Elderflower, Mint & Rhubarb 2019 - Third Bottle (6), 18th-19th November 2020

This week I have been Chief Cook and that is an unusual state of affairs. On Wednesday it was "Hot Tomatoey Garlicky Seabass" and on Thursday it was Lentil Curry (and this time I remembered the poached egg). Over the last eight months or so, where our world has narrowed, we have expanded our standard food repertoire beyond the usual five meals, and this is a Good Thing. The wine was also fine - a delightful colour and a refreshing taste. The current Archers' storyline of Alice's desperate alcoholism, done in the most traumatic fashion, only gave me slight pause before I opened this bottle.

A fabulous sunrise taken earlier in the week

Nectarine Wine - Third Bottle (1), 27th-28th February 2019

There is a slight fizz and a distinct nectarine taste to this wine. It is dry yet fruity and I am pleased with it - to the extent that I may make it again one day. Claire thinks it is a mid-week bottle, which is what this was, but I am not so sure. The circumstances in which we have drunk this have been entirely unremarkable - listening to The Archers, eating a tomato, bean & chorizo dish and chatting to my father.

My nectarine wine

Elderflower Wine - Final Bottle (3), 22nd-28th February 2018

What better to go with fish pie than a bottle of elderflower wine? Quite a lot, it turns out. The first taste was on the verge of rancid. However, it improved dramatically for being left in the fridge: maybe exposure to oxygen helped (though that sounds implausible).

On Friday night when drinking this, a loveable character in The Archers was killed off through sepsis, and I found myself surprisingly affected. I spent the evening feeling low.

My two glasses on Saturday were after a chamber music concert in Todmorden. The concert itself was good - Dvorak's serenade for wind, cello and bass, and the Strauss Serenade Opus 7 - but it took me nearly two hours to get there. And rather than thanking me for making the effort (or even greeting me with a quick 'hello'), all the conductor said to me during the evening was "Could you help me shift the piano?". I won't be returning.

Orange Wine - Eleventh Bottle (A4), 1st-2nd February 2017

My wine bottle filing system leaves something to be desired. It took an age to find this bottle – and when I did, it was in the crypt, meaning that I was on my hands and knees reaching precariously into a large hole. But Claire had asked for orange wine, and that was my quest.

We drank this wine over two nights. On Thursday it was to the best tortilla I think I have ever made (adding chilli seeds made the difference) and we finished the bottle listening to an exciting, cliff-hanging episode of The Archers. Rob, the panto-villain, has just run off with his infant son. Tonight's episode is on in four minutes!

Crab Apple Wine - Tenth Bottle (A4), 28th January 2017

I must get into a better habit of writing up my bottles. It is now Tuesday evening and we had this bottle on Saturday. Consequently I remember little of its taste - though it being Crab Apple, I imagine it was very much like other bottles of this vintage.

The evening was excellent. Richard & Linda came over for a meal and we had a lovely time chatting about this and that - mostly families, cats and The Archers. They are our oldest friends from Leeds, having lived in the flat below when we moved here in 1997 (gosh - 20 years ago!) and an evening spent in their company is easy, comfortable and fun. Like a pair of comedy slippers.

Elderberry Wine 2016 - The Making Of...

September has been as warm as July this year. The middle two weeks were glorious. This is not something to complain about. However, it caused me to worry about the availability of elderberries. On Sunday 18th September I explored the area near Gledhow Wood Road where I had gathered elderflowers in June. I had expected trees dripping with elderberries and instead found scant pickings. Either the elderberries were black and ash-like, or they had been snatched by the birds. I went home disheartened with only 8 ounces.

