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.

Citrus Wine - 11th Bottle (B3), 14th-15th November 2012

I have decided that Citrus Wine will not appear at this year's wine party, so chose it as our mid-week bottle this week.

Wednesday had its traumatic moments. I went to John's funeral in Wakefield. I saw him last almost exactly a year ago at my book launch. It is always hard to imagine that a person you knew no longer exists; moreso because he was my age. It was an emotional occasion and the crematorium was standing room only. He was a lovely man. Still, life continues because it must, and whilst futures may change, the past is caught and remains for us to take out of the drawer from time to time. I will think of John, pour myself another glass of wine, and will remember him again, often, throughout my own life.

Citrus Wine - Tenth Bottle (B6), 25th-26th October 2012

When Claire asked which bottle she could open on Thursday night I offered either Dandelion or Tea. Both were met with contempt and so Citrus it was. This was actually a stronger taste than I was in the mood for on either Thursday or Friday. There is nothing subtle about citrus wine: it stomps on your palate with steel capped boots, and it is lucky that it is a flavour I generally enjoy.

My Friday night's ration was drunk to a Thai prawn curry where Claire put in two chillis and it still was not hot enough. I then spent the rest of the evening bottling last year's Tutti Fruti - meaning an extra glass of wine (hurrah) and putting my Crab Apple & Strawberry into its demijohn. So yet another evening dominated by wine.

Citrus Wine - Eighth Bottle (B1), 15-17th August 2012

This was a thoroughly satisfactory mid-week bottle of wine. It has been a rare week where I have been at home every night and thus was on cooking duties for most of them. The baked trout was furthest outside my comfort zone, the garden vegetable based tortilla most within it. And Nigella's Involtini was both the fiddliest and the flashiest.

Other events of note: we have been looking after a friend's rabbit all week who does little but shake in terror and produce pellets. Less annoying than the cats, certainly, but not nearly as interesting.

None of this, of course, has anything to do with citrus wine, which was its usual tasty self, and which I finished whilst watching The Best of Men on i-player: a lovely and affecting drama about the origins of the Paralympics.

Citrus Wine - Seventh Bottle (A6) 25-27th July 2012

So far, 2011's vintage of citrus wine has been a delight. That is, until this bottle, which had distinctly nasty undertones. I hope that this is because this bottle was last out of its demijohn and thus picked up sediment, rather than the wine deteriorates through age. Time will tell. We managed to get through it, though, and it was hardly a chore.

Otherwise, this was an entirely unremarkable mid-week bottle coinciding with few even moderately interesting or diverting events. "No change there, then" I hear you, Dear Reader, cry.

Citrus Wine - Sixth Bottle (A3), 26th-27th June 2012

This bottle has coincided with more wisdom tooth problems. I only have the one left, and it is making its presence known. Monday I felt a slight twinge in the gum and pretended I had not. Yesterday and today I acknowledge there is a problem, but live in hope that it will go away. By Friday I will be booking dental appointments. Still the mouth wash might work. It certainly makes Citrus Wine taste odd, in an unpleasant way. This is a shame, as last night's two glasses (shocking for a Tuesday) were particularly good.

I drank last night's ration whilst reading 'Middlesex' by Jeffrey Eugenides. Though I am only a quarter of the way through, I think it is wonderful. Shocking, funny, beautifully written and gripping. In fact, I want to get back to it right now.

Citrus Wine - Bottle A4, 11th May 2012

Friday nights are made for drinking slightly more wine than is good for you.

I arrived home from a not entirely unstressful week at work to a stiff gin and tonic, which disappeared with unseemly haste. This was followed rapidly by a bottle of citrus wine, during which we listened to the News Quiz and the Archers, ate a satisfying meal comprising of bacon, mushrooms, onion, garlic, cream cheese and spaghetti, and chatted merrily about nothing important. I have spent the rest of the evening getting sticky with my 2012 batch of rhubarb wine, whilst grabbing the odd slurp from my final glass from this bottle. My head is swimming somewhat, but a quiet Saturday should fettle that.

Citrus Wine - Bottle B5, 6th April 2012

I could not let Good Friday pass without a bottle of wine, and this year it was Citrus. I chose the bottle to go with a Vietnamese chicken salad (courtesy of Nigella) and a lemon meringue pie (courtesy of the Hairy Bikers), and it went well with both. The sharp citrus flavour contrasted with the first and matched the second, and both food and wine were tasty. However, Sooz, who arrived today for the Easter weekend and who has mostly given up booze for Lent, described the wine as "Not my favourite".

I have spent much of the day tidying in anticipation of Sooz's arrival. The house has been knee-deep in deritus for weeks and it has taken some cleaning.

Citrus Wine - 17th March 2012

Today is St Patrick's Day, hence the green ink. And the earlier pint of Guinness, whilst Claire was rehearsing for a Vivaldi performance at Music Club. It was the last meeting of the season, so I put a pre-emptive bottle of citrus wine into the fridge, not intending to finish it. Except somehow we have. I was hoping there might be half a bottle left for Claire to drink tomorrow whilst I am playing the New World Symphony. But foiled. Instead, we have sat in the study and chatted about nothing in particular: anachronisms in 'The Mist in the Mirror', my habit of wearing only grey when I was 17, the irritation of cats. And somehow we have finished the wine. Citrus is an acquired taste, but one that I like. There is nothing subtle about it.

Citrus Wine - Bottle A2, 5th-7th February 2012

Unusually for a Sunday night, Claire and I each only had a glass of wine. That, of course, does not include the additional glass of redcurrant I snaffled whilst bottling that flavour. But even if that glass is included, it was still an atypical weekend evening. Maybe this was because our evening meal was a (large) slice of rhubarb pie - having been thoroughly stuffed with protein in the afternoon at York.

Tonight saw off the bottle; I was more than ready for a glass after cooking a lentil curry. I had reached the cross, hungry and hassled stage I often experience when preparing food - even though this is one of my regular dishes. Eating and drinking fettled that, particularly as the curry was hot and the wine was sharp. Citrus wine is a fine flavour and I will not hear a word against it.

Citrus Wine - Bottle A5, 31st December 2011 - 2nd January 2012

For the first time since making this wine, grapefruit does not entirely dominate its flavour. I could cut down on it further, but in this batch the limes are just as prominent. It is a wine that I enjoy - intense, tangy - but one that I can understand other people not liking. It went nicely with our New Year's Eve meal of cream of lemon soup and fish pie.

New Year's Eve was the quietest that I have had for two decades. We cancelled David and Amie visiting from Chester because of Claire's heavy cold and did not even manage to finish this bottle - though two large glasses of elderflower wine during its bottling process may explain that. Still, we left a couple of glasses each tonight, whilst I try not to worry about tomorrow's new job.