Blackberry Wine 2019 - Fourteenth Bottle (A5), 6th August 2021

I was disappointed with this blackberry - there was something earthy in its flavour and it was not sufficiently sweet. Of the three bottles that I took to Rydal I had expected this to be the best and it clearly was not. I was glad to have it, however: the bar was shut and a sober last night would have been more than unfortunate.

Friday had my musical highlight of the week - playing the Poulenc Trio with Matt and Jane. We worked at the middle movement and we sounded glorious. That is near literally blowing my own trumpet.

Nick on a damp walk near Rydal Hall

Elderflower, Mint & Rhubarb Wine 2019 - Fifth Bottle (3), 4th August 2021

Despite Covid 19, we made it to Rydal this year, and I cannot express what a joyous week it has been. Playing again in an orchestra that I love and with my favourite group of people has just been wonderful. 

This wine was the first of three opened during the Rydal week, after a day of walking in brilliant sunshine with Claire and Judith - so there was an element of it feeling earned. Nick claimed he was allergic to mint so didn't have any, and Kirsty pulled a face, but otherwise this bottle was enjoyed.

Claire and Judith on a long, hot walk.

Rhubarb Wine 2019 - First Bottle (B2), 1st May 2020

Today we were meant to start our annual walking holiday, this year in Ludlow. The cottage was booked in January and the usual crowd were all coming. Instead, I will still have a week's walking holiday, but all that walking will be done in North Leeds. The 10 of us who should have been on holiday, though, met up for Zoom Cocktails, and that was lovely. Not as good as all being in the same room but still a virtual party. Because Nick was there I opened this rhubarb wine, which has retained its pink colour but has yet to absolutely clear. Other than lack of clarity, it was an entirely acceptable rhubarb wine.

On my walk on 1 May, round Eccup Reservoir

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

Rhubarb Wine 2020 - The Making Of...

I have been concerned about rhubarb stocks for wine this year. On the basis that non-essential travel is at best frowned upon and at worst illegal, getting rhubarb from Nick - who lives in Morley and is my usual rhubarb source - wasn't really an option. Whilst we have plenty of rhubarb plants in both front and back gardens, many are junior and a bit weedy. Those that are not are mostly used to make porridge more interesting. I managed to persuade Claire that there would be enough for me to make a single batch of pure rhubarb wine and then, in June, a batch of rhubarb, elderflower & mint - but really I wanted to do a double batch of the former. In years gone by, I have done a triple.

One of our less weedy rhubarbs

It was fortuitous, then, that a couple of weeks ago there was a stormy night (no rain, just wind) that wreaked havoc on our neighbour Liz's rhubarb plant, but which left ours pretty much unscathed. Liz did a batch of wine herself but asked whether I would like any too and brought round 3 lbs in return for a teaspoon of yeast. I chopped these stalks and left them in the freezer for a week or so, getting them out to defrost on Sunday morning, 17th May. Later that day, I negotiated carefully with Claire about which rhubarb plants from our garden could donate another 3 lbs of stalks and once collected I washed and chopped these too.

All rhubarb pieces, including the recently defrosted ones, went into my bucket along with all the sugar I had - 4 lbs 12 oz - and 12½ pints of boiling water. I really needed to put in 6 lbs of sugar, but thought that putting in the remainder later would probably be fine.

On Monday morning I added a teaspoon each of yeast, nutrient and pectolase, and on Tuesday I ventured out for sugar. Baking products are scarce in this era of Covid 19 and all Sainsburys stored was dark brown sugar (though I did manage to grab a bag of white bread flour, which has become as rare as the Siberian Tiger, and don't talk to me about bread yeast!), so I used this instead. Brown sugar is far bulkier than white and I am concerned that it will affect the flavour - it has certainly altered the colour - so I only used 1 lb of this.

I put the wine into its demijohns on Friday 22nd May. There was more sludge that usual, and I think this is because I froze half the rhubarb. The wine is more orange than pink.

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

Prune & Parsnip 2018 - Seventh Bottle (B4), 9th-12th November 2019

I like Prune & Parsnip Wine. My guests, on the whole, did not. It came ninth at the Wine Party, getting 2.56 out of 5. Nick was kind and called it "Not Actually Revolting" and bizarrely Janet detected chilli and banana flavours.

Mark brought a homemade cheese to the party which he described as being of 'dubious quality'. I thought it was very good - it was a hard cows' milk cheese and about the size of a rusk. It took 3 gallons of milk to make it. Cheese-making is a hobby that I feel no need to acquire.

My Prune & Parsnip comes from this book

Elderberry Wine 2017 - Fourth Bottle (A3), 9th-10th November 2019

Exploiting the theory that elderberry wine needs time to mature, I did not open a 2018 elderberry for my Wine Party, but instead fished out one made two years ago. And it did alright, coming 5th out of 12 with an average score of 3.64. It was still my least popular red of the evening. Nick described it as lighter than expected and Mary was most effusive, writing 'Fabulous', scoring it 5.5 and quoting Monty Python and the Holy Grail on her score card.

As ever, the Wine Party was an excellent evening, though Claire flaked out early, at a point where I had been wondering if I could go to bed. That would have made us Terrible Hosts, so I manfully kept on drinking.

Cherry Wine - Second Bottle (5), 9th November 2019

I thought that this bottle was rather better than our last bottle of Cherry Wine. I did not notice the bitterness, and this was only one of two bottles finished at the Wine Party (the other being the winner: Damson). It was only just in the top half, though, coming sixth out of 12, with an average score of 3.25. Nick noticed a slight chemical tang but admitted that it was drinkable. Janet and Mark were in complete disagreement about the bouquet, with Mark writing 'Not such a good nose' and Janet writing 'Good cherry nose'. Mark and Janet are married to each other.

