Blackberry Wine 2012 - The Making Of ...

I have been worrying about this wine for the last few weeks. Most years I pick my blackberries on the August bank holiday weekend. This year, however, my parents were away in Shropshire then and the blackberries around Leeds had yet to ripen. The following two weekends were entirely taken up with the Northern Wagner Orchestra, which meant I had to do my foraging on 16th September. It has been over a decade since I left blackberry wine this late and I kept on hearing dire reports about the brambles being thin on the ground and over-picked at the cemetery.

I went to York Victorian Cemetery on Sunday morning with Claire, Rachel and Duncan, fearing the worst. It was quickly apparent that - as is usual - my worries were foundless. There were large blackberries hanging over the main path from the chapel within easy reach. Claire says that she can't remember a year where I have not worried. Rachel suggested that we stay together but then immediately wandered off.

Picking was a little slower than in past years, and I did rather more clambering on top of gravestones and stretching to pick those tantalising perfect specimens I usually ignore for something within easier reach. My best graves were Frances Craven, Jeremiah Riley, Dora Wil- (there was too much ivy on her gravestone to determine her name properly) and John & Bessie Carr. Claire made a note of Mary Somerset and William W Wilberforce. She thinks she picked from Thomas Douthwaite, but he was hidden by vegetation this year.

Between the four of us we picked 15 pounds of blackberries. Claire won with 4 lbs 13 oz. I came second with 3 lbs 15 oz and Duncan and Rachel got the rest shared equally between them. Though I should really have 16 lbs for a quadruple batch, I have decided to make 24 bottles anyway.

Blackberries before crushing

I did not wash the fruit, partly through laziness and partly because it was too ripe. I crushed it in the bucket, added 10 lbs of sugar and 20 pints of boiling water. The yeast and two teaspoons each of nutrient and pectolase went in on Monday morning, and then I left it virtually untouched for a week as we went to Lincolnshire and then Newcastle and saw many splendid things.

Fermenting crushed blackberries

Sieving out the blackberries on Sunday afternoon, 23rd September, took over an hour but I entertained myself with Radio 4 comedy. None of the four demijohns are full, so I could have added probably another two pints of water.

This will be 24 bottles of wine - eventually

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

Elderberry Wine - First Bottle (B6), 9th September 2012

On Sunday night all I really wanted to do was sit quietly and not have to concentrate. Claire and I had spent the day - and in fact the weekend - playing Der Rosenkavalier with the Northern Wagner Orchestra. It is difficult and demanding music, and Sunday was the full run through. By the end of the first act my brain hurt and there was still another two hours to go. Therefore, coming home to the first bottle of a new batch of elderberry wine was just the thing. We drank it with a pork chilli and Mexican beans with guacamole, assembled by Claire. The wine is excellent - and for once does not feel too young, though I am sure aging will only make it better.

Gooseberry Wine - Third Bottle (2), 8th September 2012

We spent the whole of Saturday rehearsing Acts 2 & 3 of Der Rosenkavalier. This requires an enormous amount of concentration and a bottle of wine to recover. Renate is staying over, so we began with gins in the garden. The weather is about the best it has been this year, and chatting outside, inspecting the brassicas and sipping gin & tonic was just lovely.

Once the gooseberry wine was open it was time to go indoors, and we drank it to honey & lemon roasted chicken with a side order of garden vegetables. The courgettes have reached marrow status and I predict they will be a feature of the coming week.

This is a fine batch of gooseberry wine - sharp, distinctive and mostly unmusty.

Strawberry Wine - Second Bottle (5), 7th September 2012

This bottle hardly touched the sides. Renate, Claire and I returned from the Friday evening rehearsal of Der Rosenkavalier, opened the strawberry wine and about 45 minutes later it had disappeared. It was late though, so I like to look on it as "Being efficient".

Northern Wagner Opera went so much better for me than it had on Sunday. I pretended to like the third bassoonist and it worked. Rather than spending the time in bitter resentment, I concentrated on the music.

Forgiveness is liberating - dammit. I had worked hard on maintaining that grudge and now it has gone. Which is annoying.

Incidentally, the strawberry wine was fabulous and Renate said she felt honoured. And of course, she was.

Blackberry Wine - Second Bottle (A3), 2nd September 2012

On paper, today should have been excellent, and many parts of it were. It was this year's first rehearsal for the Northern Wagner Orchestra - where we are doing Der Rosenkavalier, and then we had pizza, Delia's citrus pudding and the first episode of a new season of Doctor Who. What could possibly go wrong? The third bassoonist. I find it impossible to forgive him. This is the man who sacked me from his bassoon group several years ago. But I can play the instrument. Really quite well. So once he turned up (several hours late) I became tense and unhappy and ignored him as best I could.

A bottle of blackberry wine has helped matters - it is rather better than the last - as has the citrus pudding, the pizza and Doctor Who. It is good to have him back.

Christmas Tutti Fruti - Eighth Bottle (B2), 19th-20th August 2012

We had roast duck on Sunday. This is my favourite meat; I love the rich, fatty flavour and its crispy skin is an unbeatable treat. It is not a cheap meal, however, and we will now spend our old age in penury. It was worth it, though. Plus we had Claire's fabulous roast potatoes - no-one does them better - and a red gooseberry and blackcurrant slump for pudding. Christmas Tutti Fruti was really the only bottle to choose for this feast but - nearly unheard of for a Sunday night - we did not quite finish it in one sitting. Instead we shared the last (large) glass on Monday whilst marking cuts in the sheet music for Der Rosenkavalier. This is Northern Wagner Orchestra's next project and it looks fiendishly difficult, even with several pages of music removed.