Apple & Strawberry Wine 2019 - Second Bottle (2), 11th August 2021

This apple and strawberry was far better than I had remembered. Whilst it tasted neither of apple nor strawberry, there was a faint scent of the latter if you gave it a good sniff. If anything, it was like a real white wine.

This was the last bottle of my wine drunk in the Brecon Beacons, and earlier in the day Rachael, Myles and I had been to the Cantref Adventure Farm, which Myles absolutely loved. One of the most joyous things about the week in Wales was being an uncle, doing fun things with Myles that he is likely to  remember into adulthood.

My lovely sister, Rachael

Apple & Strawberry 2018 - Fifth Bottle (4), 19th-20th June 2021

After opening this on Saturday we decided that we wanted something rather better, drank a bottle of Xmas Tutti Fruti, and then returned to this bottle for extra room-spinniness. It isn't a terrible bottle of wine, but there is a hint of the bitter. There was a glass each remaining for Sunday - a day which I mostly spent in the kitchen making Delia's ragu (superb!) and a Rhubarb & Custard cake (rather less so). On the whole a quiet and gentle weekend.

Rhubarb & Custard Cake in the making

Apple & Strawberry Wine 2018 - Fourth Bottle (1), 12th-16th December 2020

This started life as a Saturday night bottle but was very quickly rejected as such. Saturday night bottles are meant to be rather better than this. It had a dry thinness that caused much face-pulling. Instead, we drank it under sufferance on Tuesday and Wednesday, but Claire improved the wine greatly by adding a splash of sugar-syrup to each glass.

This whole week has been made extraordinary by the amount of work I am doing. I have been working till 7 every night, which is unheard of, but strangely I am enjoying it. There is job satisfaction in doing something well and being appreciated for doing so.

Allotments in Leeds - taken on 12 December

Apple & Strawberry Wine 2019 - First Bottle (1), 28th-29th October 2020

Well, this wine is disappointing. It doesn't taste much of either strawberry or apple, the wine is thin and there is just a hint of mustiness. In the past this flavour has been rather good. 2019's batch is a mid-week bottle at best, and probably one to be left gathering dust under the stairs.

Neither day on which we drank it has been memorable: dull, wet and cold late October days where the autumn colours are quickly sinking to the ground, turning into dark brown sludge beneath our feet.

Taken to represent the title of a film. Any guesses?

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

Apple & Strawberry Wine 2018 - Third Bottle (3), 15th-16th July 2020

I wasn't planning on opening a second bottle on Wednesday, but Claire has had dreadful news from Work and was in need of a perception filter. The building in which she works has essentially been condemned by the Fire Officer: unsafe compartmentalisation and cladding. So, it has to be rebuilt in stages, which will take about 18 months. Meanwhile, Claire's fixed term contract ticks down and lab space becomes difficult. Hence the bottle of wine. In fact, this bottle has improved since the last. It is no longer thin, but is refreshing and light.

Mushrooms - taken on 16th July

Apple & Strawberry Wine 2016 - Final Bottle (4), 3rd-4th May 2020

Claire was at work the two nights that I drank this wine and that was partly why I chose it. I had remembered it being thin and uninteresting: my memory had not let me down. My days were excellent, though. On Sunday I walked most of the Meanwood Valley Trail and watched Jesus Christ Superstar. On Monday I walked a circle that took in Kirkstall Abbey. This 'being on holiday' lark is quite good.

Kirkstall Abbey

Apple & Strawberry Wine - Second Bottle (2), 26th January 2020

Carla is leaving Leeds for Oxford, having got a better, more prestigious job in Linguistic Facilities there.* It is hoped that she will receive more support and appreciation in Oxford than she currently gets in Leeds.

Of her many celebrations, Richard, Linda, Claire and I went round on Sunday night for a meal and I took this bottle of Apple & Strawberry with me. Rather cheekily, I asked Richard to give us a lift so that I could drink. The wine was okay, though a little thin - I should have taken something better. The meal was excellent: non-spicy vegetarian curries; and it was a lovely way to say 'Goodbye'.

I took no photos on 26 January, but here is

a dull one of some washing up drying taken

on 25 January instead. You're welcome.

*Names and details have been changed! I don't know if Leeds has a Linguistic Facilities Department, or whether that is even a thing. If it does, I am sure it is an excellent place which treats its staff wonderfully.

Apple & Strawberry Wine 2018 - First Bottle (5), 9th-10th November 2019

When choosing which wines to open for the Wine Party, I decided that I should generally pick those which were likely to be enjoyed. Apple & Strawberry made an appearance for that reason. However, people found it uninspiring and it came seventh of 12, with an average score of 2.85. Mark thought that he could detect fennel, which I will have to consider when we next open a bottle. Janet claimed that there was a 'Rotting Wood on the Palate' but that can't have been such a bad thing, because she awarded it a 3.