Rhubarb Wine 2019 - The Making Of...

On a wet Wednesday evening in late May, Claire and I drove to Nick's house in Morley to gather rhubarb. In previous years, Nick has delivered rhubarb to us but we were curious about his allotment and so made arrangements to visit. Nick lives within the Rhubarb Triangle and he has an impressive patch. His rhubarb originated from our garden and, whilst our plants are fine, his are flourishing. Giving rhubarb away in vast quantities helps Nick control his stock but it threatens to take over. The remainder of his allotment is well-ordered and lush and the rhubarb is kept in one (large) corner.

Between us we pulled up 6 lbs of stalks, concentrating on the pinker variety, and this was not a difficult or lengthy task. One cup of tea later we were on our way home with our haul, plus some chard plants for the garden.

I started the wine on Friday night, 31st May, whilst Claire was out rehearsing string quartets for Saturday's party. 6 lbs of rhubarb stalks is what is required for a double batch. I washed these, chopped them into slices of about 1 cm in thickness (only spilling one bowl over the floor and swearing loudly) and put them into my bucket. I added 6 lbs sugar and 12-and-a-half pints of boiling water. Rhubarb wine is really very easy!

Saturday morning I added a teaspoon of yeast and pectolase and a teaspoon and a half of nutrient. Ordinarily I would have put this into demijohns on Wednesday, but Wednesday night is WYSO night, so I did this on Thursday instead. I fished the rhubarb pieces out with a colander as far as I could and kept these in a sterilised bowl. I then used the jug, funnel and sieve method to get the (now striking pale pink) liquid into its demijohns. There was quite a gap in each demijohn by the end so I washed my hands and squeezed down the saved rhubarb, pouring the released liquid into my jug. This went into my spare bottle for topping up the demijohns.

With either great foresight or luck, I emptied the jug into the bottle after getting about three-quarters of a pint. When the jug had another half pint in, I knocked it over, spilling its contents all over everything. There was much swearing at this point, followed by a concerned wife coming into the kitchen and some frantic mopping. Not a great disaster in the grand scheme of things, but intensely annoying.

I racked this on 3rd July, less than a month from putting it into its demijohns. It got half a pint of water and 3 oz sugar divided between the two demijohns.

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

Zucchini Wine - Third Bottle (3), 10th May 2019

Well, that is another bottle down the sink. Only three left to go.

This was my comedy wine for the Kelso holiday and saved until the last night, specifically so that Ann would not have to try it. She thinks that the joke has worn somewhat thin. In fact, I think this wine has lost some if its offensiveness. Nick said that its worst crime was blandness. Wendy & Richard thought it drinkable. They were in the minority but it does solve the problem of what to do with the remaining three bottles.

The wine was poor reward for having done a 12 mile walk (advertised as 9) to the top of Windy Gyle via the Heatherhope Valley.

Exploring an Iron Age Hill Fort above Heatherhope Valley

Rhubarb Wine - First Bottle (C1), 6th May 2019

On the basis that Nick supplied the rhubarb for this wine, I took the first bottle with me to Kelso and gave him the first glass. It is not as clear as previous vintages, but it has a pink blush and the taste is good. It always surprises me how much like a white wine it is.

The day had been spent climbing all three peaks of the Eildon Hills, starting from Melrose. This was a difficult and steep walk and was far more effort than its five mile distance suggests. Worth it for the views, though, and we had plenty of wine as a reward.

On top of the first peak

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

Muscat of Alexandria - The Making Of...

When I was in America last year, I received a Facebook message from Nick's brother-in-law, who I had met in May. Would I be interested in sharing his bumper harvest of grapes? I replied that I would be more than interested. Could I collect them in 48 hours? Being in San Francisco, about to travel to Nebraska, presented a problem. I suggested that he give a bag or two to Nick, who could store them in his freezer until my return. This was somewhat presumptuous, but no-one raised any complaints, so that is what was done. And there the grapes remained. Every now and again I would say "I must collect those grapes" but nothing was organised until last week.

On Tuesday, 8th January, Nick took the grapes into work and I collected Claire and them that evening. I had not realised quite how many there would be. It was an entirely full freezer-box. Claire and I spent that evening stripping frozen grapes from their stalks. It was finger-numbing work and in total there were 20 lbs and 10 oz. These went into my large bucket and I left them 24 hours to defrost.

The uncrushed grapes

On Wednesday I took a potato masher to the grapes and spent about 20 minutes crushing them. The bucket was too narrow and my feet are too disgusting to do it in the traditional manner. It is clear why wine is made from grapes - they produce so much liquid and do not require any water.

The more disgusting of my disgusting feet

For the first time in many years I regretted not having a hydrometer as I did not know if any sugar would be required. All I could do was take a sip and guess. I added a pound. Having consulted my wine making books, I though it wise to add 2 crushed Camden tablets to stop any natural yeast fermenting,

The crushed grapes

The next evening - so 10th January - I added a teaspoon each of yeast, nutrient and pectolase. I left the wine until 16th January before removing the grape skins and putting the wine into its demijohns. That huge number of grapes resulted in only a demijohn and a quarter, which is less than I would have guessed. I will give away 4 bottles of this: one to Nick and three to Rick. I will not, however, make any promises about its taste.

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