Inca Berry & Raisin Wine - Fourth Bottle (1), 14th-15th May 2020

Whilst it was not an act of responsibility to open a second bottle on Thursday, this is what I did. Claire was low, water is dripping from our ceiling and I had just been told of Renate's death. So not an evening to drink in moderation. 

The wine is an odd one - it is basically alcoholic raisins but not those soaked in brandy that appear at Christmas. Claire summed this bottle up as reminiscent of slightly rank sherry.

I took this on 15 May - and it gives some 

indication of what I do at work.

Orange Wine 2016 - Eleventh Bottle (A3), 14th May 2020

Thursday was not a good day. There is water dripping through our kitchen ceiling and I found out that Eric from Brooke North's post room and Renate have both died. Eric was killed by prostate cancer and Renate by a weak heart. She died alone and in November, and that makes me sad. A genealogist is trying to find out if there are any relatives, but I will not be able to shed any light on that. Anyway, we had finished the orange wine by the time I was rung by Mike about Renate, so I did not raise a glass to her. Next bottle, though ...

In memory of a fellow bassoonist

And here we both are, about 7 years ago

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.