Rose Petal 2014 - Final Bottle (B2), 10th September 2021

I opened this bottle, anticipating that I would have to pour it down the sink. Not a bit of it: the wine had matured nicely, whilst keeping its rose flavour. It had not developed that off-sherry taste that most of my wines acquire on age.

This bottle was drunk in celebration of having completed The Herriot Way, a 52-mile walk in the Dales over the previous 4 days with Rachel & Duncan. It had been a wonderful holiday and the wine was chosen specially for Rachel.

Duncan, Claire and Rachel - at the very end of 52 miles.

Rose Petal Wine 2017 - Sixth Bottle (A5), 26th-27th May 2021

Claire said of this bottle that there is a decent flavour struggling to make its way through. I think this is the very definition of a mid-week bottle: drinkable without being delicious, with a non-descript taste. There is rose in there somewhere. Nothing much of interest happened on either day this was open. The foxes (or something) broke into our yoghurt, but that was as exciting as things got.

Devastating Aftermath of a Fox Attack

Rose Petal Wine 2018 - Ninth Bottle (A2), 17th-18th February 2021

When Claire asked what bottle of wine was next on the list to get rid of, I chose Rose Petal - a flavour that we drink slower than we might if it were better! This bottle was actually fine and I may make Rose Petal Wine again one day.

There was nothing exciting about either day on which we drank it, save that we watched The Death of Stalin on Thursday, which had a fabulous cast and managed to be both brutal and funny. Not a light comedy, and it explored the nature of power with a satirical eye. Recommended.

Taken on 18th February - A Study in Circles.

Rose Petal 2016 - Final Bottle (B2), 19th December 2020

I fished out this bottle from under the stairs to go with a supremely hot curry. My reasoning was that whatever wine we had, we would hardly taste it. And Rose Petal is no longer a favourite in this house. In fact, this wine was rather good. The floral taste did not overpower the wine and, despite its age, it had not acquired a sherry taste. We then ruined the evening by watching Nativity! on i-player. Never trust a film with an exclamation mark. It was abysmal.

Taken on 19 December in my local park
I found it emotional, hearing live music again.

Rose Petal Wine 2018 - Eighth Bottle (A5), 27th-28th November 2020

On Friday, having finished the Xmas Tutti Fruti and having had a whisky mac, we decided that a further bottle would be a good idea (it wasn't). But it was not to be anything too nice - so I fished out a bottle of Rose Petal, and it fulfilled its duties admirably. 

Most of it was drunk whilst watching Taskmaster, which is infectiously, gloriously silly. This left the murky, crunch dregs for Saturday. Claire generously allowed me to finish the bottle.

What I spent Saturday afternoon doing

Rose Petal Wine 2016 - Seventeenth Bottle (B4), 30th October 2020

I am starting to worry about my weight loss. At the beginning of Lockdown I was over 10½ stone (or over 147 pounds or 67 kilos). Seven months later I am around 9 stone 10 (or 136 pounds or 62 kilos). Probably this is down to increased exercise, but maybe it isn't. Also I have been feeling dizzier of late. Therefore, I made an appointment today to get some blood tests done. Watch this space.

In the evening I made a fabulous butternut squash risotto (chili oil being the magic ingredient) and we drank this rose petal wine, which was surprisingly good.

[NB - If you think the photos below are too personal or inappropriate, let me know and I will delete them.]

Me on 11 July 

Me on 31 October

Rose Petal Wine 2017 - Fifth Bottle (A1), 19th September 2020

It has been many years since I last worked on a Saturday. I don't think that I have done so since I joined Stonebridge Homes in 2012. That is until today. Strangely, I didn't hate the experience or feel hard done-by. This suggests that I enjoy my job and am loyal to my employer, and both these things are true.

Otherwise, I played Mom at Scrabble (only winning because I got all the letters out with UNDERAGE) and we watched Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, which took me straight back to living in Arizona in 1989. Plus we drank this bottle, which was hovering around 'Quite Good'.

Taken on 19 September

Rose Petal Wine 2018 - Seventh Bottle (B1), 10th-11th August 2020

Having not had any alcohol on Sunday, we felt justified in opening a bottle on Monday (and then finishing it on Tuesday). The major event is that Claire is back at work. Her Proper Job, rather than waiting for Covid 19 samples to process. Therefore the wine was a celebration of sorts (though was not quite good enough to deserve that label). It also marked the passing of Cornelia Gruntfuttock, Claire's alter-ego on Facebook. The Facebook authorities have caught up with her and deleted the account, which I think is mean. Claire is less upset than I would be in similar circumstances - and has returned with a vengeance as Fanny Taylor.

A photo of some bracket fungi taken on 10 August

Rose Petal Wine 2018 - Sixth Bottle (A3), 29th-30th July 2020

I had not expected this wine to be as good as it was and only opened it because it was midweek (albeit I am on holiday) and we had emptied our previous bottle. But it was a heavy white, in the best possible way, with roses being present but not overpowering.

Troller's Gill

Earlier I had walked in Troller's Gill, a small ravine in the Yorkshire Dales, which was stunning, and then broken the car on my drive home. This meant that I got to Thursday's walk - 9 miles up and down the Wharfe from Harewood Bridge - by taking the bus (wearing my face-mask of course).

Harewood Bridge and the Wharfe

Rose Petal Wine 2016 - Sixteenth Bottle (B5), 16th-17th June 2020

Rose Petal Wine has definitely tumbled down the list of favourite and reliable wines. This bottle, however, was alright. There wasn't anything particularly interesting about it - but that isn't always a Bad Thing. Despite its age, there was no developing sherry taste to it.

