Rhubarb Wine - Fifth Bottle (A6), 19th-20th October 2019

We drank most of this bottle on our return from Wakefield on Saturday night. Claire had been playing 'Third Viola' in Heinrich Biber's Requiem and I had the important role of chauffeur and dozing audience member. The music was beautiful: choir, string orchestra and three trombones: but induced sleepiness. As the movements passed by I would wake for the start of each and then return to my slumber. Claire drove home.

The rhubarb wine had been waiting in the fridge and I drank most my share in bed getting on with my book - Skippy Dies.

Elderflower Wine - Ninth Bottle (A3), 17th-18th February 2016

It is half-term this week, and therefore no WYSO. Instead I spent Wednesday evening in Wakefield at Nick's discussing the Pontefract concert in June. A James Bond medley could be fun; the Prince Igor Suite will not be. Back at home I shooed out Claire's quartet, opened this bottle and settled down to Bake Off.

On Thursday, elderflower wine kept me company as I made Lentil Farmer's Pie. I didn't get flustered and the end result was the best that I have done. The wine served its purpose and was as dependable, summery and floral as ever.


Recipe for Lentil Farmer's Pie (with apologies to Delia) (feeds 2)

3 oz green lentils
3 oz red lentils
1 onion
2 small-ish carrots
1 stick of celery
half a courgette
clove of garlic
a chilli (taking out as many seeds as you fancy depending on how hot you want it)
lots of butter
a tomato or two
pinch of mace
salt and pepper

as many potatoes as looks sensible for mash on top
more butter
bit of milk
strong cheddar cheese

1. Boil the lentils in separate pans in enough water to absorb and a bit extra until they are done. (Red lentils cook much faster than green lentils - hence the different pans. Probably 15 mins for the red lentils and 40 for the green - but that is approximate.)

2. Meanwhile, soften the butter, and put in the diced onion, crushed garlic and sliced chilli. Cook until onion is looking soft

3. Put in the diced carrot, sliced celery stick and (after a bit) the diced half courgette.

4. When the veg looks done, and the lentils are done, drain the lentils, squeeze out excess water, put them in with the veg and mix thoroughly.

5.  Add plenty of salt and pepper and mix through. Put in a dash of ground mace and mix that too.

6.  Put the mix into a small casserole dish, slice the tomatoes thinly and put those on top

7. Make mashed potato, mashing it with the butter and milk.

8. Put on top of the mixture

9. Grate the cheddar cheese and put on top

10. Put in the oven at Gas 6, 220 degrees, and cook for about half an hour (maybe a bit less).

11. Serve with whatever you fancy. I had chutney.

Blackcurrant Wine - Fourth Bottle (1), 1st February 2015

I enjoyed this bottle of wine. The blackcurrant flavour was sharp and unsubtle, but sometimes that is what I want. We drank it to a delicious pork casserole retrieved from the freezer.

Much of the day had been spent playing music in Wakefield with two youth orchestras. The idea was that WYSO would show the under-18s that adults played music for fun too. And it was fun - we played Mars, part of the Firebird and In the Hall of the Mountain King. The bassoonist next to me was ten and pretty much held her own. She has a bright future ahead.

Prune & Parsnip Wine 2013 - The Making Of ...

The raw ingredients

On the strength of one bottle of Prune & Parsnip 2012, this flavour has been promoted to an annual. This could be a mistake, if I take "Gooseberry & Elderflower" as an example. The single batch of that which I made in 2011 was wonderful. I have just bottled 2012's vintage and it is a disaster. Knowing what I did wrong would be useful.

I was in two minds about starting this wine today, 3rd February, because it has been a busy afternoon. Claire and I spent it with WYSO at Wakefield Girls' School, where the heating was firmly switched to 'Off', playing Beethoven's violin concerto to sixth formers. This is my favourite of violin concertos, amongst stiff competition, mostly because it has such a good bassoon part. And the highlight of the afternoon was discovering Sarah is pregnant - due date 14th September, which is the day she had already booked to get married. One day she will see this as an anecdote, and as a reason to cancel a wedding it is one of the best. She has yet to tell her family.

Anyway, once home and having done the washing up, I chopped up four pounds (ish - I didn't measure very carefully) of parsnips into small pieces and put them into our largest pan. These were covered with seven pints of water and put on the hob to boil. I chopped just over a pound of prunes and put these in my bucket with six pounds of sugar.

After having bottled and corked 12 bottles of wine (see above), I drained the parsnips into the bucket, discarding the vegetable (actually, some of it is in the freezer). I worry that I did not boil it for long enough. The pieces of parsnip were soft, but still tasted distinctly of parsnip. I then boiled another seven pints of water and poured this into the bucket too. This was all left overnight and on Monday morning, 4th February, I put in the yeast and nutrient, amylase and pectolase (approximately one teaspoon of each). The amylase is now finished, but had a 'Best Before Date' of September 2007.

I put the liquid into its two demijohns on Friday evening, 8th February. It is fermenting aggressively, and therefore probably just as well that I could have added an extra pint and a half of water in the initial stages.

Aggressive Fermentation

If you want to see how this wine turned out (and it was good), click here

Citrus Wine - 11th Bottle (B3), 14th-15th November 2012

I have decided that Citrus Wine will not appear at this year's wine party, so chose it as our mid-week bottle this week.

Wednesday had its traumatic moments. I went to John's funeral in Wakefield. I saw him last almost exactly a year ago at my book launch. It is always hard to imagine that a person you knew no longer exists; moreso because he was my age. It was an emotional occasion and the crematorium was standing room only. He was a lovely man. Still, life continues because it must, and whilst futures may change, the past is caught and remains for us to take out of the drawer from time to time. I will think of John, pour myself another glass of wine, and will remember him again, often, throughout my own life.

Crab Apple - Twelfth Bottle (C2), 6th-8th November 2012

This has been a classic mid-week bottle of wine: started on a Tuesday, finished on a Thursday, with Wednesday in between. Claire has spent her time playing the viola; I have wasted mine doodling on the computer. Wednesday evening was good, though. At WYSO we played through the first movement of Beethoven's violin concerto. This is the best of all violin concertos, despite some stiff competition, and has a fantastic bassoon part.

We are back rehearsing in Wakefield as the West Park Centre has been condemned for its dodgy electrics. WYSO appears cursed to wander the streets of West Yorkshire - we are a homeless orchestra who keeps on getting evicted from wherever we settle. Maybe its the noise we make. The answer does not appear to be at the bottom of a glass of crab apple wine, however tasty that might be.

Hawthorn Blossom - Bottle 6, 26th - 28th April 2011

There is a vague taste of banana to this wine. Which is odd, as no bananas were injured during its making. If one concentrates, lemon is also detectable, and that is more understandable. The wine is by no means unpleasant, but is unlikely to set the world alight. Definitely a mid-week bottle, akin to an uninteresting shop-bought white.

I opened it on Tuesday - a day which even this close fades into anonymity. I think I spent some of it reading 'The Lacuna' by Barbara Kingsolver, which took a little getting into, but is beautifully written. We each had a glass after orchestra last night (more Beethoven 7) and I am now finishing it, after a day which has seen me interviewed for a job in Wakefield. The drive over saw a stack of hawthorn blossom in the hedgerows - already, and it is still April. It is likely I shall start work as a locum property lawyer there (Wakefield, rather than the hedgerows specifically) in a fortnight.