Blackberry Wine 2018 - Eighth Bottle (A2), 11th July 2020

I had enough wine to stun a horse on Saturday. Going for lunch with Rodney will do that. Though restaurants are newly open again, we went for the less risky option and ate fish and chips round his house - with the condiments mostly being red wine. It was a lovely, drunken afternoon, but not one to do on a regular basis.

In the evening I opened this bottle (for Claire's sake, you understand) but still had a glass and a half myself. We watched Singin' in the Rain as a Snarkalong Film Club. It remains my favourite ever movie.

Taken on 11 July - some allotments

Orange Wine - Eleventh Bottle (A3), 27th October 2019

Claire cooked a paella on Sunday night and thought orange wine would suit it best. It was a good thought: the sharp orange flavours complement rather than overpower the sea food in paella.

Earlier in the day I took advantage of the dry autumn weather and went for a walk around Meanwood Park: not as popular as Roundhay Park and without the showcase lake, but just as beautiful. Then in the evening we watched Chicago, which is an excellent film. Not in the same league as Cabaret, but then what is?

Autumn in Meanwood Park

Blackcurrant Wine - Third Bottle (A3), 6th October 2019

It is nice to be home. We returned from a week's holiday in Croatia on Saturday evening, so Sunday was our first day back in Leeds and familiar territory. It was a good holiday and whilst England was wet and windy, we had plenty of sunshine throughout the week. Best moment? Possibly eating grilled sardines in a concrete bunker and drinking copious amounts of red wine.

Back at home my first bottle was blackcurrant - always a popular choice - to go with turkey meatballs followed by Tootsie on DVD: one of my favourite films.

Blackcurrant Wine 2015 - Twenty-third bottle (A1), 1st March 2019

Claire and I disagree about what age has done to this wine. I think it has been smoothed out, creating something better, less one-note. Claire thinks that the effect is to make it taste less like alcoholic Ribena, which is a Bad Thing. That didn't stop us sharing the bottle equally, however.

It was an ordinary Friday night in which we ate quiche made from the Sick and the Weak and watched Mad Men on DVD. In the words of Albert and the Lion, Nothing to laugh at, at all.

Blackcurrant Wine - Twentieth Bottle (C2), 13th January 2018

The most notable part of today does not involve wine at all. Claire has started trombone lessons. This was my birthday present to her - my colleagues thought it a terrible idea, but Claire had an excellent time and I am now expecting delivery of a plastic trombone at some point this week. I can only imagine how the cats (and neighbours) will react when she starts practising.

We drank this bottle of blackcurrant wine to a lentil lasagne and then to The King's Speech on DVD. I enjoyed both the wine and the film but did not love either of them. Blackcurrant wine and films about English aristocracy are both dependable.

Orange Wine - Third Bottle (B2), 21st May 2016

Before I start this post, there is something irritating happening to the 'blog views' that blogspot records. On the hour, though at random hours - and about three times a day - several hundred hits are recorded at once. It has been happening for about a fortnight. This produces spikes where there should be none. And it is annoying. On the whole it is a good day where more than 100 hits are recorded throughout a 24 hour period. I don't want 657 recorded hits if that is false. So, if it is you - please stop! Rant over.

Normal service now resumes.

Claire may have been struck by Sleeping Sickness. That is what it has felt like. Often on Saturday mornings she will sleep through her first cup of tea that I bring her in bed. This time it took four cups of tea before she woke sufficiently to have more than a sip. Then, having had a hard morning's sleep, Claire decided that an afternoon nap was Just The Thing. When she finally got up properly (and she assures me that she is not ill) it was after six - so entirely proper to open a bottle of orange wine, whih was light and refreshing. Most of it was drunk watching Madmen in the attic.

Christmas Tutti Fruti - Second Bottle (B6), 23rd January 2016

A televisual extravaganza and unusual pizza were the accompaniments to this bottle. Claire and I wrapped up warm, ventured into our Attic Room and watched the first episodes of Bleak House and Torchwood Series 3. I have seen both before, and both are terrific (in very different ways), but Claire has seen neither.