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

Apple & Strawberry Wine 2016 - Fifth Bottle (2), 29th November 2019

Having half a turkey remaining after Thanksgiving meant that Thanksgiving II was required. Andrew and Sooz were staying and this provided an excuse to invite Jayne. I decided to open Apple & Strawberry on the basis that it is one of my best. Sooz preferred the dregs of Clove & Ginger to this, but then she preferred this to the bottle of real wine that Jayne provided.

Thanksgiving II was more of a traditional Sunday Roast than the original had been - and none the worse for that.

Horns of Plenty - nothing to do with this post

but taken on the same day.

Apple & Strawberry Wine - Sixth Bottle (1), 26th October 2019

It is unlikely that I could get any more middle class. Last night I went to a Yotam Ottolenghi themed dinner party.

Liz cooked up a feast where every dish came for her Ottolenghi cook book: so we had dishes of butter beans blitzed with roasted red peppers and cumin, chicken cooked with green olives & figs and many more besides. All utterly delicious and I ate far too much - having seconds of most things including the pudding. This meant I slept badly.

I took my last bottle of Apple & Strawberry Wine as it is one of my best. Shockingly, it went unopened and we had to make do with rather expensive wine made from grapes, including a Greek white, a Chilean red and something sparkling from Swillington.

Apple and Apple & Strawberry Wine 2019 - The Making Of...

Last year our apple tree was prolific, much to the joy of local blackbirds and squirrels. This year it is far less so and as of mid-October the apples have only just begun to drop. Those that have fallen are mostly half-gnawed - I suspect by the garden rodents - so I can only use those for apple wine with some judicious chopping.

Our crab apple tree has done better than last year - but has still only produced 1 lb 4 oz of apples. Each of these two wines require 4 lbs of apples, so I have had to look beyond the confines of our garden for additional fruit.

Pavement apples

On Saturday 12th October, after accompanying Claire back from a Park Run (I did not participate myself) I spotted windfall apples on the opposite pavement so, much to Claire's embarrassment, I crossed the road and started collecting them. She left me to it. These apples were small and bruised, but still worthy ingredients. I also noticed that a house round the corner had put some apples in a box outside their hedge for people to collect, so I made full use of these too and ended up with 8 lbs of apples (weighed after chopping out the bruises and the rot and the squirrel tooth marks) that I needed.

I made the Apple Wine of Saturday and the Apple & Strawberry Wine on Sunday. For both I washed the apples, cut away all rot, removed any invertebrates that I spotted (only one had a grub but several had woodlice) and sliced them using the food processor.

For the apple wine, I added about 1 lb of sultanas, minced in the food processor, and for the apple & strawberry wine I had already crushed 1 lb of strawberries in my bucket using a potato masher. To each bucket I added 3 lbs of sugar and 7 pints of boiling water (which was about half a pint too much, particularly for the apple & strawberry).

Once each had cooled (Sunday morning for the apple and Sunday night for the other) I added teaspoons of nutrient, pectolase and yeast to both buckets.

By Friday these were ready to put into their demijohns. I had returned home from Drinks with Work so had little inclination but knew this must be done, and so that's what I did to no great disaster. This year there is little colour difference between the two and I suspect substandard strawberries account for the lack of pinkness.

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

If you want to see how the Apple & Strawberry wine turned out, click here.

Apple & Strawberry Wine - Fifth Bottle (5), 13th September 2019

I was cross when I opened this bottle. Mostly it was because I was hungry. Claire stayed late at work, arranging for me to collect her at 8:30 p.m.. I ordered a pizza to be ready for 8:50, but Claire wasn't in the car until 8:37. Writing that down, there is no justification for me being cross. Particularly as I hadn't seen Claire since Sunday.

When we got home I basically inhaled both pizza and wine, not really noticing either. My mood improved and we watched 'Bread Week' on The Great British Bake Off

Apple & Strawberry Wine - Fourth Bottle (2), 7th July 2019

We live on a wonderful street. Last year a group of neighbours organised a few 'play days' where the street was closed to traffic and children could play out. This has been done again this year, and Sunday was a Street Party. I opened a bottle of Apple & Strawberry Wine for it, on the basis that this is one of my best, and it was quickly emptied. I spent much of my time chatting to Number 10, who I have not met before but who have been here for 36 years. It was a lovely occasion and I hope we do it again next year.

Apple & Strawberry Wine 2016 - Fourth Bottle (6), 16th June 2019

Claire asked for a nice bottle of wine for Sunday evening and I thought that Apple & Strawberry would fill that requirement. I was mistaken. The wine was thin and had the taste of a home-made wine left too long in its bottle. This is not a wine to age lovingly in the cellar. Drinkable but disappointing.

We had spent the day nosing round gardens in Chapel Allerton - many of which we had seen two years ago at the last Open Gardens for St Gemma's Hospice event. The evening (apart from drinking unexceptional wine) was spent in the company of  Line of Duty - we have now finished our binge watch of all five series. This took some doing but it has been excellent.