A typical tree on my first attempt

The following Sunday I tried Stonegate Fields, which was only slightly better, and then the open area behind Stainbeck Road, where at last I found a couple of fecund trees. This still only produced 2 lbs of elderberries - not enough even for a single batch. That afternoon, without much hope, I drove to Hetchell Woods and walked down Kennel Lane. Ahead of me was a young couple carrying plastic bags. As I got closer, I saw that one of those bags contained elderberries. This was unwelcome competition. I greeted them with "I see we have exactly the same idea", told them my recipe, assured them that there would be plenty of berries for both of us, and then made sure that I overtook them.

Much better!

Quickly I found a field off Kennel Lane where I saw many elder trees hanging with black fruit. I went in and managed to fill my bags - my worries had proved groundless. This produced far more than the 6 lbs I needed for a double batch. The rest are in the freezer.

Stripping the berries from their stalks took about two hours, during which I listened to a Dum-Tee-Dum podcast. I crushed these in my bucket with a potato masher and added 5 lbs of sugar and 12 pints of boiling water.

On Monday morning, 26th September, I put in the yeast and a teaspoon each of nutrient and pectolase. After stirring twice a day I transferred the liquid into its demijohns on Friday night, 30th September. It is fermenting away and is the darkest of all my wines.

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

Elderberry Wine 2012 - Final Bottle (B6), 11th September 2016

Claire said that she wanted the best bottle of elderberry in the house. She had cooked 'Kleftiko' - a lamb dish that requires a day to prepare. I remembered we still had a bottle of Elderberry 2012, so dug that out from below the stairs. Leaving the wine for four years has done it no end of good. Despite its fizz, it was a fuller, rounder taste. Deep, rich, with a strong elderberry flavour. The lamb was also superb - I could cut it with a plastic spoon.

We drank the first couple of glasses rapt, listening to an hour long episode of The Archers. It was the trial's denouement. We were taken iinside the juryroom as the jury deliberated on Helen Archer's fate. The episode was beautifully written and acted: tense and believable. And, of course, the verdict was 'Not Guilty'. A nation rejoices.

Blackcurrant Wine - Second Bottle (A6), 2nd September 2016

Blackcurrant wine is delicious. This vintage is fizzy, sharp and loaded with fruit. It is Claire's favourite flavour for good reason. We drank it on Friday night while listening to The Archers (the trial is fast approaching), then while eating curry & dumplings (an odd but successful combination) and then finally in bed while scoffing a mirror-glazed genoise cake with orange jelly, chocolate icing and spiced kumquats. It was an excellent night.

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

Blackberry Wine - Ninth Bottle (C5), 18th-19th May 2016

Claire thinks this blackberry wine is too dry and therefore not as tasty as previous vintages. Whilst I acknowledge the dryness, I disagree with the conclusion. Somehow the fruit is less dominant and this produces something closer to real wine. Claire still thinks this is within my top 25%, though.

While we were drinking this wine, listening to a catch-up of The Archers, our computer enforced a Windows 10 upgrade on us. For months it has had pop-ups saying things like "Hurry. Upgrade to Windows 10 for Free," and "Windows 10 is Great. Honestly. Please upgrade. You won't regret it you know." Each time I have clicked the "Leave me alone and go away" button. However, the computer has its own (bossy) personality and decided it knew what was best. I predict shouting and frustration.

Orange Wine - Second Bottle (A5), 10th April 2016

I do like orange wine. This vintage is the best that I have ever made: beautifully clear with a strong orange taste minus any bitterness that sometimes affects this flavour.

We drank it after a lovely day mostly spent in the garden. Jenny, who has done a garden design course, came round for lunch with leaflets and ideas, and we ate Morrocan food. Then in the evening we drank the wine listening to The Archers and discussing what might come next in the gripping domestic abuse story line (which has resulted in a rather-too-dramatic stabbing).

Ya Ya Pear Wine - The Making Of ...

