a relief to have some quiet time with a bottle of blackcurrant wine (always a good flavour), though we had Rachel and Duncan around to share it and a couple of take-out pizzas. A thoroughly satisfying weekend.

Strawberry Wine 2016 - The Making Of...

Strawberries have gone up again. £6 a kilo or, for those of us who think in Imperial, £2.73 a pound. I am certain that I could buy them cheaper in the market. But picking strawberries during Wimbledon fortnight is a tradition and it almost feels like foraging - appealing to my inner hunter-gatherer. You can't put a price on that. Well, you can. It is £2.73 a pound.

On Sunday morning, 10th July, Claire and I went to Wharfedale Grange Pick Your Own Farm to gather enough strawberries for this wine (4 lbs needed) and my autumn 'Strawberry and Apple' (another pound). We came away with 7 lbs 5 oz, and much of the extra has been turned into jam.

The fields were full of families with earnest parents trying to convince small children that this was Fun. Close to us, close enough for me to feel proprietorial about the strawberry plants in reach, William and Mia we having Fun at the top of their voices. I knew their names because their parents kept telling them to pick more quietly.

4 lbs of strawberries before mashing

Back at home I weighed, hulled and washed the strawberries and then put the 4 lbs needed in the bucket and mashed them. I poured in 3 lbs of sugar and 4 pints of boiling water, and left it for about 28 hours. On Monday night, after having met Kate - Chris's girlfriend - for the first time (she seems lovely and I approve) I took the pulp out using a collander initially, and then a jug, sieve, funnel and demijohn. I then covered the pulp in two pints of water, stirred it around a bit and left it while I washed and resterilised my bucket.

What is left of 4 lbs of strawberries at the pulp stage

Next I drained the liquid from the pulp into the bucket, now discarding the pulp, and I poured the nascent wine stored in the demijohn back into the bucket. (Strawberry wine is more labour intensive than most.) I added the yeast and a teaspoon each of pectolase, nutrient and tannin.

On Friday night I put this wine into its demijohn, which was a very quick job. It is house-brick red in hue.

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

Elderberry Wine - Third Bottle (A4), 29th December 2015

Between five adults on Tuesday night, we got through three and a half bottles, of which this was one. Claire had cooked a beef stew for Chris, Rachael, Paul and me. Myles, by this time, was in bed having refused his pasta in tomato sauce.

I am writing this on Thursday, and much of Tuesday evening is a blur - but a friendly, happy blur which makes me thankful for my fabulous family. By the end of the evening we were all sat in front of the stove, full and content.

Crab Apple Wine - Eighth Bottle (C5), 29th December 2015

In October, when the house was still a building site and Rachael visited, she suggested that at Christmas the three older Hardy siblings get together for an evening. The last time Chris, Rachael and I were together without the parents was before she met Paul. Judging by the fun we had on Tuesday night, we must do it more often. It was a lovely evening and the first bottle opened was this crab apple wine. It was fine, without being excellent, and no-one really passed any comment. I think we were having far too good a time.

Blackcurrant Wine - Ninth Bottle (C4), 19th December 2015

Our carpet has a red wine stain where Chris kicked over his bottle. I was most concerned about the loss of a glass of wine. The carpet is threadbare and stained anyway, and this is another reason to replace it. We shouldn't have opened this bottle, though - it was our third (between three) and seemed like a good idea at the time. Blackcurrant is delicious - Chris said so, so it must be true. Having so much to drink made for a poor night's sleep and a relatively sober Sunday.

Crab Apple & Strawberry Wine - Final Bottle (6), 19th December 2015

We started drinking once it was dark. At this time of year that means shortly after four. Chris was visiting and he and Claire had just made his bed. Literally. It was a flat-pack, self-assembly sofa bed. Mostly I stood around and watched.

Chris asked for something refreshing and dry. This wine is both of those things and is really rather good. It was a reward for a job well done.

Rose Petal Wine - Eighth Bottle (B2), 14th February 2015

What other bottle could I have drunk on Valentine's Day? For a day dedicated to lovers and romance, its perfumed flavour was entirely suitable.