Apple & Strawberry Wine - Third Bottle (3), 12th April 2019

After last weekend's excesses (particularly Friday) I decided to have a week off alcohol. I managed Sunday to Wednesday. But, Thursday was Cornelia Gruntfuttock's birthday, so a bottle of champagne was obligatory. Then Friday night wouldn't be proper without at least part of a bottle. We had a whole bottle instead.

Have I mentioned how good apple & strawberry wine is? It is so light, so refreshing and the fruit flavour is present without being overwhelming.

Apple & Strawberry Wine - Second Bottle (4), 16th February 2019

This bottle accompanied an evening of games and hilarity. I took it to Ros's for a 'Games Evening', where we played Saboteur, Exploding Kittens, Bug in a Rug, Articulate and Blokus. All accompanied by cake and wine. In 'Articulate' Emma had to describe 'Rack' to me and all I could get was 'Breasts'. It took several minutes for the room to recover.

The wine was fabulous - even Alex, who has not been a fan of my wine in the past, thought so. It takes the best of both fruits, creating something refreshing and different.

Ros, Alex and Exploding Kittens

Apple & Strawberry Wine - First Bottle (6), 2nd-3rd November 2018

I have mad a decent batch of wine. This bottle is light, and has a slight fizz and a beneficial sweetness to it. The flavour is clearly both apple and strawberry and it is really very drinkable. Attractive too - with a pink blush.

I opened it on Book Group night, where we were discussing The Bloody Chamber - a series of disturbing Fairy Tales written by Angela Carter. I loved it: her writing is exquisite and the tales are dark and inventive.

Claire and I finished the wine on Saturday to a splendid dish (cooked by me!) of Red Snapper in a Creole sauce. Just delicious.

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

Apple Wine and Apple & Strawberry Wine 2018 - The Making Of...

Our apple tree

Autumn has settled into the year and has yet to give up her seat for Winter. Leaves have mostly fallen to the ground whereas apples mostly remain on the tree. Not entirely, however. I had a free Saturday on 27th October so decided to start both my Apple and my Apple & Strawberry wine that day. For each I needed 4 lbs apples. Finding 8 lbs of usable apples on the lawn was easy, though I rejected those that had been gnawed by squirrels or suggested that they hosted a whole community of invertebrates. In fact, for the pure Apple wine I denuded our crab apple tree of the 12 oz fruit it produced this year, therefore needing only 3 lbs 4 oz of windfall apples.

Out of the cold, I first of all put 1 lb of defrosting strawberries into the bucket for 'Apple and Strawberry' wine and gave this a good mashing. I then cut the apples into pieces, rejecting anything bruised or manky, and whizzed them through the food processor using the 'slice attachment'. Half went into the 'Apple' wine bucket and the other half went into the 'Apple and Strawberry' wine bucket. Next the 'Apple' wine bucket got a pound of minced sultanas (again using the food processor for mincing, but this time on the regular attachment).

Our crab apple tree

I added 3 lbs sugar and 6½ pints of boiling water to each bucket, giving them each a vigorous stir. On Sunday morning I added a teaspoon of yeast, of nutrient and of pectolase to each.

The fruit ingredients, gathered together

I then left the wine (stirring once each day) until Thursday 1st November, when I spend the entire evening doing things with wine (these two, elderberry and damson) whilst listening to old episodes of Desert Island Discs. I put each wine into its demijohn, removing much of the fruit with a colander before using the jug, sieve and funnel method. I had to squeeze the discarded fruit at the end of the process to retrieve enough liquid for the Apple wine.

The sliced apples

The Apple & Strawberry is an attractive dark pink. The Apple is an unattractive slime-brown. Both have a large yeasty foam head which I am hoping will not escape its demijohn.

If you want to see how the Apple Wine turned out, click here.

If you want to see how the Apple & Strawberry Wine turned out, click here.

Apple & Strawberry Wine - Third Bottle (3), 27th July - 4th August 2018

Two Fridays ago I had just started a week's holiday and opened a bottle of Apple & Strawberry wine to celebrate. It was a delicate, fragrant wine but two glasses in Becky shouted over the garden fence inviting us to come look at her new kitchen. It was certainly impressive and one new feature appeared to be the 'Never Ending Glass of Wine'. Whenever I looked down, there it was - full again. Consequently I woke the next morning feeling rather more (less?) than fragile and there was still half a bottle of Apple & Strawberry. I stoppered it and left it in the fridge whilst we were at Rydal having a marvellous (if wet) time. On our return the wine was still drinkable, so we polished it off, despite not planning to drink that Saturday.

Apple & Strawberry Wine - Second Bottle (5), 10th-11th January 2018

Last time we drank a bottle of this flavour, I thought it better than anyone else did. This time Claire enjoyed it more than I. It is a light wine with an unusual taste - almost herby. I could not detect strawberry and only a hint of apple.

We drank half the bottle after WYSO. This term we are doing a semi-staged performance of La traviata and whilst we are without the chorus or soloist, it is currently a Karaoke version, with the conductor singing all parts surprisingly tunelessly.