I had a glass on my return and we have finished it tonight. It is unusual to have a bottle over Monday & Tuesday though not unknown. It is a fine bottle of wine: fruity and sharp. I may well make it again one day.
Showing posts with label Crab Apple and Blackcurrant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crab Apple and Blackcurrant. Show all posts
Sunday, 17 November 2013
Crab Apple & Blackcurrant Wine - Final Bottle (6), 11th-12th November 2013
At work, before I went home, I checked Facebook and saw that Claire's status update mentioned how cross she was and that there had better be wine available. I took the hint and offered her a choice of flavours involving blackcurrant. This bottle was the preferred option and seemed to do the trick. I was out at Airedale Symphony Orchestra when Claire opened it, and her Facebook status update that evening referred to "Comedy Exploding Wine". Apparently she had to mop up crab apple & blackcurrant froth twice. Most fizzy bottles only require this to be done the once.
I had a glass on my return and we have finished it tonight. It is unusual to have a bottle over Monday & Tuesday though not unknown. It is a fine bottle of wine: fruity and sharp. I may well make it again one day.
I had a glass on my return and we have finished it tonight. It is unusual to have a bottle over Monday & Tuesday though not unknown. It is a fine bottle of wine: fruity and sharp. I may well make it again one day.
Sunday, 16 June 2013
Crab Apple & Blackcurrant Wine - Fifth Bottle (5), 9th June 2013
We celebrated the Eve of the Feast of St Ithamar tonight. In past years we have observed the feast day itself, but in 2013 it falls on a Monday, and that is incovenient.
As part of our celebrations I cooked a SNAPE (Something New And Possibly Exciting) which I have not done for an age. This time it was Delia's Mexican Chicken Chilli, and was superb (if I do say so myself). We also had the first of this year's salad-from-the-garden, and washed it all down with a bottle of crab apple and blackcurrant.
The wine has matured well. It has a sparkle, and a strong fruity flavour. Our blackcurrant bushes are looking promising this year and I can imagine worse uses of their fruit than this. I should have spent this evening tidying in preparation for Rosie's visit on Tuesday but never mind.
As part of our celebrations I cooked a SNAPE (Something New And Possibly Exciting) which I have not done for an age. This time it was Delia's Mexican Chicken Chilli, and was superb (if I do say so myself). We also had the first of this year's salad-from-the-garden, and washed it all down with a bottle of crab apple and blackcurrant.
The wine has matured well. It has a sparkle, and a strong fruity flavour. Our blackcurrant bushes are looking promising this year and I can imagine worse uses of their fruit than this. I should have spent this evening tidying in preparation for Rosie's visit on Tuesday but never mind.
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| The first garden salad of the year |
Tuesday, 16 April 2013
Crab Apple & Blackcurrant Wine - Fourth Bottle (1), 14th April 2013
It has been an age since we had a Sunday roast. Tonight this was rectified. However, the chicken took rather longer than planned, meaning that Claire and I had polished off two thirds of this bottle, plus a hefty gin & tonic, before we started to eat. I find that drinking on an empty stomach is more effective.
The meal was excellent, though, and plentiful, and crab apple & blackcurrant is a terrific bottle of wine. Fruity and light, with a sharp bite to it. The Sunday surrounding it has been a relaxing weekend type of day, full of visits to the garden centre, reading, snoozing and catching up on Doctor Who. What more could one want of a day of rest?
The meal was excellent, though, and plentiful, and crab apple & blackcurrant is a terrific bottle of wine. Fruity and light, with a sharp bite to it. The Sunday surrounding it has been a relaxing weekend type of day, full of visits to the garden centre, reading, snoozing and catching up on Doctor Who. What more could one want of a day of rest?
Sunday, 9 December 2012
Crabapple & Blackcurrant Wine - Second Bottle (2), 8th December 2012
When a concert has gone well there is no better feeling. Spirits and adrenalin are up, and the world is momentarily a happier place. This was the experience last night after our WYSO concert, where we played Beethoven's 8th, Mozart's 40th and a Haydn cello concerto. Three weeks ago I was predicting dire things, but it all came together beautifully (despite my lip dying in the last movement of the Beethoven).
This bottle was a celebration and shared with Rachel, Duncan, Fiona and my mother. It is a light, fizzy red which goes surprisingly badly with lemon drizzle cake but is otherwise a tasty brew. I only had two small glasses on account of the morning's hangover after a work night out.
This bottle was a celebration and shared with Rachel, Duncan, Fiona and my mother. It is a light, fizzy red which goes surprisingly badly with lemon drizzle cake but is otherwise a tasty brew. I only had two small glasses on account of the morning's hangover after a work night out.
