Peach & Banana Wine - Final Bottle (2), 9th-?th November 2019

I saw the Wine Party as a perfect excuse to rid the house of this ghastly wine. It was to fulfill the role of 'Comedy Wine' and would be a measure of how honest my guests had been in scoring. Therefore, it was something of a surprise to discover that actually this wine was fine - nearly 'Good'. Something had happened to it over the last two years. There was no unpleasant chemical taste and nothing nasty that lingered afterwards. And you could taste both peach and banana. It still came (tied) second to last with an average score of 2.5. Aaron wrote 'Progressively drinkable' and Janet was oblique in her description: 'Farmyard'.

Peach & Banana Wine - Fifth Bottle (6), 21st October 2017

This is awful news. I thought that with this bottle we had completed our Peach & Banana journey into darkness. But there is still a bottle left, lurking somewhere under the stairs.

I used the Wine Party as an excuse to get rid of this bottle. Curiously, though, it has improved beyond nearly undrinkable. In fact Lindsay and Matthew both gave it a 4.5 and its overall average was 2.39. It did not come bottom of the pile. Rodney's face, though, was a picture as he took his first sip. It was the epitome of disgust. He scored it a zero.

Peach & Banana Wine - Fourth Bottle (5), 5th-6th May 2016

It has been eighteen months since I last had a bottle of Peach & Banana. It has not improved. I brought it with me to Cornwall as my 'comedy wine'. The other holiday-makers failed to see the funny side. Claire and Ann refused to do more than give it a sniff. Rachel & Duncan were braver but concluded that it tasted mostly of dubious chemicals. This left Nick and I to drink it. Which we managed. In fact, I saw Nick voluntarily reaching for the bottle when there was still some alternative wine on offer.

The holiday-makers (minus Claire) in Cornwall

Peach & Banana Wine - Third Bottle (3), 15th November 2014

For this year's Wine Party I asked guests to choose which wines I served. I had more requests for Peach & Banana than any other. It is ironic, then, that this flavour got most votes for 'Worst'. Despite this, it avoided last place - coming tenth with an average score of 2.4. Lindsay really liked it, commenting that it needed a cocktail umbrella, possibly a sparkler. Other people were less generous: 'Hints of earwax' from Catherine, 'Musty toilet cleaning pineapple chunks' from Rachel, 'Smells of celery' from Katie and 'Just no' from Becky.

Peach & Banana Wine - Second Bottle (1), 25th October 2014

I took this bottle to Newcastle for a Rydal committee meeting at Nick Pears' house. This was mostly because Claire finds Peach & Banana disgusting, and the Rydal meeting presented an opportunity to have a bottle without her. She was there at the opening, though, and when Nick asked me to give him a 'slug' she said he might find that preferable. In fact, the drinkers - Jayne, Sabine, Matt Byrne and Nick - all thought the wine entirely drinkable. Not necessarily delicious (and curiously tasting not at all of peach and only a little of banana) but acceptable.

It proved to be a good and drunken night - we averaged on more than a bottle of wine each.

Peach & Banana Wine - First Bottle (4), 5th April 2014

I had the first glass from this bottle and Rosie (my father's sister's daughter's daughter) had the second. It is the Extended Family Gathering and I promised Rosie - who helped make this wine - that I would bring a 'Peach and Banana'. My impressions were that it is okay, but no more than. Claire (my wife - seeing as in the next few posts I will be identifying how I am related to people I mention), however, thinks it is horrible and therefore we will probably not drink the remaining five bottles with any speed. I thought 'peach' was prominent but others said 'banana'. It is a little sweet and there is a cloying tendency, but it is drinkable (honestly) whatever Claire might say.

The original ingredients

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

Peach and Banana Wine - The Making Of ...

This wine was entirely unplanned. My wine making muscles have been twitching over the last week. We are now at 8th June and there are no hints of elderflowers or roses, and the gooseberries are a long way from ripe. I knew I wanted to rack my Kiwi fruit wine today, and I always like to do two processes at the same time to make efficient use of my sterilising solution. Therefore, when I walked into Noshis for our weekly fruit and veg shop, and saw they were selling manky peaches and bananas past their first flush of youth off cheap, I siezed the moment.

Manky fruit in soft focus

I made this wine five years ago and remember it as being rather lovely. However, buying ingredients in the summer does feel like cheating - so once every five years is probably about right. In all I bought six peaches (for a pound) and five bananas (for 60p) and added a sixth banana from our fruit bowl. In weight this accounted for a pound and a half per fruit, after getting rid of stones and skins. This may not be enough. Last time I had twice the peaches but two thirds the bananas. We shall see.

I chopped the peaches, discarding the stones, and put the fruit in the bucket with 3 lbs sugar. I peeled and chopped the bananas and put these in a pan with 2 pints of water. This was brought to the boil and I simmered it for 15 minutes. During this time I mashed the peaches and sugar. Then I poured the bananas and water into the bucket and gave it all a good stir. A couple of hours later I added four pints of boiling water and left it overnight. The yeast and a teaspoon each of nutrient and pectolase went in on Sunday morning.

Peaches and sugar in the bucket

I left this until Thursday and then put Rosie - my first cousin once removed - to work. She transferred the liquid into the demijohn while I bottled the elderberry. I could have added another pint of water to the process. The wine's colour is currently an attractive golden yellow.

'Attractive golden yellow' or 'Dishwater grey'?

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