The most exciting event of the two days in which we drank it was my newfound quiche making abilities. I've never made one before, but the quiche I made was Splendid. It will not be my last.

My Splendid (If Rustic) Quiche

Rose Petal Wine 2018 - Fifth Bottle (A1), 26th-27th April 2020

Much worse! After being relatively pleased with the previous bottle, this one has reverted to its bitter and overly-floral self. I can't explain the difference - both bottles were from the same demijohn.

Claire was out again on Sunday night, waiting to process samples in the lab, hence opening a bottle that she doesn't much like (mind you, nor do I). Much of it, though, was drunk on Monday night while trying to watch happy things on telly to lift the mood.

A photo I took on 26th April, capturing how I was feeling

Rose Petal Wine 2018 - Fourth Bottle (A4), 24th-25th March 2020

Much better! I opened this bottle on a Tuesday and that is traditionally the day to choose something nasty. It was something of a surprise that this was entirely drinkable - pleasant even. There was nothing bitter at all.

Both Tuesday and Wednesday were strange days. Tuesday because it was my last day in the office (and for most of that it was only me and Stewart); Wednesday because it was my first day working from home. That went far better than I had expected (similar to the wine), but ask me again in a month of this quarantine.

A not-very-good photo of a sparrow hawk

sitting on our fence on 24th March

Rose Petal Wine 2018 - Third Bottle (B6), 5th December 2019

This really is a poor vintage of Rose Petal Wine. There is an overall bitterness to it and its best quality is its colour - a bronzy-pink. But praising a wine just for its colour is no praise at all. Even its clarity leaves something to be desired.

We drank the whole bottle on a Thursday night, which is never the best of ideas, but neither of us is having a great time at work. Claire's machinery keeps breaking and Christmas is always the most awful time of year for me. However hard I try, it seems that some contracts just won't exchange.

A photo I took on 7th December - so even 

more unrelated than usual.

Rose Petal Wine - Second Bottle (B5), 22nd-23rd October 2019

Tuesday night is The Great British Bake Off night, and we were down to the penultimate episode this week. As always, we were allowed treats during the ad-breaks, and one of those was a glass of Rose Petal Wine. Claire would argue that this was not much of a treat. The pear tart was better.

On Wednesday night I stayed up to finish both Skippy Dies and this bottle of wine. The book was fabulous - it captured 14 year-old male adolescence beautifully, was riotous and hilarious and, in places, very very dark. I must seek out Paul Murray's others.

Rose Petal Wine 2015 - Final Bottle (C2), 7th-12th September 2019

The night that I opened this, Kato brought a dead wren into the house. The night I finished it, he presented me with a dead rat. This is the largest (and bloodiest) kill he has had and, of course, Claire was away. Our division of labour is that I deal with spiders and she removes anything that that cats catch. I had to be very brave on this occasion! Anyway, probably a good job that I had drunk a large glass of relatively poor rose petal wine.

The Actual Dead Rat

Rose Petal Wine - First Bottle (B4), 11th-12th August 2019

This is not a good vintage of rose petal wine. It has a bitterness to it that is difficult to ignore. Whilst Drinkable, it is many stops away from Delicious and has only a nodding acquaintance with Nice. 2019 marks a year off making rose petal wine and on the strength of this bottle, that is the correct decision.

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

Rose Petal Wine - Fifteenth Bottle (A1), 30th May 2019

Over the past couple of weeks Claire and I have been binge-watching Line of Duty and on Thursday night it was the final two episodes of Series 3. Naturally we needed a bottle to see us through, and rose petal 2016 is very much a 'Thursday bottle'.

Line of Duty is excellent: the plotting is meticulous, the writing superb, the acting faultless and the whole package is tense and gripping. The Bad Guys are not all bad, and the Good Guys not all good. There is a moral ambiguity to most characters and that makes it all the more interesting.

Rose Petal 2015 - Sixteenth Bottle (C1), 17th May 2019

I took this bottle over to York with me on Friday night, where my parents are entertaining Troy, my second cousin once removed. Apparently I have met him once before; when I was 11; but all I remember is his younger brother's drum kit. He had a Myers' look to him and the same rambling eloquence, and it was a genuine pleasure to meet him. I'm not sure what Troy thought of the wine, though. He had a glass (and also the final, somewhat murky last half glass) but mostly stuck to the beer.

This wine has not aged badly at all - the rose flavour is more subtle than other vintages and it has a slightly sweet but still refreshing taste.

Rose Petal Wine 2017 - Fourth Bottle (B4), 20th April 2019

One of the reasons that we are drinking this vintage slowly is that the bottles are mostly stored in the crypt. This means that it is a hassle moving things out of the cupboard under the stairs so that I can lift the floorboards. However, this is a vintage of rose petal to be savoured: so much better than 2016's batch. The rose flavour is subtle rather than overpowering and it is closer to a white wine.

We drank it to a Moroccan chicken and chestnut tagine that Claire presented to her siblings. Absolutely delicious and from Claudia Roden's Arabesque - a superb cookbook.

Rose Petal Wine 2016 - Fourteenth Bottle (B6), 17th-18th April 2019

On Wednesday I did my best to rescue a hedgehog. Walking from work to the car, I saw an extremely ill-looking hedgehog with flies landing on its eyes. After ringing 'hedgehog rescue' I wrapped it in my coat and drove it to the vet. In the waiting room were two rats, a snake and a tortoise. I handed the hedgehog over, left my number and was rung a couple of hours later to be told that it had been put down, which is what I had expected - at least it died in a painless and clinical way, rather than starving to death whilst being consumed by maggots. Still sad, though. Claire and I raised a glass of rose petal wine in its memory. It is what the hedgehog would have wanted.