Rhubarb Wine 2018 - Tenth Bottle (C6), 29th November 2020

Oh, I'm an old man. Most of my waking hours - nine of them - were spent kneeling on the floor, creating a Tardis panel for the Street Advent Calendar. That is nine hours of crouching and kneeling whilst designing, measuring, cutting, gluing and placing carefully. After about three hours of this, each time I got up I made an old-man groaning noise. Two days later and I am still stiff. The end result, though, is fantastic. A bottle of rhubarb wine as muscle-relaxant was definitely the thing to have. And, in fact, I thoroughly enjoyed feeling like I was at Primary School again, with rounded scissors, lots of coloured paper and glue. It was a good day.

My Tadis Advent Panel. Nine hours work!

Prune & Parsnip Wine 2019 - Second Bottle (A6), 19th-20th February 2020

Claire and I both came home a little discombobulated on Wednesday. My day had been full of mistakes and complaints. The sort of day where Imposter Syndrome is at its strongest. Claire was cross with IT: with her computers and network not working, she can do little work. To remedy matters I cooked a fish pie (though forgot to add parsley to the white sauce) and we drank much of a bottle of Prune & Parsnip. It was finished on Thursday after a slightly better day and before an episode of Doctor Who.

Taken on 20 February. If you look very carefully

you should see a rainbow.

Rose Petal & Orange Wine 2018 - Second Bottle (5), 12th-13th March 2020

I think that this wine has improved a little through keeping: there is a hint of butter to its taste. The rose petal is dominant but the orange is there and helps.

I was home along on Friday night and drank half the bottle to the series finale of Doctor Who, which was actually quite good. The country is currently in the grip of Pandemic Panic - supermarket shelves are empty of pasta and toilet paper. The only thing that I am stockpiling is wine.

One of our cats, unbothered by Pandemic Panic

Blackcurrant Wine 2017 - Ninth Bottle (A5), 30th January 2020

Thursday night bottles should generally be disappointing. At best they should be ordinary. And we certainly shouldn't finish them in one sitting. This bottle of blackcurrant wine did not fit a Thursday.

It was excellent - smooth, fruity with a hint of vanilla. Of course we drank the lot, most of it whilst I was cooking a tortilla, but some whilst watching an excellent and intriguing episode of Doctor Who. This series feels like it is back on form and finally, finally Jodie Whittaker does seem to be The Doctor.

A photo I took on 30 January.

Rhubarb Wine - Sixth Bottle (C2), 16th November 2018

On Wine Party Eve, Claire and I asked each other whether we should open a bottle of wine. Claire said that if we opened one, we wouldn't have to finish it. We then both fell about laughing.

I chose Rhubarb on the basis that it won't appear at the Party - and also that it is a good one. Claire guessed that it was apple wine on tasting it, and I see what she means - there is a sharp cox tasted to it.

We spent the evening waiting for Sooz to arrive from Dublin, watching old episodes of Inside No. 9 and Doctor Who - Zanzibar and Turn Left respectively (and both excellent). By the time that Sooz actually arrived, I had gone to bed.

Elderberry Wine - Sixth Bottle (A1), 28th October 2018

After a Sunday playing octets, a lazy evening was in order. I warmed a bottle of elderberry wine by the stove and we drank it to cannelloni. The wine has now had a year to mature and is all the better for it. The rest of the evening was spent either watching an episode of Doctor Who about giant spiders (me) or hiding in the kitchen due to arachnophobia (Claire).

It wasn't this episode, or this Doctor

Jasmine Tea Wine - First Bottle (4), 26th October 2018

On my first sip of this wine I thought "This is strange. I wonder if I like it." There was a certain heaviness and something cloying. Jasmine Tea Wine is some distance from being a crisp white. My second and subsequent sips proved that yes, in fact, I did like it. As well as its weight, there is a perfumed taste on top, which will be the Jasmine Tea, and that makes all the difference. It is certainly better than straight Tea Wine.

