Crab Apple & Strawberry Wine 2020 - Second Bottle (4), 27th October 2021

Not a bad bottle of wine at all. Perhaps more crab apple than strawberry, but lovely and light. We drank the whole lot on a Wednesday evening, mostly because I was making pancakes. That may appear to be a non-sequitur but making pancakes always puts me in a bad mood. They take longer than they should, rarely reach the edge of the pan and flipping them can go badly wrong. Still, the resulting 'Pancakes Stuffed with Ham and Mushroom in a White Sauce Topped with Parmesan' (snappy title) was absolutely delicious and worth being grumpy for.

Taken on 28th October - a new shirt!

Crab Apple & Strawberry Wine 2020 - First Bottle (3), 23rd-24th June 2021

This is such a pretty bottle of wine. It is jewel-red and so clear. Taste-wise, it is not bad either and I think rather better than Apple & Strawberry. It has a fruity dryness to it that is appealing and I should have another bottle to see if I think 'crab apple' or 'strawberry' is the dominant flavour. I'm not convinced either is distinctive.

The most exciting thing to happen on either day was that some new jeans arrived through the post. By far the most expensive jeans that I have ever bought (from Spoke) but they fit perfectly and are so, so comfortable. The adage that you get what you pay for seems true on this occasion.

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

My old jeans - 32" waist apparently!

New jeans - 31" waist

Crab Apple & Strawberry Wine 2020 - The Making Of...

Sunday 25th October was a day of industry. Our evening was to be spent having a virtual dinner-party via Zoom with Mary. When dining with Mary there is always a theme: we have had foods that rhyme, foods of a particular colour and food that starts with a letter in Dvorak's name. On Sunday Claire chose the theme and that theme was 'Tapas: Pride & Prejudice style'. Therefore much of my day was spent making Spanish dishes and trying to shoe-horn a way of fitting it into Pride & Prejudice. Pickled peppers stuffed with goats cheese and sprinkled with dill represented Lydia for being both cheap and easy. Patatas Bravas represented the early fiery nature of Lizzie and Darcy's relationship.

Lydia & Whickham - Tapas Style

When not making tapas, I was making Crab Apple & Strawberry wine. The 1 lb of strawberries was fished out from our freezer a couple of hours before I started in earnest. I needed 4 lbs of apples, but our crab apple tree only had 3 lbs left on it, so I bulked it out with 1 lb of apples from the tree in our back garden - thus robbing the blackbirds and squirrels of their full ration.

Apples on our tree

I mashed the strawberries, which had yet to defrost fully, in the bucket and whizzed the apples through the food processor, putting these in as well. As 6¾ pints of water boiled, I put 3 lbs sugar into the bucket and gave everything a good stir. Once the water was boiling I poured this into the mix and stirred again. Next morning I added a teaspoon each of yeast, pectolase and nutrient.

The ingredients before processing

On Wednesday evening we drank some of last year's Apple & Strawberry Wine, which was thin and boring. Therefore, I added a teaspoon of citric acid to my bucket as an experiment to avoid that fate - though I don't actually know what effect citric acid has!

The ingredients, after processing

On Saturday morning I sieved out the fruit and put the liquid into its demijohn - this time leaving a gap to avoid any overflow, and storing some wine in a separate bottle for topping up purposes. I could have reduced the water by about half a pint in the above recipe, but now I have a lovely red coloured wine bubbling away in the demijohn.

The End Result

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

Crab Apple & Strawberry 2015 - Final Bottle (4), 10th-11th June 2020

Claire has been furloughed. I thought that this would be a disaster when told, but turns out that it works for everyone. Her current role of processing Covid 19 samples counts as voluntary work for the pandemic, so can still be done. Therefore, any time saved on furlough now might be added onto her contract at the end of her fixed term. Job's a good 'un.

We celebrated with an ancient bottle of Crab Apple & Strawberry. Despite the bits in it, it was rather good and very clearly both apple & strawberry in flavour. One day I will have crab apples again!

Taken on 11 June - the state of our

bathroom: taken to show the insurer.

Crab Apple & Strawberry Wine - Fifth Bottle (5), 28th October 2017

Whenever I am playing something at Music Club I will put a good bottle of wine in the fridge so that I have something pleasant waiting for me on my return. This time it was Crab Apple & Strawberry for my first ever solo performance. I was far outside my comfort zone so chose something easy to play well, rather than something showy to play badly: Song of the Penguins by Sam Haywood and  Little Suite by Philip Godfrey. And I gave them a pretty decent shot, meaning the wine was a celebration rather than used to drown my sorrows. Claire had stayed home - she is low at the moment - to watch Midsomer Murders and eat crisps, and she kindly left me half the bottle. It is a fine wine - crisp, fruity, dry and satisfying.

