Xmas Tutti Fruti - Seventh Bottle (B6), 2nd December 2018

I needed Sunday. Whilst the previous week at work had been a busy one, Saturday was manic. It was the WYSO concert (Siegfried Idyll, Mendelssohn's Piano Concert No. 1 and Beethoven 6) and when I wasn't playing, I was organising things (keys, gifts for the soloist, rearranging the church, tea and coffee). The concert went brilliantly and we drank a bottle of real wine to celebrate. Consequently, Sunday was quiet and restful. I finished by book (The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner - excellent), did crosswords and ordered roses for the garden. Oh, and drank a bottle of Christmas Tutti Fruti, which is one of my better batches - as fruity as the name implies.

Elderflower Wine - Tenth Bottle (B2), 29th June 2014(ish)

This is the second bottle of elderflower I have given away. Mary was the grateful recipient, and it was given in thanks for having me around for a meal in between a rehearsal and concert in Ilkely. She has recently acquired an allotment, so providing a bottle was not an entirely selfless act. The elderflower is in her fridge and I drank a bellini instead. The assembled guests wondered whether this was wise  before a concert, and the answer proved to be 'yes'.

We played Wagner's Rienzi Overture, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto and Nielsen's 4th Symphony. I had not been keen on the programme, but in performance finally, finally the symphony made sense. It was exhilerating and that was unexpected. Sleep did not arrive easily on Sunday night.

Carl Nielsen

Blackcurrant & Red Gooseberry Wine - First Bottle (1), 2nd August 2013

Really very tasty indeed. But also fizzy. I opened this bottle for our last night at Rydal, and had to be quick with the pour as I saw bubbles travelling up the bottle neck. Very few drops escaped and I was helped by Sally's waiting glass. The taste is sharp and fruity. It is just as light as blackcurrant proper but there is possibly more depth to it. I would have to taste them together to decide.

The evening I drank this was Very Silly Indeed. It involved having to create a two minute opera on the theme of Beyoncé. I was assigned the role of 'Flying Horse' and was required to sing the bass part to Ride of the Valkyries, while a vicar sang the soprano part falsetto. A bottle of wine could only help.

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

Crab Apple - Bottle A2, 11th September 2011

What an exhausting, yet fabulous day it has been. Today was the Tannhauser 'Open Rehearsal' - the end event of the Northern Wagner Orchestra weekend. So we had a huge orchestra, a full choir, a raft of professional soloists and, best of all, a set of off-stage horns. I want a set of off-stage horns as a permanent attachment: every time I did something or had a good idea, they could play a suitable fanfare in an adjoining room. It would be fabulous.

We drank this bottle shorlty after coming home and to a meal of salmon steaks, parsley sauce and large numbers of vegetables from the garden. It was followed by possibly the best Doctor Who of Matt Smith's reign that I have seen: 'The Girl Who Waited'. Imaginative, simple on the surface, but with complex issues and plenty of emotion. Excellent.

Rhubarb - Bottle A5 , 9th-10th September 2011

Wagner was a dominant feature of this bottle. It is the NWO weekend, where playing Tannhauser (this year) takes up most of our waking hours. We rehearsed Act One on Friday night and I brought home a mezzo called Sam. That sounds dodgy. What I mean is that we agreed to provide accommodation for one of the singers.

Anyway, Sam saw the bucket of fermenting elderberries and appeared interested, so I gave her a (small - at her request) glass of Rhubarb wine. She said it was interesting.

Claire and I had the rest of the bottle over two nights - Claire's was consumed with paracetemol as her mouth is in pain with a sore at the base of her tongue.

Today, when I have not been playing, I have been editing The Book. Its is now back with the Good Life Press - so I am another step closer to being a published author.

Gooseberry - Bottle A2, 4th September 2011

Today has been the first Northern Wagner Orchestra rehearsal of 2011. This year is the turn of Tannhauser and I have spent much of the day sitting in Leeds University Student Union Building behind my bassoon playing either long notes or complicated rhythms. I think it is more tuneful than much of the Ring Cycle, but without the singers it is difficult to tell.

This gooseberry wine was chilled in anticipation of a heavy day's blowing and we drank the first half in the garden during the last of the evening sunlight whilst Claire planted kale, broccoli and broadbeans. The rest accompanied stir-fry pork in a fabulous homemade plum sauce - courtesy of Julia's allotment. Far better use of plums than plum wine.

Hedgerow - Bottle 1, 3rd September 2011

Sloe is the dominant fruit. Claire disagrees and argues that it is gooseberry. Whichever, this is a pleasing mixed fruit wine - rather better than Christmas Tutti Fruti 2009. It is also fizzy and I am surprised at the lack of exploding bottles. Actually, scratch that. It has been the coldest summer for two decades, so the lack of popping corks is to be expected.

This bottle has been a reward for a busier Saturday than usual. I had to draw up a list of Jobs To Be Done, and have yet to reach its end. The remainder will wait till tomorrow. But I have cooked and shopped and washed up and picked fruit and made wine and practised the bassoon and washed up again. In fact, that doesn't sound onerous, but it has taken all day. Tomorrow, though, will not be a day of rest. It is the first rehearsal for Tannhauser.