We drank the bottle while watching the Rosa Parks episode of Doctor Who, which I loved. I'm still getting used to the new Doctor, though. I think she's fine but I need familiarity.

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

Orange Wine - Fifth Bottle (A6), 8th September 2018

Saturday was one of those days taken up by wine making and chores. I put my blackberry into demijohns, racked my rose petal and picked elderberries. When not doing all that I was washing up, shopping for food and cooking fish pie. I fit in an episode of Doctor Who (all are currently on i-player and I am working my way through Matt Smith) and cut my finger badly when slicing a lemon. Plus we had a bottle of orange wine. So a thoroughly unremarkable Saturday and none the worse for it.

Xmas Tutti Fruti - Fifth Bottle (A2), 27th-28th June 2018

Having had a weekend of concerts, I am now in that summer period where there are no orchestras to dash to on weekday evenings. This meant a leisurely Wednesday night, where our meal was lamb chops and three sorts of salad, plus most a bottle of Christmas Tutti Fruti, which I think is improving with age. Lots of fruit flavours and a strong hint of rose. We watched an old episode of Doctor Who on the sofa - Donna Noble's first appearance in The Runaway Bride - entertaining fluff. On Thursday Claire was out playing string quartets so I took it upon myself to finish the bottle.

Strawberry Wine - Fourth Bottle (2), 2nd July 2017

No more concerts until November. In the last eight days Claire has played in four and I have done three. All have been excellent, though. Tonight's was Airedale and we played Laura Rossi's score to a film shot in 1916 recording the Battle of the Somme while the film played behind us. During rehearsals I was able to watch some and the experience veered from exhilarating (a crash of percussion as cannons fired) and moving (all those young men, many of them shown dead). We came home to a bottle of strawberry wine and the season finale of Doctor Who. The wine is wonderful - full and rich and stuffed with strawberry. Doctor Who was confusing. I'm often left at the end thinking "What just happened there?".

Prune & Parsnip Wine - Fifth Bottle (B5), 22nd-23rd June 2017

Work has been very noisy of late. Not just literally noisy (it has been that as well) but mentally noisy. I come home and my head is full of things to be resolved and incidents of the day just gone. On Thursday night I was partially successful in creating some stillness, or at least shifting the noise to a different quality, by bassoon practice, cooking, Doctor Who and Prune & Parsnip Wine. We were careful to leave half a bottle for Friday - and supplemented the evening drinking with a rhubarb & ginger gin and a nightcap of whisky. Claire got me a bottle of Welsh whisky (Penderyn) for my birthday and it is Wonderful.

Fig Wine - Fifth Bottle (6), 29th May 2017

The day before we drank this wine Brigitta came for an evening meal and Claire made dish after dish of Morrocan food, following Claudia Roden's recipes. It was splendid food, and enough for a second round on Monday night. It being a bank holiday, we hadn't been at work and didn't have an orchestra rehearsal, so a perfect excuse to open a bottle of wine. Fig was chosen as it seemed fitting for North African food, and it really is a fabulous flavour. Exotic with a nutty aroma. We finished the bottle curled up on the sofa watching Doctor Who - a perfect end to our long weekend.

Prune & Parsnip Wine - Third Bottle (B6), 16th April 2017

We had two bottles to tidy up, but it was Easter Sunday and a glass and a half of wine each was definitely not going to be enough. So I opened, and we finished, this bottle of prune & parsnip. It was the right wine for a spicy egg biryani. The sweet depth of prune & parsnip complemented the caramalised onions and cut through the curry's heat.

With the bottle having been finished, I made a couple of bush teas and we settled down to Doctor Who. The new companion is excellent so far and I am so pleased it is back.

Orange Wine - Ninth Bottle (B6), 27th December 2016

Christmas is great. Well, maybe not the frippery and build up to it - but it is wonderful to spend the time feasting and seeing people you love en masse. However, it is also nice to sit quietly with a cat on your lap, not having to be sociable. Tuesday night was one of those rare occasions for this week, and we spent it sharing a bottle of orange wine and watching the Christmas episodes of both Bake Off and Doctor Who. Every aspect was entirely satisfactory and has recharged the batteries for the socialising still to be done.