The pizza flavours were: spinach, baked egg & cured ham; and beetroot, pine-nut & feta. Both worked brilliantly. The wine, of course, was delicious. This is an excellent vintage of Christmas Tutti-Fruti - there is a richness and darkness to it, and in fact that describes both Bleak House and Torchwood: Children of Earth.

Orange Wine - Ninth Bottle (B4), 15th-16th December 2015

One of the very worst things about Christmas is doing the Christmas shop. A week and a half ago, on a Sunday, Sainsburys was bedlam. Just awful. Therefore we did our main shop on Wednesday night and this was far better (except for the dreadful music piped through the aisles). Still, we deserved some alcohol after this, and there was most of a bottle of orange wine left in the fridge. It was welcome relief, and slipped down nicely as we watched an episode of Mad Men on DVD.

Blackberry Wine - Third Bottle (C4), 16th October 2015

Claire and I showed the height of moderation by only drinking one bottle between us on Friday night. We both felt we could manage more but made do with bush tea, Pringles and chocolate instead. This is the epitome of a healthy lifestyle.

The blackberry wine was finished by 8 o'clock, and I was a little disappointed with it. It was too dry and had less of a blackberry taste than usual. We then watched the final episode of Madmen's first series, which was excellent. Only another 6 series of 13 episodes each to go, then.

No mention of Pringles, chocolate or blackberry wine here.

Christmas Tutti Fruti - Eighth Bottle (B1), 21st August 2015

I am too quiet at work, and I find that more frustrating than being too busy. When there is too much to do I zip along, get a bit snappy but feel a sense of achievement. Too quiet, and mundane tasks stretch beyond tedium. It is the August effect. But a bottle of Christmas Tutti Fruti makes things better, with its complex fruit flavours and slight fizz. This is one of the best batches that I have made. We drank it while watching Mad Men on DVD (Claire had confused it with Breaking Bad). It is glorious to look at, with all the 1950s period detail, and a good way to spend an hour.

Blackberry Wine - Tenth Bottle (B2), 8th February 2014

We had not planned to open this bottle, let alone finish it. The spare redcurrant from its bottling and the remainder of the Exotic Tinned Fruit were meant to be enough. However, it was a Saturday night and all that had gone, before we were even half way through our evening meal (which, unusually for a Saturday, was a roast chicken). So we unashamedly opened the blackberry and by the time we had finished watching Doctor Who on DVD it was gone. Partly this was pure greed, but also it is a very drinkable bottle which slips down nicely and too easily.

Peapod Wine - Fifth Bottle (4), 10th-11th July 2013

I had hoped that Peapod Wine might "Do a Dandelion" - starting off indifferent and bland when young, but maturing into something rather special two years after making. My hopes have been dashed against the rocks of experience. Peapod wine remains indifferent and bland with a faint trace of vegetable.

We drank some of the bottle after WYSO, where I am beginning to feel encouraged about Saturday's concert, and had the rest on Thursday night mostly while watching Absolutely Fabulous. I suspect it will be some time before we drink the final bottle.

Orange Wine - Fourth Bottle (B6), 16th June 2013

This batch of orange wine is one of the best that I have made. There is an absence of bitterness, and it has a clear, open taste. It was our Sunday night bottle and unusually our meal was 'The Sick and the Weak', postponed from Friday because that was my birthday. The elderly vegetables were transformed into a Chinese stew with noodles and Actively Delicious Bean Curd (shallow fried with a flour and pepper coating). Orange wine goes particularly well with Chinese food, and I am unsure as to why this should be.

After eating we finished the bottle to a couple of episodes of Absolutely Fabulous. It was a birthday present. I had asked for the first ever episode of Doctor Who but Claire couldn't find it, so bought this as a substitute. I suspect motives of self interest.

Spiced Beetroot Wine - Second Bottle (1), 20th-22nd December 2012

On my way out to Madeleine's for wine quintets, Claire asked which bottle of wine it would be acceptable to open. I told her "any" and genuinely believed it. I had not expected her to open Spiced Beetroot. Oh well.