Claire, if you asked her, would say that she is Long Suffering. She has to put up with wine bottles in every room, fruit in the freezer and demijohns in the bath. All because one year she bought me a wine-making kit for Christmas. On Saturday, 19th March, Claire proved that, despite all this, she does actually love me. She asked whether I had yet ticked 'Y' off my wine alphabet (I haven't) and told me that she had seen something called 'Ya Ya Pears' for sale at Noshis. Now, I have made pear wine before, and that was disgusting, but I was really struggling for the letter Y. Apparently there is an edible plant called Yarrow, but I don't know where to find that, and Yam Wine sounds fraught with peril. So Ya-Ya Pears fit the bill nicely (though when I have looked them up on Wikipedia it calls them 'Ya Pears').

I hot-footed it to Noshis and found the pears selling at five for a pound. Fifteen came to about 5 lbs in weight, so that is what I bought. They are pale - a yellowy-greeny-white skin that is speckled with faded brown dots, and rounder than European pears.

On Sunday morning I cut each pear into small pieces and put these in the bucket. I tried a piece and the overall taste was bland with a hint of pear, so I don't hold out too much hope for the resulting wine. I added 2 lbs 12 oz sugar and seven pints of boiling water.

The afternoon and evening were spent in Ilkley practising and then performing Brahms' Tragic Overture, Elgar's Cello Concerto and Dvorak's Seventh Symphony. On my return the liquid had cooled sufficiently to add the yeast and a teaspoon each of pectolase and nutrient.

I left this until Friday evening, 25th March, though stirred it once or twice a day. Putting the liquid into its demijohn was a quick job, and mostly done during a traumatic episode of The Archers, where the domestic abuse storyline with Helen and Rob must surely be coming to a denoument. The wine has an undead look to it, as if made by ghosts.

I racked this on 4 June, which is a bit later than I would ordinarily rack it, and I tried to video myself doing this, to show how the racking works. Unfortunately, for some unfathomable reason, the video decided to stop after a minute and sixteen seconds. I have no idea why, and it remains a tale half told. Anyway, here is the video.

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

Elderberry Wine - Tenth Bottle (A4), 18th September 2015

Friday night was mostly noteable for just how exhausted I was for no good reason. I had to have a lie down while listening to The Archers, and I spent the rest of the evening feeling like a zombie. By 9:30 I was in bed, managing a short chapter of my book and three sips of bush tea before slipping into sleep. This did not prevent me from drinking half a bottle of elderberry wine, however. It was a Friday night after all. We ate haggis and mashed potato with the wine, as well as obligatory runner beans from the garden. This will not go down as the most memorable Friday night in the history of Ben, but I hope it is not entirely typical either. (It is.)

Rhubarb, Elderflower & Mint Wine - The Making Of ...

I have made Rhubarb & Elderflower wine at least twice before. This year I am experimenting by adding mint into the cauldron. It could be delicious and it may be disgusting, but I would never know without giving it a try.

It has been a lovely early summer day today, 7th June. At times the sky has been cloudless and a deep June blue. I am still in just a T-shirt and it has gone eight. This morning, shortly after 10, Sooz and I set off to find elderflowers. It is early in the season and many trees are only indicating that they might one-day bloom. However, we found several trees in the two open green areas that straddle Potternewton Lane that had at least some clusters of elderflowers. Between us we picked about a third of a carrier bag full, and this was plenty for both this wine and Sooz's 'Dark & Lonely Water' flavoured vodka.

Elder Tree - Not in Bloom

Once Sooz was safely on a train to Newcastle I picked and chopped 2 lbs 12 oz rhubarb from our garden - making sure a good deal came from Shirley's plant for its colour. I then stripped elderflowers to make up three-quarters of a pint of blossom. As ever this was tedious, to the extent that I have decided not to make pure elderflower wine this year - which must be the first time in about eight years that I have not. The stripping process was helped along by Charlotte Green on Classic FM and a Dum-Tee-Dum podcast.

