Xmas Tutti Fruti 2020 - Third Bottle (B5), 5th February 2022

Angie & Phil had an impromptu wine, cheese and games evening so we grabbed Blockus and this bottle of Xmas Tutti Fruti and walked the 200 metres to their house. It was a wonderful, drunken evening and the first time in an age that we stayed up past midnight. I am really quite poor at Blockus - and it is a vicious game with tactics I have yet to grasp. The wine went down nicely, with Phil and Angie having the lion's share. We (Claire and I) took the opportunity to drink more real wine than was sensible.

Taken on 30th Jan - I haven't any more recent!

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2020 - Second Bottle (A5), 15th January 2022

I took this bottle to York with me, where we had a lovely weekend with my parents. Mom cooked 'Biochemist's Lamb' and we spent the evening drinking and chatting. Pop had several helpings from this bottle so I think he enjoyed it. Rightly so! It is a light, fruity red with a touch of fizz.

On Sunday I went to the Unitarian Chapel with Mom & Pop and quite enjoyed it. I have little spirituality, though, and had to suppress that. The best element was the music: there was a terrific pianist who played Piazolla, Janacek and Lionel Bart!

Taken on 15th January

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2020 - First Bottle (A4), 25th December 2021

This is a light red wine with a warmth to the back of the throat as it slips down. There is no dominant fruit, although the wine is distinctly fruity. It is not as good as 2019's vintage but it is close (and close in taste too). Maybe maturation time is required.

Our Christmas meal was venison and was superb. Andrew did most the cooking, and at one point to dramatic effect. He opened the oven door and a sheet of yellow flame erupted out. Sooz, who was in a different room, said that she knew something had happened from a noise of general commotion and my cry of "Do we need the Fire Brigade?". Happily, we did not.

A picture for Christmas 

 

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2019 - Thirteenth Bottle (C6), 22nd October 2021

Christmas Tutti Fruti, when done well, is one of my best wines. It has depth and is just a delight to drink. That this was my first booze for five days may have helped. It was a gentle Friday night after a busy and productive week, and one where reheated macaroni and Taskmaster were exactly what was needed.

A rainbow on my way home from work.

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2019 - Twelfth Bottle (C3), 30th September - 2nd October 2021

Have I mentioned that this Xmas Tutti Fruti is excellent? Claire opened it on Thursday whilst I finished a bottle of Dandelion Wine, and I had most of the remainder whilst Claire was in Menston rehearsing with the Wharfedale Chamber Ensemble. There is little of note to report for either day and this entry will definitely not make it into my blog for being as dull as it is. But have I said that I think this wine excellent?

Modelling my Great Uncle Jerry's coat from 1936

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2019 - Eleventh Bottle (C4), 12th September 2021

This bottle marked the end of a week's holiday. We had spent most of the week in Wensleydale and Swaledale walking the Herriot Way in glorious sunshine. If anything, it had been too hot. Sunday, though, was a quiet day in which I failed to pick any elderberries. In the evening I was feeling strangely anxious about work. Monday was to be my first day back in the office after 18 months of home-working. Change never sits well with me. The wine was delicious, which helped.

No photos taken on 12 September, but here is one from the Herriot Way

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2019 - Tenth Bottle (B2), 30th July 2021

We are on holiday. And this time the holiday will involve going away from home! After the disaster that was 2020, Rydal is back on. Whether sitting in a confined space blowing down my bassoon with 40 friends surrounding me is entirely sensible remains to be seen, but I cannot express my joy sufficiently. Friday, though, was exceptionally busy at work and a bottle of wine afterwards was a given. I didn't really pay much attention to this flavour - I was more interested in the effect. The day's edges became suitably blurred.

Taken on 30th July. I like the idea of a shop where
those plotting evil deeds buy their food and drink.

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2016 - Final Bottle (B4), 16th July 2021

I had remembered this bottle as one of my weaker vintages of Christmas Tutti Fruti, but this final bottle was excellent. There was a complex fruity taste that Claire thought reminiscent of real wine. I was in too bad a mood to notice at the beginning and by the time my mood had improved sufficiently I forgot to notice. It is a shame that there is not another bottle left so that I could pay attention.