Crab Apple Wine - Fourth Bottle (D1), 31st August - 2nd September 2016

The Great British Bake Off is back. It has been for a couple of weeks - but we drank bush tea for the first episode. I opened a bottle of crab apple for this one and drank most of it while watching lovely people make biscuits with varying degrees of success. I still don't quite understand the appeal (the programme, rather than the wine - its apple appeal is self-evident) because it should not be interesting. I am hooked, however, and on the basis of this and Doctor Who, have now bought a television licence. The loophole which allowed me to watch without one closed this week.

Christmas Tutti Fruti - Ninth Bottle (A5), 26th September 2015

I think this is a particularly good vintage of Christmas Tutti Fruti. Previous versions have been somewhat thin, but this is full bodied and delicious. All the better when you drink it with sausages, roast potatoes and onion gravy.

Claire and I spent much of our time chatting about the House while drinking this. There is still a vast amount to do to it, and we have given up the idea of moving in before Thanksgiving, which is a shame.

The rest of the bottle was drunk to Doctor Who, which is back (hurrah). It was a Dalek episode, which are often tedious, but this was well done - full of moral dilemmas and danger. And I am warming to Peter Capaldi.

There is still a vast amount to do to it ...

Crab Apple Wine - Sixth Bottle (C1), 8th November 2014

I'm really cross - and over something so trivial as well. I have just watched the final episode of the current series of Doctor Who, and it was poor. After last week's superb episode, I feel cheated. And they killed a recurring character, who I liked, for no reason whatsoever. Unforgivable. So this bottle of wine (the first of my own for over a week) has not been a happy experience. The meal it accompanied, though, was delicious - three different curries and Surprising Rice. And the day as a whole has been good - mostly rehearsing Mozart's Requiem for tomorrow's concert. My biggest failure has been to start the first movement double speed, bringing the whole thing to a crashing halt. I must remember not to do this tomorrow.

Christmas Tutti Fruti - Ninth Bottle (B3), 13th October 2014

Even though it is a Monday, we are still on holiday and therefore drinking a bottle of wine is allowed. In fact, it is almost obligatory. We have spent the day returning from Harpenden in the rain. Happily this has involved sitting on a train rather than driving. There was a long wait at Kings Cross staring at the departure board, which was a little dull. Otherwise I have enjoyed the day off and it was lovely seeing the cousins.

We drank the wine to leftovers and then Doctor Who, where Peter Capaldi seems to be channeling Tom Baker. It was a relatively good bottle, if murky in the final glass. And now I'm drinking bush tea with a cat upon my lap, pleased that I am home.

Gooseberry Wine - Third Bottle (1), 5th October 2014

It was trout for tea so we needed a dry, sharp white and this was a dry and sharp as they come. In fact the first taste was also musty, but oddly that taste took a back seat as the bottle emptied.

I had spent the day doing not very much - picking crab apples in the sunshine mostly. Claire was more inventive - experimenting with gingerbread for a work competition. The biscuit springs didn't work, so I got to eat the results. Damn shame. And Claire suspects sabotage.

I drank much of the wine while watching Doctor Who; an episode involving the Moon hatching. I thought it the best so far of a disappointing series. Claire hated it. But she is a scientist.

Claire's Gingerbread Scientists

Elderberry Wine 2011 - Final Bottle (B2), 21st September 2014

Claire asked me to open the best bottle of red that I had. This elderberry was the natural choice. She had cooked a steak & kidney pudding, and the process took the entire weekend. Hence needing something rather special. The food was excellent. I can never again protest that I do not like kidney. It was a meaty, succulent dish full of rich flavours and stodge. The wine was a perfect accompaniment. My first taste was metallic, but thereafter it was superb: rich and deep and distinctly alcoholic. This has rounded off a fabulous day, which started with bassoon quartets in Wetherby and has had elderberry picking, a lazy afternoon and Doctor Who thrown in. And Claire has just served dessert. Can life get much better?