The Mint Plant

I picked a handful of mint from our garden, concentrating on one variety, but putting at least a leaf in from three others, washed it and put the leaves into the bucket with the rhubarb and elderflowers. I added 3 lbs sugar and boiled 6½ pints of water. When the water hit the ingredients there was a wonderful minty smell and though I only put in a small(ish) amount of mint, I fear this may dominate the flavour.

Rhubarb, Elderflower & Mint in the bucket

I put in one teaspoon of nutrient and tannin (and possibly pectolase, but I don't remember) together with the yeast the same night. On Thursday evening, 11th June, this went into its demijohn. There was not quite enough liquid, but it was within half a pint. The wine's colour is a dark pint, and I could definitely taste the mint when I had a sip. I'm actually quite excited by this wine.

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

Blackberry Wine - Thirteenth Bottle (C6), 22nd May 2015

The Archers, when it makes an effort, can be splendid. I drank this bottle listening to Ed and Emma Grundy get married and the two Grundy brothers reach some sort of peace. Really well written, possibly made better by drinking blackberry wine (delicious) on an empty stomach.

My other activity while drinking was to sort through two boxes of papers which had everything from O Level essays about Romantic Poetry to some of my Medieval Studies MA work. I am keeping much of it, but have thrown out my Latin revision cards. I spent hours on those.

Orange Wine 2015 - The Making Of ...

It is St David's Day, and Radio 3 has mostly been playing things with Bryn Terfel singing. I know this because I have been spending a great deal of time in the kitchen getting sticky.

As with many previous years, the beginning of March coincides with Orange Wine. This year, though, I bought my oranges on the last day of February. Irritatingly, Noshis were selling them at their most expensive - five for a pound. I had hoped for six. This means that I have spent 80p more in getting 24 oranges than I had wanted, and that works out at nearly seven pence a bottle. All I can say is that I hope this orange wine is particularly good.

I was quite proud of this pyramid, but Aggie was disdainful

I started this wine mid-afternoon on 1st March by thinly peeling 12 of the oranges while listening to a Dum-Tee-Dum podcast. It is a dull job, and having something entertaining in the background helps. This year I have been almost entirely successful in avoiding the pith. The peel is in a bowl covered in two pints of boiling water and clingfilm.

Between my eighth and ninth oranges, Anne Hignell dropped in and we had a very pleasant hour and a half catching up with her and getting news of the extended family. I then squeezed all oranges, getting about 3½ pints of juice. This went into the bucket, along with 5½ lbs sugar, 9 pints of cold water, the yeast and a teaspoon each of pectolase and nutrient. The next day, after work, I poured in the water that had been covering the peel and threw the peel away.

Orange peel in water, after 24 hours

Friday would have been the ideal time to put this in its demijohns, but I wouldn't have had time because I was walking home from work and it was Book Group. So I did this on Thursday 5th March. It was quick work, taking about 15 minutes. I could have put in an extra half pint of water and will top up the demijohns when the fermentation has slowed. In the meantime, they are a violent yellow.

If you want a recipe, set out in a more organised fashion than my witterings above, click here

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

Orange Wine - Eleventh Bottle (A6), 23rd January 2015

I have, within the last half hour, sneezed loudly eight times in a row. This leaves me feeling light-headed. Or maybe that is the alcohol.

This orange wine is very good indeed. One of its strengths is its colour (a brilliant yellow) and its absolute clarity. The taste is fabulous - and this bottle had an unexplained essence of vanilla.

It has been a typical Friday night at home: I have listened to The Now Show and The Archers. Matt Crawford has been written out, and I am cross about that - he was the best of villains. Claire has cooked a delicious 'The Sick and the Weak', and we have watched QI in an alcoholic fug. This is how Fridays should be.

The best of villains

Elderberry Wine 2014 - The Making Of ...

Elderberries near Castle Howard

I have picked my elderberries in stages this year. The first lot were picked in Hookstone Forest near Harrogate on a sunny Sunday afternoon while Claire was at a wool festival. After some searching, I found a tree laden with fruit and picked well over a pound in about 15 minutes.