We are in York and by happy coincidence, so are Chris, Rachael, Paul and Myles. By the time the bottle was finished, Myles was in bed and Rachael and Paul had left for a rare romantic meal. My baby-sitting duties consisted of drinking more wine than was good for me and going upstairs to check on a sleeping two-year-old about ten minutes before his parents returned.

Elderflower Wine 2014 - The Making Of ...

For the first time in many, many years I am making just a single batch of elderflower wine. Claire confessed some time ago that this was some way from being her favourite flavour. It is an irritating wine to make, so I am happy to cut it down to six bottles.

Chris visited today, Sunday 15th June, and I thought it would be a nice brotherly thing to do, to go out collecting elderflowers together. He was having none of it, though, and was quite happy to spend his time here drinking coffee and eating bratwurst instead. He had a point. After yesterday's summer sunshine, today was overcast and rainy. My shoes and jeans were sodden by the time I had finished picking. I couldn't have left this wine any later, though. The elderflowers in Stonegate Fields, which are usually late to flower, were on the verge of going over. I tried to avoid the flower-heads which had a creamy brown tinge and concentrated instead on those that were a greeny-yellow. Even with this tactic, I came away with too many flowers. I needed a pint and probably picked a pint and a half. The additional ended up on the compost heap.

Stripping the flowers took less than an hour and I got rid of as many bugs as I found (which was lots). I put the flowers in the bucket with 2½ lbs sugar, 1 litre of white grape juice, 6 pints of unboiled tap water, a teaspoon each of tannin and pectolase, and a B1 vitamin tablet and a camden tablet, both crushed.

I put the yeast and a teaspoon of nutrient in on Monday morning, stirred it twice a day and then put the liquid into its demijohn Friday early evening, 20th June. The last stage took about five minutes, if you ignore all the sterilising malarky. The wine is a yellowy biege.

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

Rhubarb & Elderflower Wine - Fourth Bottle (5), 24th-25th December 2013

Most of this bottle was had on a glorious, drunken Christmas Eve. We are in York and on Tuesday night so was Chris. This made for an entertaining, noisy evening full of debate, food, wine and whisky. Perhaps too much of the last. I woke on Christmas morning with a throbbing head. A couple of paracetamol, lots of water and an aborted attempt at walking round York City Walls settled that.

Pop and I finished the bottle late on Christmas afternoon as a tidying up exercise before the meal. The wine was less good that I remember, but entirely passable. It is one of those that gets better the more you drink. Funny that.

The Walls were closed on Christmas Day

Blackberry Wine - Eighth Bottle (D1), 24th December 2013

It has been a splendid Christmas Eve. The first part of the day was spent making sure a house sale went through at work. It was touch and go but was ultimately a success. This alone is worthy of celebration.

From late afternoon we have been in York and it has been just lovely spending time with Mom, Pop and Chris. We have chatted about the important and trivial, sat round the dinner table together and have been a family. I have also foisted a bottle of blackberry on everyone and it has been enjoyed. Amongst other drinks. Hic.

A Stonebridge Homes Estate

Citrus Wine - Final Bottle (A1), 26th January 2013

Claire suggested that something citrussy would go well with the outrageously hot prawn curry she was making, so the final bottle of Citrus Wine was dusted off and opened. The curry was excellent and not quite at the heat levels promised. The wine was a good choice as it needs a dominant meal to counter its own strong taste.

Earlier in the day I had played in a concert with a new orchestra: the Elmet Sinfionetta: which included Nielsen's Second Symphony - an unfamiliar piece but one which deserves to be better known. It is both rousing and intense, and I felt like I was clinging on by my finger nails through much of it. Sight-reading in six flats does that.

In the evening after our meal Claire sat in bed reading Angela Thirkell whilst I watched Attack the Block - a low budget horror sci-fi comedy set in an inner London tower block. It was definitely a boys' film - Chris would love it - and I could not decide if it was bordering on racist. The hero was a mugger, the villain a drug-dealing gangster and both were black. But on the whole I have decided not. It would be wrong to make all black characters dull and saintly.