Sunday, 7 October 2012
Crab Apple & Blackcurrant Wine - First Bottle (3), 30th September-2nd October 2012
Claire made an oxtail stew on Sunday. It was her first time with this cut of meat and it resulted in a superb gravy with lots of bone. The only possible colour of wine to accompany the meal was red, so I opened our first bottle of Crab Apple & Blackcurrant. In terms of the food, a heavier red would have been better - probably elderberry. However, on its own terms, this is a great wine. It is light and fruity and extremely drinkable. That said, we did not finish the bottle - a task left to Claire for Tuesday night. I went to the Dogs in Sheffield as a work night out (total loss - about £6) and got back near midnight to find the bottle empty.
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Jobs I have been doing since the beginning of 2012
Racking the Crab Apple & Soft Fruit. I racked the Crab Apple & Strawberry on 1st January 2012. This had a large deposit and needed the whole of a pint of water plus six ounces of sugar put in following racking. It produced a worrying smell of vinegar. Crab Apple & Blackcurrant, racked on 5th January, also had a large deposit, much of which ended up in the racked demijohn by mistake. I struggle to see liquid levels through brown glass. Again, I added a pint of water & six ounces of sugar.
Racking the Quince. I did this on 19th January. Its clarity is somewhat less than ideal. I put in another teaspoon of pectolase in the no-doubt vain hope of rectifying this. There was only a small deposit, and the taste was unpalatably dry. I managed to dissolve six ounces of sugar in three-quarters of a pint of water and fit this all in. My hopes for this wine are currently low.
Racking the Christmas Tutti Fruti. I racked this on 10th February. The sludge filled one third of each demijohn. This is a heavier deposit than I remember from any wine - though flicking through the pages of my diary may prove me wrong. However, the taste I got from each was thick. Too much like a fruit smoothy. Therefore, I do not despair that I had to put two and a half pints of water and six ounces of sugar into both demijohns. I probably picked up more sediment than none. Oh well.
Bottling the Gooseberry. I bottled the Gooseberry on 29th January. It isn't as sweet as I had feared on racking. This is a successful gooseberry; clear, unmusty, light. Definitely a summer drink. My only criticism is that it is not as good as the Gooseberry & Elderflower.
Bottling the Gooseberry & Elderflower. This happened on 29th January and was a revelation. It is fabulous. The elderflower adds perfume, the gooseberries sharpness and the sultanas depth. In an uncharacteristic show of being a Good Husband, I allowed Claire to drink the majority of the bottling glass whilst I made do with the unadorned Gooseberry (which, itself, was definitely drinkable). Now the quandary is whether I ever do pure gooseberry again.
Bottling the Redcurrant. I bottled the redcurrant on 5th February, and it is a little disappointing, mainly down to its thinness. There is nothing actively wrong with it (I hope the hint of mustiness was my imagination) but it is bland. Possibly it will mature into something more substantial, but I have my doubts. Still, it is a pretty colour, and Claire has suggested blending it with another wine, though I have yet to work out which one.
Bottling the Rose Petal. I did this on 14th February. On my walk to work this morning, I had the brilliant idea of celebrating Valentine's Day - the day most associated with roses - by bottling my Rose Petal wine. It has cleared (mostly) and is a lovely pink colour. The taste, if I am honest, is very slightly disappointing. There is a strong rose element to the mid flavour, but the whole is not as interesting as I had hoped.
Racking the Quince. I did this on 19th January. Its clarity is somewhat less than ideal. I put in another teaspoon of pectolase in the no-doubt vain hope of rectifying this. There was only a small deposit, and the taste was unpalatably dry. I managed to dissolve six ounces of sugar in three-quarters of a pint of water and fit this all in. My hopes for this wine are currently low.
Racking the Christmas Tutti Fruti. I racked this on 10th February. The sludge filled one third of each demijohn. This is a heavier deposit than I remember from any wine - though flicking through the pages of my diary may prove me wrong. However, the taste I got from each was thick. Too much like a fruit smoothy. Therefore, I do not despair that I had to put two and a half pints of water and six ounces of sugar into both demijohns. I probably picked up more sediment than none. Oh well.
Bottling the Gooseberry. I bottled the Gooseberry on 29th January. It isn't as sweet as I had feared on racking. This is a successful gooseberry; clear, unmusty, light. Definitely a summer drink. My only criticism is that it is not as good as the Gooseberry & Elderflower.
