Rhubarb Wine 2018 - Tenth Bottle (C6), 29th November 2020

Oh, I'm an old man. Most of my waking hours - nine of them - were spent kneeling on the floor, creating a Tardis panel for the Street Advent Calendar. That is nine hours of crouching and kneeling whilst designing, measuring, cutting, gluing and placing carefully. After about three hours of this, each time I got up I made an old-man groaning noise. Two days later and I am still stiff. The end result, though, is fantastic. A bottle of rhubarb wine as muscle-relaxant was definitely the thing to have. And, in fact, I thoroughly enjoyed feeling like I was at Primary School again, with rounded scissors, lots of coloured paper and glue. It was a good day.

My Tadis Advent Panel. Nine hours work!

Blackberry Wine 2019 - Sixth Bottle (A1), 22nd November 2020

It has been a delightful, domestic Sunday. In the morning I made a marmalade & yoghurt cake - not an unmitigated triumph (the texture is weird and rubbery) but it tastes acceptable. In the evening I made a goulash which, apart from the sour cream curdling, was excellent. All washed down with a bottle of blackberry wine. 

Claire spent her day making a faux stained glass panel depicting the lifecycle of a frog.

Claire's panel

Ginger Wine 2019 - Final Bottle (4), 21st November 2020

Bentcliffe Drive is having a Life Sized Advent Calendar this year, where households light up a window with a stained glass design. We have decided to do all nine panes in our porch and have been given the number 8, so much of the day has been spent designing ours. In the evening we drank a bottle of ginger wine and watched My Fair Lady, which is a surprisingly long film. I did wonder if it was possible for my arse to get Deep Vein Thrombosis.

One of our panels

Rhubarb Wine 2017 - Eleventh Bottle (A2), 9th-10th April 2020

On Thursday nights, whilst the country is in lockdown, people have started applauding the NHS and Key workers at 8 p.m. from their front doors. Rainbows drawn by children are appearing in windows at an alarming rate. Hence on Thursday this week I found myself at the foot of our drive playing Somewhere Over the Rainbow with Claire-From-Over-The-Road, a violinist at Opera North. We had a street separating us, so maintained the government approved 2 metre distance. The street applauded and I went inside for a much needed glass of Rhubarb Wine.

Xmas Tutti Fruti - Seventh Bottle (A3), 13th July 2019

Rachael and Myles were in York on Saturday evening and Claire had abandoned me to paint pottery in Northallerton. Rather than spending an evening alone, I went to York (the second time in a week) and took a bottle of Xmas Tutti Fruti with me. The wine was good: dry, interesting: and I drank most of it. My favourite part of Saturday night, oddly, was doing the washing up with Rachael helping. It is rare that the two of us are together by ourselves and when we are we generally have intense conversations. Saturday was no exception.

Kiwi Fruit Wine - First Bottle (2), 14th April 2019

"If I was served this in a pub, I would be disappointed but I wouldn't complain."

This was Claire's verdict on Kiwi fruit wine. The main problem is that this wine is too sweet. Otherwise, it is mostly bland. Beautifully clear, though, despite my misgivings when making it. We drank the bottle after a Sunday spent in York, partly to see Mom & Pop, and partly to have a wander round York Open Studios - where I bumped into may people connected with my teenage years.

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

Blackcurrant Wine - Fourth Bottle (B6), 13th January 2019

This bottle of blackcurrant wine rounded off a splendid weekend. Saturday was a many-pleasure day, involving viola master-classes, art galleries, dim-sum, the twenty-first floor of a hotel and cocktails in Harvey Nics. Dom (the bar manager there, and also Ros's son) extended our range from Margaritas to Cosmopolitans and Negronis, and I will visit those again.

Sunday we were back in Leeds and had an afternoon rehearsal with the Airedale - shortly after which I opened this bottle and sank gently into the evening.

A Negroni and Cosmopolitan at Harvey Nics

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2015 - Tenth Bottle (B5), 7th-8th April 2018

On Saturday night, I allowed myself only a sip of wine. This was because on Saturday afternoon I allowed myself a whole bottle. The bottle was an Italian red and the sip was Tutti Fruti. The bottle was better. I had been out for lunch with Rodney, and that always involves too much to drink.