The next lot were picked on the verge of a track leading to the Yorkshire Arboretum. We were there to choose a tree for Julia in commemoration of a life lived well. I guessed, correctly, that there would be no elders in the Arboretum, on account of their prolific thuggishness, but was keen to involve Julia in this wine. There was only one suitable elder even leading up to it. While I was picking berries a Castle Howard gardener came through a gate and told me I needed the land-owner's permission for foraging. We then had a conversation about elder trees in general and elderberry wine in particular, and he allowed me to continue with barely a harumph.

My final set of elderberries came from trees close to home, mostly on the way to Meanwood. Stonegate Fields had too few, and I suspect this is my fault for over-picking elderflowers, but I found some good trees near Potternewton Lane.

With all my picking I ended up with 5 lbs 14 oz berries, and I judged this to be enough. Stripping them was made bearable by Radio 4 and the Dum Tee Dum podcast, and I eventually removed the juices staining my hands. (NB - If you click the link, and fast forward to 43:46, you will hear me ring in, and then a huge discussion of home-made wine. It is officially very funny. And then I appear right at the end at 57:00 - ish)

My stained left hand

I crushed the berries on Sunday afternoon, 14th September, in a two hour slot I had after playing a trio with Madeleine in St Edmund's Church and before going to Ros's for a roast. In this time I also made a chilli, washed up and bottled my lemon & lime wine, which was some going. I added 5 lbs sugar and 12 pints of boiling water to the crushed elderberries. On Monday morning I put in the yeast and a teaspoon each of nutrient and pectolase.

Elderberry Wine and Fuschias - a still life (with foot)

I didn't have an opportunity until Saturday morning, 20th September, to put this into its demijohns. It was an early morning job: I sieved out the elderberries, filling two demijohns while listening to the Today programme, which was dominated by discussions of Scotland's 'No to Devolution' vote. I think I'm pleased with the decision, but I fear the political games that David Cameron will now play. Anyway, the elderberry wine is in its demijohns, bubbling away, and as ever is pleasingly purple.

Pleasingly Purple

Christmas Tutti Fruti - Eighth Bottle (A2), 10th-13th August 2014

It took me about nine hours to get home on Sunday. This is around the same time as it would take me to get to the American mid-west. Instead, I was travelling back from Wales. I returned to find the dregs of various bottles remaining. After finishing these, Claire opened a bottle of Christmas Tutti Fruti, and we had half of that too.

This is an entirely unmemorable bottle of wine - nothing wrong with it and not even particularly bland, just not delicious.

I helped finish the bottle on Wednesday evening while listening to a Dumteedum podcast on which Sooz appeared, comparing The Archers to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Hedgerow Wine - Bottle 3, 1st January 2012

We have just returned from Julia's Feast. It was nearly a year ago that we gathered for a similar occasion to hear Nigel Pargeter plummet from Lower Loxley's roof. This time there was no radio soap opera to interupt the festivities, so we had to make do with eating and drinking far too much. The food and company were both splendid - there were ten of us round the table, which was stuffed with salmon and gammon and smoked mackerel and pate and pineapple and exciting cheeses. This wine was a more than adequate accompaniment. It is as fruity as its name suggests and has a fizz. I think everyone liked it.

Gooseberry - Bottle B1, 8th-9th December 2011

The Ambridge Job Fairy exists in real life and has paid me a visit. Not just a quiet visit with a brief nod of the head, but a raucous visit with a cheery 'Hello' and an armful of presents. Darren has taken me on as his in-house lawyer with bells on. He wants me to train as an accountant too, so that I can throw myself into the financial side of his company. And I am to learn about every aspect of house building so that I understand the business. It is exciting and out of my comfort zone, which has to be a Good Thing.

The gooseberry wine was opened in celebration and it is only a little disappointing, given the circumstances, that it has acquired the redcurrant dead mouse taste.