(Typing this up two and a half months later, I have no memory of why I was in a bad mood!)

A photo taken on 16 July, no idea where!

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2019 - Ninth Bottle (A4), 19th June 2021

Having opened a sub-standard bottle of Apple & Strawberry, I opted instead for a Christmas Tutti Fruti. It was a Saturday night after all, and therefore an evening to have something nice. Also we needed plenty of alcohol to dissolve the heat from our meal - 'Devil's Curry', which was as blistering as it sounds. On finishing this bottle we reached again for the Apple & Strawberry which was, perhaps, a mistake. The rest of the night is a barely remembered blur.

My bassoon and reeds - taken on 19 June

Xmas Tutti Fruti Wine 2019 - Eighth Bottle (A5), 27th-28th May 2021

Since Lockdown began in March last year, I have been into the office six times. Four of those were to pick up stationery. Visits five and six were on Thursday and Friday this week - and were to tidy up for the impending office move. It was strangely melancholy throwing out handwritten notes from 2013, which were important at the time but have not been looked at since. 

We drank this Tutti Fruti both evenings in front of the computer watching Derry Girls and ER respectively - both well made television. The wine was as good as ever.

Telephones stored in the Office

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2019 (C2), 15th May 2021

I am so pleased with this Tutti Fruti. I obviously did something right when making it. Though it is clearly a red, it has a lightness and a refreshing quality that one would expect from a white.

Saturday was a gentle, undemanding day, in which I got caught in a downpour and lost to my mother at Scrabble (by only 7 points!). I said at the end of April that we were desperate for rain, and there hasn't been a dry day since. One day I'll be able to mow the lawn.

We finished the day by watching Bill with the Snarkalong Film Club - a comedy from the Horrible Histories Team about Shakespeare as a young man. I had expected it to be excellent, and it was merely amusing.

The downpour in which I got caught

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2019 - Sixth Bottle (C1), 22nd-23rd April 2021

We are creatures of habit. Wednesday night we watch Spiral and Thursday night is now Derry Girls and Staged. Our television plans are written on a list at the weekend, along with what we will eat that night and who is to be chef. 'Spontaneity' is not a word I know. I don't, however, plan which bottle to open and base that on a combination of what we are eating and what we both fancy. On Wednesday night that just happened to be Xmas Tutti Fruti. This wine is excellent, one of the best vintages I have made, and merits more than a mid-week status.

A random photo taken on 22 April

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2019 - Fifth Bottle (B5), 19th March 2021

A Friday night bottle at the end of an irritating week. Irritating because of work not going entirely to plan, rather than anything more profound. The wine is excellent and rather too easy to drink. Much of it was drunk to a Taylor family Zoom, in which we mostly discussed Covid. Claire and I have our first vaccinations tomorrow. At last - something that the Government is doing well and efficiently.

A random photo of an ornament taken on 19 March

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2019 - Fourth Bottle (B6), 2nd-3rd March 2021

Another fine bottle of Xmas Tutti Fruti - a light red that is easy to drink. The only notable thing to happen either day is that we have booked a holiday. Perhaps a foolish thing to do in these uncertain times, but I am hopeful about this one. Admittedly it is, like my last three holidays, a walking holiday in Yorkshire. But this time it is the Herriot Way - a 50 mile circular walk over four days, staying in posh hotels each night. Rachel has organised it and my inner Yorkshireman is to be suppressed. Come September I will be ready to splash out on fancy accommodation and haute cuisine. 

Some abandoned headphones
encountered on a morning walk

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2018 - Final Bottle (A4), 13th February 2021

What a splendid bottle of Xmas Tutti Fruti. It was rich and full of berries, and it is a shame that this was the last of its vintage. We drank it after having a Zoom Gin & Tonic (or two!) with Catherine and whilst firstly eating sausages (sausages are a wonderful thing) and secondly whilst watching Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Apart from the zombies, it was remarkably close to Austen's original - but I flaked out three quarters of the way through and had to go to bed.

Pinned to a park notice board.