Bottling the Gooseberry & Elderflower. This happened on 29th January and was a revelation. It is fabulous. The elderflower adds perfume, the gooseberries sharpness and the sultanas depth. In an uncharacteristic show of being a Good Husband, I allowed Claire to drink the majority of the bottling glass whilst I made do with the unadorned Gooseberry (which, itself, was definitely drinkable). Now the quandary is whether I ever do pure gooseberry again.
Bottling the Redcurrant. I bottled the redcurrant on 5th February, and it is a little disappointing, mainly down to its thinness. There is nothing actively wrong with it (I hope the hint of mustiness was my imagination) but it is bland. Possibly it will mature into something more substantial, but I have my doubts. Still, it is a pretty colour, and Claire has suggested blending it with another wine, though I have yet to work out which one.
Bottling the Rose Petal. I did this on 14th February. On my walk to work this morning, I had the brilliant idea of celebrating Valentine's Day - the day most associated with roses - by bottling my Rose Petal wine. It has cleared (mostly) and is a lovely pink colour. The taste, if I am honest, is very slightly disappointing. There is a strong rose element to the mid flavour, but the whole is not as interesting as I had hoped.
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Crab Apple & Soft Fruit Wine - the making of ...
I started making both Crab Apple & Strawberry, and Crab Apple & Blackcurrant wine on 9th October.
As is usual, I have been storing fruit in the freezer for several months. Unlike other years, though, this has partly been by design for October experiments. In July, Claire suggested that I try making Crab Apple & Strawberry as a flavour. Then, when I picked our blackcurrants and got 1 lb 10 oz, I thought some of that could go towards Crab Apple & Blackcurrant. Pleasingly, this particular wine is entirely from our back garden (unless one counts the yeast, sugar, chemicals and water of course - which I don't).
The basic recipe and method is the same for both wines - 1 lb of soft fruit, 4 lbs crab apples, 3 lbs sugar and 6 ½ pints of boiling water.
I picked 8 lbs of crab apples in the drizzle after an irritating Sunday lunchtime visit to Sainsbury's to buy sugar. There are still plenty of apples on the tree and these will either be turned into jelly or left for the birds. I suspect the latter. I spent Sunday afternoon boiling water, crushing fruit, whizzing apples through the food processor and weighing sugar. As the soft fruit was frozen, I poured half a pint of boiling water over each variety whilst it was in its respective bucket, and then mashed them. This made the process easier. I spent the time, whilst the food processor was not spinning loudly, listening to the CD that I was involved in recording back in May - the St Dogmael's Shakespeare one. I recognise that this is a little narcissistic.
I added the yeast and one teaspoon of nutrient and pectolase to each bucket the following morning and stirred.
Both varieties went into their demijohns on Saturday afternoon, 15th October. The day proved to be a busy one: in the morning I drove my bassoon over to Crossflats for its annual MOT, and in the afternoon I helped Julia pick hundreds of apples from four of her trees.
The strawberry version is fermenting aggressively, and has begun its bid for freedom out of the demijohn (which is why I keep it in the bath at this stage). I have put the somewhat tamer blackcurrant version into a darkened demijohn.
As is usual, I have been storing fruit in the freezer for several months. Unlike other years, though, this has partly been by design for October experiments. In July, Claire suggested that I try making Crab Apple & Strawberry as a flavour. Then, when I picked our blackcurrants and got 1 lb 10 oz, I thought some of that could go towards Crab Apple & Blackcurrant. Pleasingly, this particular wine is entirely from our back garden (unless one counts the yeast, sugar, chemicals and water of course - which I don't).
The basic recipe and method is the same for both wines - 1 lb of soft fruit, 4 lbs crab apples, 3 lbs sugar and 6 ½ pints of boiling water.
I picked 8 lbs of crab apples in the drizzle after an irritating Sunday lunchtime visit to Sainsbury's to buy sugar. There are still plenty of apples on the tree and these will either be turned into jelly or left for the birds. I suspect the latter. I spent Sunday afternoon boiling water, crushing fruit, whizzing apples through the food processor and weighing sugar. As the soft fruit was frozen, I poured half a pint of boiling water over each variety whilst it was in its respective bucket, and then mashed them. This made the process easier. I spent the time, whilst the food processor was not spinning loudly, listening to the CD that I was involved in recording back in May - the St Dogmael's Shakespeare one. I recognise that this is a little narcissistic.
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| The strawberry version in its bucket |
Both varieties went into their demijohns on Saturday afternoon, 15th October. The day proved to be a busy one: in the morning I drove my bassoon over to Crossflats for its annual MOT, and in the afternoon I helped Julia pick hundreds of apples from four of her trees.
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| The blackcurrant version in its bucket |
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