By the time I got back, about half the bottle had gone and Claire was in a jolly mood. The two may not be unconnected. I had a small glass but save the rest for later, and 'later' proved to be Saturday night.

Saturday was an exceptionally wet day - I wore waterproof trousers to pop round the corner to buy a Guardian whilst Claire looked up suppliers of gopher wood on the internet. We finished the bottle after a Christmas Open House at the Bridgewaters and to a selection of vegetable curries, followed by a ridiculous and entirely satisfying Midsomer Murders. It is so camp.

Crab Apple Wine - Ninth Bottle (A2), 18th August 2012

Crab apple wine is disappearing faster than the Arctic ice-shelf. I noticed on Wednesday that this bottle's cork was inching its way in an upwards trajectory, so I put it in the fridge to reduce its chances of explosion. This tactic was successful and even on opening very little was lost.

We drank the bottle to home-made chicken curry pasties and then watched episodes of Doctor Who and Hi-de-Hi on DVD. The latter was interesting - it was filmed in 1980 and I have vague memories of seeing it first time round when I was ten. Whilst dated, it merits a re-watch, and it is close to tragedy, despite being a sitcom. Perhaps that is a mark of good comedy. And many of the actors, despite seeming impossibly old when I was ten, were a good deal younger than I am now. Age plays cruel tricks.

Orange Wine - Sixth Bottle (A6), 4th-5th August 2012

Having woken feeling delicate on Saturday morning, I had not been planning on a bottle of wine. Claire, though, drinks in more moderation whilst at Rydal and chose 'orange' as our home-coming flavour. In fact we only had a glass and a half each - we were both entirely washed out after a week of hedonism, and barely managed the mental capacity demanded by an episode of Midsomer Murders.

Sunday was better. I had the energy to unpack and spent a vast proportion of the afternoon planning things that needed to be planned for my trip to the Olympics on Wednesday and Thursday. Our evening meal was a quiche of garden vegetables - the broad beans being particularly good, and a marmalade bread & butter pudding denied to us at Rydal. The orange wine went well.

Elderberry Wine - 14th Bottle (C5), 19th-20th July 2012

Other than a glass snaffled by Claire on Thursday whilst I was in Ilkley playing quintets, this was an archetypal Friday night bottle. It has been a busy week, which means having a lazy Friday night, eating take-out curry and watching Midsomer Murders on DVD is an absolute pleasure. The elderberry wine merely added to this, and is a good flavour for curry:its sweet, metallic flavour holds its own against the richness and spiceness of Indian food. I am now, of course, sleepy and full. Perhaps the large glass of port was a mistake.

Strawberry Wine - First Bottle (6), 1st-3rd July 2012

Sunday was our fourteenth wedding anniversary. Written down, that sounds like an enormously long time. Certainly I find it hard to believe there was ever a time that I did not know Claire. Yet our first kiss, where I stuck my nose in her eye, feels like yesterday. Time is strange.

Fourteen years is worthy of celebration, and how better than a bottle of strawberry wine to a meal of Greek Baked Lamb (which was the first thing I ever cooked for Claire). Both food and wine were as excellent as ever, and we followed our meal by watching a remarkably silly episode of 'Midsomer Murders' - a DVD I had bought earlier in the day as an anniversary present. Who says romance is dead?

Blackberry - Bottle A3, 12th-26th November 2011

It is a rare thing indeed that I have a bottle open for a fortnight. However, so little of this was drunk at the Book Launch, that when I got it home I bunged in a cork and left it in the hallway.

This Saturday marked its re-opening and (naturally) completion. Between the four of us (Sooz and Andrew are her post-Thanksgiving) we made swift work of a bottle of Bonfire wine and needed something else to accompany our Turkey Thai Curry. In fact, we made swift work of this too - aided and abetted by a DVD of Ethel Merman and the Muppets, which was delightfully silly. Then someone suggested opening a bottle of Redcurrant ...