Crab Apple & Strawberry Wine - Fourth Bottle (2), 19th August 2017

Nostell Priory is not what I had imagined. Where I was expecting fourteenth century ruins next to a basic visitor centre, there stood a huge eighteenth century stately home stuffed with art and antiques, a kitchen garden and an adventure playground. We took Bob & Judith and met up with Jayne and Poppy as 'something to do', and it was excellent. I cannot recommend it enough. I could have spent hours there. However, we needed to be back. After all, there was wine to be drunk, of which this was the first bottle.

Claire thinks that Crab Apple & Strawberry is more than the sum of its parts, though I prefer the individual flavours. Certainly this does not go with sweet things. I had a slice of Judith's fruitcake when drinking a glass and the wine became too sharp, too dry.

NB The Video is of me on a zip wire at Nostell Priory. The 'ooh' makes me laugh and laugh.

Crab Apple & Strawberry Wine - Third Bottle (1), 26th-27th April 2017

I was disappointed with this wine, but that was probably because of the mood that I was in. The wine had no distinction - I got neither strawberry nor crab apple from it. It might as well have been shop-bought (which, actually, must mean it was rather good). Wednesday's bad mood was courtesy of WYSO - and more specifically the Mission: Impossible theme. I can't play it. The bassoons are forever on the off-beat and I find that (suitably) impossible. Bassoons were not built to be groovy. We were built to play Mozart.

This is not what a bassoon is meant to do

Crab Apple & Strawberry Wine - Second Bottle (6), 31st December 2016

This year I saw the New Year in. For the fourth year in a row we are staying at Duncan and Rachel's in Cambridge but certainly last year I was asleep before the chimes. This year we had lots of fun with Alexa, Duncan's new artificial intelligence computer who responds to questions and orders. She had no opinion on whether I was devastatingly handsome but knew who won Best Actor Oscar in 1957. Duncan managed to order a grand piano (quickly cancelled) and put pollonium on his shopping list. The evening was helped by large amounts of alcohol, of which this was one bottle. And because it was one bottle amongst many, I remember little about it. Though I think it was quite good.

Crab Apple & Strawberry Wine - First Bottle (3), 12th November 2016

What a genuinely excellent bottle of wine this is. Dry, pink, clear and refreshing. It has a strong strawberry taste, but the crab apple sharpens it, making the wine greater than the sum of its parts. We drank it to a Bolivian Chicken Pie that I made.

Claire spent the afternoon at the Otley Science Fair, showing people their cheek cells, so I was in charge of cooking. Being an adventurous soul, I dug out the Latin American cook book and chose something complicated - cross between a pie and a souffle with added corn. Just as I was pleased with the wine, I was proud of the result. When cooking goes right, I can really enjoy it.

Crab Apple & Strawberry Wine - Final Bottle (2), 28th August 2016

I took this bottle over to Jenny's as one of my best. We had a lovely evening - Jenny had made two cold salads (carrot & tahini, and green bean & red pepper) and chicken baked in cardamon & clove rice. Excellent food. We rounded off the evening playing Stapelmännchen - an Austrian game similar to Jenga but using colourful plastic men wth holes and long arms, rather than building blocks. I lost the final game in spectacular fashion.

The wine was lovely, though I only had a glass. Fruity and rounded.

Not even slightly associated with wine, there are two blogs written by friends of mine that I have been enjoying. One about science, written for a general audience, which can be found here (actually that one does have something to do with wine) - and one which is, so far, about a hip replacement, but I am sure will be about lots more besides - and that can be found here.

Crab Apple & Strawberry Wine - Fifth Bottle (1), 23rd July 2016

This was our third bottle of the evening, and between the four of us that is one too many. In our defence, the first was a German white, which had a lower-than-average alcohol content and was too sweet. Also, we retained a veneer of respectability by waiting until we ate before opening this wine. As penance, I have not opened a bottle tonight (Sunday), so moderation rules supreme.

The wine was as good as ever - Rachel picked up a floral taste - and we had a hearty Czech cabbage stew to go with it (and that is nicer than it sounds).

Crab Apple & Strawberry Wine - Fourth Bottle (6), 7th July 2016

I took this bottle as one of my best up to North Berwick, where we were staying with Aunt Jennifer. It was a fabulous wine - semi-sweet, taking the best tastes from both strawberries and apples. Sarah & John came round and helped finish the bottle. We had a wonderful few days in North Berwick, spending time with the extended family. Claire collected shells on the beach while I poured over photographs of my ancestors. We came home with my great-grandparents' commode.