We finished the Tutti Fruti on Sunday after a whole day of learning how to make lithographic prints using tin foil and coca cola. I hadn't been to an art lesson since I was 14 and it was surprisingly enjoyable. Claire concentrated on blood cells for her design, whereas my most successful involved rhubarb wine.

My lithograph

The image I worked from (but in mirror image)

Crab Apple & Strawberry Wine - Fourth Bottle (2), 19th August 2017

Nostell Priory is not what I had imagined. Where I was expecting fourteenth century ruins next to a basic visitor centre, there stood a huge eighteenth century stately home stuffed with art and antiques, a kitchen garden and an adventure playground. We took Bob & Judith and met up with Jayne and Poppy as 'something to do', and it was excellent. I cannot recommend it enough. I could have spent hours there. However, we needed to be back. After all, there was wine to be drunk, of which this was the first bottle.

Claire thinks that Crab Apple & Strawberry is more than the sum of its parts, though I prefer the individual flavours. Certainly this does not go with sweet things. I had a slice of Judith's fruitcake when drinking a glass and the wine became too sharp, too dry.

NB The Video is of me on a zip wire at Nostell Priory. The 'ooh' makes me laugh and laugh.

Blackberry Wine - Fourth Bottle (B2), 11th-14th February 2017

This vintage of blackberry is superb. Have I said that already? There is an instant burst of blackberry which tastes as good three days after opening as it does when fresh. I opened it before Rachel, Duncan, Claire and I went to Hansas for an evening of hot vegetarian curry and talking about Stan.

Rachel & Duncan's visit coincided with the first day of our new sofa - which previously belonged to Rachel's grandmother. We have had it upholstered with an Art Deco inspired material. Until now, I had only thought of sofas as functional rather than things of beauty. This one is absolutely stunning.

Our 'new' sofa

Crab Apple Wine - Sixth Bottle (C6), 5th-6th October 2016

Hurrah! I am on holiday (sort of). Friday will involve a long drive to Pembrokeshire, which is an official day off work. Thursday was my unofficial day, when I went to London for a conference - and going to London, even if it is work-related, is always a little bit exciting. I managed 15 minutes in Tate Modern as my tourist treat.

As an anticipatory celebration I opened a bottle of crab apple wine on Wednesday - after baking a banana cake - and had my fair share of each, leaving Claire to polish off the bottle as I returned from the Capital.

Crab Apple Wine - Twelfth Bottle (C6), 9th-11th March

I came back from WYSO in a far better mood than had gone. On Wednesday I had been feeling headachy and run down all day, and I am worrying about an unsightly black lumpy rash on my back. But at WYSO I entertained myself by swapping mouthpieces between a French Horn and a bassoon, and all anxiety was chased away by laughter.

We opened the bottle on our return, and shared it over Thursday and Friday. In fact, I didn't need any wine on Thursday. I had spent the day in London on a course (taking time to visit Tate Modern) and came back on a first class ticket. Being plied with copious amounts of booze seems to be one of the perks of travelling first class. How the other half live!

Turns out it's Shingles and not cancer at all

Pineapple Wine - Final Bottle (4), 26th-28th February 2016

Pineapple wine is definitely on the 'dessert' spectrum. It has a sweet, full taste that would not go well with a delicate fish. On Saturday we had delicate fish. Turbot fillets (at great expense) in a lemon sauce with courgettes fried in dill. Happily, I had chilled a bottle of Chardonay in anticipation.

The pineapple was opened on Friday evening after Linda's art show. She had made a crocodile (full size) from felt, which was both cuddly and sinister - an unusual combination, and one that was not dissimilar to this wine.

We finished the bottle tonight - Sunday - as an aperitif to the main attraction (elderberry). It has been a lovely weekend. I have cooked Spanish food, experimented with a piccoloon, been to an unlikely pond-selling smallholding in Garforth, shovelled horse poo (actually Claire did the shovelling) and ventured into the garden properly for the first time this year. As I say, lovely.

The Piccoloon

Rose Petal Wine - Eighth Bottle (B4), 20th February 2016

It has been less than a week since we last had a bottle of rose petal and, thus, this wine breaks all my rules. However, the meal was entirely Turkish and Rachel was in attendance. Therefore, I tore up the rule book as special circumstances applied.