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2016 - Eleventh Bottle (B5), 28th-29th January 2021

Claire's verdict on this bottle was 'Better than a midweek bottle, not quite good enough for the weekend'. That is quite niche in its categorisation. My verdict is that it has the dryness of real red wine but (despite all its fruit) neither its complexity or depth. I had planned a booze-free night on Thursday but Claire returned from work irritated by bureaucracy so I was easily persuaded. Also I had a rare day of feeling low about the virus. Thursday's continuous drizzle didn't help.

Photo taken on Sunday,
Cake finished on Thursday

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2019 - Third Bottle (B4), 17th January 2021

Little Miss Muffet 

On Sunday evening we had a Zoom High Tea with Mary. Our theme was 'nursery rhymes'. Claire made Little Miss Muffet and the terrifying spider from meringue. Alas, Mary is a vegetarian, so she was unable to have a little lamb, but instead took on the Queen of Hearts' persona and made some tarts. I made a Sicilian Orange and Lemon cake - which only has a tenuous connection - but it was excellent. As light as any panettone. We didn't mean to finish this bottle of wine, but somehow it slipped down just a little too well.

My Sicilian Orange & Lemon cake

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2020 - The Making Of...

Christmas this year, in The Year of The Pestilence, has been different around the country. Those in southern England must celebrate alone. In the north, we were allowed to mix with one other household, but only for the day. Claire and I stayed put - our first Christmas in only each other's company since around 2006. And we had a lovely time. Being married to one's best friend is such a gift, and in this year of enforced isolation has been vital.

We spent much of the day on a 12 mile walk, which I had said would be nine, and watching The Crown (now that I have finally relented and subscribed to Netflix). The first thing I did, though, on Christmas Day, was to empty the freezer of fruit, weigh it and put it into the bucket to defrost.

Much of the fruit

In the order in which this came from the freezer, this wine has:

• 1 lb 10 oz blackberries
• 6 oz yellow raspberries
• 2 lbs 9 oz gooseberries
• 2 oz blackcurrants
• 1½ oz rosepetals
• 1 lb 2½ oz elderberries
• 4 oz red raspberries
• 1 lb 9½ oz damsons
• 3 oz red gooseberries
• 1 lb ½ oz sloes
• One clementine (2 oz) (which should have been a satsuma or a tangerine, but never mind)

That all comes to 9 lbs 2 oz of fruit - more than plenty for a double batch.

After attacking the fruit with a potato masher

It defrosted until Boxing Day morn, at which point I attacked the fruit with a potato masher and poured over 12 pints of boiling water. The wine received 5 lbs 11 oz sugar in time, but I only had 3 lbs of sugar at that point in the house, which went in and was stirred until it dissolved.

The discarded fruit

I added two teaspoons of yeast (a new variety - and I checked it was working before adding it), two of nutrient and one of pectolase together with the additional sugar on 27th December. By New Year's Eve, where in normal years we would be in Cambridge, this was ready to go into its demijohn. This was a slow process enlivened by a You're Dead to Me podcast about vampires in Romantic Victorian Literature, and it was clear that I could have used two pints less water in the recipe. The wine is an alarming and wonderful burgundy-with-a-splash-of-purple colour, but it looks like the sediment will be huge.

Two demijohns of alarmingly coloured wine

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2019 - Second Bottle (C5), 25th December 2020

This is an excellent bottle of wine. It has so much fruit packed into the taste that it is difficult to extract any one individual flavour. There is a real depth to the wine and I am delighted that there are still 16 bottles to go.

It was a quiet Christmas this year, for obvious reasons. Claire and I had a 12 mile walk to Shadwell, Thorner and back. Despite having done this walk twice this year already, I still managed to deviate from the route (a euphemism for 'get lost') on two occasions. Claire was good-naturedly scathing and it made the walk memorable.

A long, muddy, Christmas Day walk

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2018 - Eleventh Bottle (B2), 20th December 2020

Claire requested a light red for our meal, which was 'The Egg & Pepper Thing', and Xmas Tutti Fruti fits the bill nicely. Blindfolded, you probably couldn't tell that it was a red wine. Still tasty, though.

Sunday was a relaxing day where I did very little but struggle with the Guardian Prize Crossword and go for a 6 mile walk to Shadwell and back. But after the week that I have had, a relaxing day was welcome.

On the path leading from Shadwell