North Berwick

Crab Apple & Strawberry - Third Bottle (5), 24th April 2016

Lambert and his fiancee, Maria, came over for a meal on Sunday night. Claire thought that a glass of crab apple & strawberry in the garden would be a lovely start to the evening. The weather, though, thought otherwise, and we stayed in the house's warmth. Still, the wine was a decent aperitif - sweet, clear and fruity. Lambert said he detected a sparkle, but I did not.

Our meal was fabulous, with the main course being a fish and seafood stew. Maria said she had not had bettter since arriving from Greece in December. I suspect she is homesick and Lambert is forcing her to speak English, even when they are alone.

Crab Apple & Strawberry Wine - Second Bottle (3), 6th February 2016

I wanted a good bottle of wine for Saturday night. It was the evening that I played in Mozart's Quintet for Piano and Winds at Music Club. And however it was destined to go, something cold, delicious and alcoholic was going to be necessary on my return.

In fact, it went pretty well, though I only just managed to avoid destroying the music in its last few bars. I stopped counting my bars' rest and realised, as the music continued around me, that I would have to come in by guess-work. This was successful, but it spooked me and the demi-semiquaver passage looked alien on the page. I busked the penultimate bar, hoping that playing a repeated E-flat would fit. It did, we reached the last bar successfully and I returned to my seat, knowing that it had been a close call. The wine was welcome.

(In the YouTube video above, it is at 18:11 that I got into trouble. The bassoonist in the clip does it effortlessly, of course.)

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.

Crab Apple & Strawberry Wine - First Bottle (4), 17th October 2015

Claire thinks that Crab Apple & Strawberry is better than wine made from its individual components. I disagree, but will graciously accept that this is an excellent wine. It is dry and rich with clear strawberry flavours that never overpower. And the colour is splendid.

I did not mean to finish the bottle but somehow it emptied as I watched the first episode of the second series of The Returned/Les Revenants. I don't think I'll bother with the rest. The first series was spooky, original and unnerving, but things can only be original once.

In other news, I ordered curtain poles and tiles for the House. And Rachael & Myles visited. The House gets my sister's stamp of approval and Myles spent most of his time running around and playing with the cat flap.

Les Revenants

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

Crab Apple & Strawberry Wine - Fifth Bottle (5), 29th August 2015

I took this bottle over to Richard & Linda's. They are going to America shortly and Linda thinks she is going to say goodbye to her father. It will be an emotional time for them. But she is in good spirits now and we had a lovely evening. Richard was chief cook and the food was fabulous. We started with baked camembert eaten fondue style. The main meal was a prawn risotto, a green salad, and olive and goats cheese hush puppies (no, I'm not sure what they are). A raspberry baked cheesecake left me feeling like I had eaten too much. The wine was good but neither distinctively strawberry or crab apple. It seems to have got drier in its maturity.

Crab Apple & Strawberry Wine - Fifth Bottle (2), 5th June 2015

Sooz is visiting as part of her 40th birthday celebrations, so I put a bottle of Crab Apple & Strawberry in the fridge. This is one of my more exclusive bottles (in that there are only six a year) and a fortieth birthday is something to celebrate. I had not realised that Sooz is barely drinking at the moment, since having severe flu earlier in the year, so she had a small glass and Claire and I finished it. In fact, it was not as good as I had remembered - too dry. But still drinkable, and toasting someone else's birthday is always worthwhile.

Crab Apple & Strawberry Wine - Third Bottle (3), 26th April 2015

Internet shopping when a bottle is close to empty may not be the most sensible of ideas. We are shortly to go on holiday in Suffolk, sharing a cottage with the usual gang. Rachel came over to guide me through buying groceries from Ocado, making use of a £20 off voucher. Good job she was there. We very nearly ended up with 500 kilograms of tomatoes and 33 chickens.

This is the first time that I have done my food shopping online, and it beats going to the supermarket. Having several glasses of wine during the process makes it more civilised and, as always, this flavour is a winner.

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

This bottle was Easter's final hurrah. Easter Monday was a lovely day, full of sunshine and Spring. It was the first day of the year where I spent most of it wearing just one layer. It is a simple pleasure, and becomes mundane as the season progresses. But the first time it happens each year provides a sense of freedom and promise.

I opened the wine with a little persuasion from Claire - she has the week off, but Tuesday marked my return to work. Once opened, though, I was glad I had. It was a refreshing, fruity, thoroughly good bottle of wine with a slight fizz and a glorious colour.