The food was fabulous: from aubergines baked with walnuts, through a spinach and feta filo pie, to spiced yoghurt cake drenched in honey sauce, and plenty in between.

Earlier in the day, I had collected the Moses tapestry done by my great-great-grandmother from the framers.(it looks fabulous) and spent an entertaining two hours at Dean Clough Mills in Halifax with cousin Lou, Mike, Adam & Daniel. A full and pleasant day.

The Moses Tapestry

Rose Petal Wine - First Bottle (A2), 6th June 2015

"This tastes like grandma used to smell." It is a pithy and evocative description from Sooz, but maybe not the one I was after. She followed it up by saying it reminded her of a bath she once had thirty years ago. I think both were meant well, and mostly commenting on this wine's perfumed taste. It is sweeter than 2013's batch and this makes the wine more immediately drinkable.

In other news, we spent the day travelling round North Yorkshire Open Studios, seeing lots of beautiful art. Claire and I were so taken with one piece - a fabric representation of a Burnett Moth wing by Kirsty Mason - that we bought it and it now sits above our fireplace.

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

Rose Petal Wine - Tenth Bottle (B6), 14th May 2015

I brought this bottle to Suffolk with me because it is Rachel's favourite of mine. We shared it on the last night of the holiday on a day where we had visited both a farmyard barn stuffed with art (including a vast painting by Maggi Hambling with a £70K price tag) and a nuclear power station.

Ann described the wine as "Turkish maidens lying on divan beds scantily clad in harem pants," which I think is perfect.

Rhubarb & Elderflower Wine - Fourth Bottle (6), 11th May 2015

This bottle came at the end of an excellent 10 mile walk round Snape through forest, field and marsh. We saw lizards and deer and had glorious, properly hot weather. It was a perfect 'holiday' day: relaxing, friendly, outdoors.

We visited Snape Maltings during the walk and other than the gallery I mostly did not enjoy this. Its music shop's best seller seemed to be crime novels. But the day as a whole was fabulous and everyone enjoyed the rhubarb & elderflower wine. Dry and summery.

Blackberry Wine - Eighth Bottle (B), 18th January 2015

Claire prepared left-over duck in a marinade of roast garlic, chipotle chillies, balsamic vinegar and cumin seeds, and it was delicious. The meal definitely warranted a bottle of fizzy blackberry wine.

Earlier in the day we had visited Steph Black and Claire chose a beautiful rounded vase as a late birthday present. It has a brittle, black textured exterior which contrasts with a duck egg blue interior that glows in natural light.

I rounded off the day with a near-two hour conversation with Quin. Apparently it is a bit nippy in Nebraska.

All in all, a Good Day.

Crab Apple Wine - Eighth Bottle (C2), 20th December 2014

It must nearly be Christmas: we have started the annual jigsaw puzzle. In past years this has been a gift from Julia. This year it is from Mom. The image is Van Eyck's Madonna with Canon Joris van der Paele, the original of which we saw in Bruges and is an amazing piece of art.

There is something very companionable about working quietly on a jigsaw together, drinking crab apple wine on a Saturday night. Rock and roll, however, it demonstrably is not.

Elderberry 2010 - Final Bottle (C2), 14th June 2014

I considered my birthday to be a special enough occasion to open this final bottle of elderberry wine. It was delicious - smoother than any elderberry I have drunk before, with a complex, earthy taste. Leaving it to mature is the way forward.

The day as a whole has been excellent. I got a grand haul of presents, including the first 3 series of Cabin Pressure on CD, and spent the afternoon driving round Harrogate and environs inspecting artists' studios. There was some beautiful work and Claire has her eyes on a particular potter - Steph Black.

At home we drank champagne in the garden with Rachel & Duncan (the cork shot into a rhubarb patch) and then ate a fabulous Balkan meal. Claire cooked an Albanian chicken and lemon soup, Bulgarian potato dumplings, Turkish lamb-stuffed tomatoes, a Romanian mushroom, cream & cheese dish (heart attack in a casserole), Yugoslavian rose-water jelly and Turkish date balls.

As I say, an excellent birthday.