Crab Apple & Strawberry Wine 2020 - Second Bottle (4), 27th October 2021

Not a bad bottle of wine at all. Perhaps more crab apple than strawberry, but lovely and light. We drank the whole lot on a Wednesday evening, mostly because I was making pancakes. That may appear to be a non-sequitur but making pancakes always puts me in a bad mood. They take longer than they should, rarely reach the edge of the pan and flipping them can go badly wrong. Still, the resulting 'Pancakes Stuffed with Ham and Mushroom in a White Sauce Topped with Parmesan' (snappy title) was absolutely delicious and worth being grumpy for.

Taken on 28th October - a new shirt!

Gooseberry Wine 2021 - The Making Of...

For years we have been saying that our freezer is too small for all the excess fruit that I pick, and that we must investigate getting a small freezer just for wine making. Claire and I are great procrastinators. If you require further evidence, you only need to go into our front room. We have owned the house for six years now and have yet to paint the plaster.

Some of our gooseberries, close up.

Anyway, on Sunday 10th July I went on-line to investigate mini-freezers and about ten minutes later had ordered one. It arrived on Monday. Why I took about four years or so over this, I do not know. Mostly it will be filled with gooseberries this year. Our bushes are rampant. We have at least three varieties and all have had a good summer.

Gooseberries being washed

On Sunday 11th July I went out to harvest 6 lbs for this wine. Those in the back garden are not as far on as those in the front, but I still picked a few from each bush, getting lightly scratched in the process. Why are gooseberry plants quite so defensive of their fruit?

More gooseberries!

In the end, I picked 2 oz less than the 6 lbs required, but that was Good Enough. I put them in our largest cooking pot with 3 pints of water, brought them to the boil and let them simmer for 5 minutes. The whole lot went into my bucket with 2 lbs 14 oz sugar and a further two pints of cold water. I added a teaspoon each of yeast, nutrient, pectolase and tannin just before going to bed and by Monday morning it was all fermenting nicely

Gooseberry wine fermenting

The wine got one stir each day and I planned to put it in its demijohn on Friday evening. However, by then I had worked until 6:15 and was in a thoroughly bad mood, so I left it until this morning, 17th July.

Gooseberry does take a long time to put into its demijohn, though I had Radio 3's Record Review to keep me company. The wine is going to produce a huge sediment.

The first demijohn of Gooseberry Wine

It did - massive! I racked this on 20th August and I fit in most of 2 pints of water with 4 oz sugar dissolved.

I am making a second batch, this time crushing the berries rather than boiling them and 5 pints of boiling water. I started on Sunday 23rd August and racked it on 25th September. The sediment on this one was slightly smaller, but I put in 36 fluid ounces of water with 2 oz sugar dissolved.

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2016 - Final Bottle (B4), 16th July 2021

I had remembered this bottle as one of my weaker vintages of Christmas Tutti Fruti, but this final bottle was excellent. There was a complex fruity taste that Claire thought reminiscent of real wine. I was in too bad a mood to notice at the beginning and by the time my mood had improved sufficiently I forgot to notice. It is a shame that there is not another bottle left so that I could pay attention.

(Typing this up two and a half months later, I have no memory of why I was in a bad mood!)

A photo taken on 16 July, no idea where!

Orange Wine 2020 - Third Bottle (A6), 21st May 2021

I downed this bottle (or more than my fair share of it) on Friday night in a state of existential glumness. Earlier in the day I had seen the doctor who told me to eat more (not a terrible instruction) but there may be a (not particularly serious) internal issue, and he has prescribed me pills (the potential side effects of which sound horrific). I am 50 (soon to be 51). I am too young to be on pills. I try to avoid taking even paracetamol unless I have a particularly bad headache. Anyway, I have yet to take one and I did not really taste the wine.

Fully clothed on my bathroom scales

Prune & Parsnip Wine 2019 - Eleventh Bottle (B2), 29th April 2021

I opened this bottle in the attempt to improve Claire's mood. She had taken delivery of a new phone in the early afternoon and by the evening she was a spitting ball of fury. Nothing worked like it had on her Motorola and therefore it was wrong and unacceptable. Any offers of help were themselves unhelpful. At least I could hand her wine - which I think elevated me from the position of 'Most Terrible Husband'. I drank what Claire did not.

A photo I took in Leeds City Centre on 29 April

Elderberry Wine 2017 - Twelfth Bottle (C5), 17th-18th March 2021

Oh, I was in a bad mood on Wednesday. All my plot sales seemed to go wrong at once. No-one wants to complete before Easter and there is little I can do about it. I don't know why I care so much, because there is no personal effect on me. Claire argues that it is good that I do - being in a job where one does not care would be soulless. She prescribed me this bottle of elderberry wine, and she is a doctor after all, so why would I refuse? Well, it was lumpier than ideal, but we are blessed with sieves.

Poetry pinned to a Park Notice Board on 17 March

Orange Wine 2021 - The Making Of...

One of the 'First World Problems' caused by Covid 19 is the sheer amount of queuing that it creates. Whilst one might point to the 120,000 deaths in the UK, the mental health crisis, the vast unemployment and the failure to see loved ones, it was the time spent standing in lines that annoyed me most on Saturday, 6th March. The greengrocer, the butcher and the post office all had long, slow-moving queues and by the time that I got home Claire had to calm me down with cake.

A crate of 24 oranges

Making things better, though, the greengrocer had set aside a box of 24 oranges for me - large Spanish oranges looking like they had been plucked from their tree mere hours ago. 

I started making my wine that afternoon by thinly peeling half of the oranges and covering the peel in two pints of boiling water. This is always the most tedious bit of making orange wine and this year I separated it out of the process by making it my first task, leaving the orange peel to percolate in its water for 24 hours. I did a particularly poor job of avoiding the pith and if this wine turns out too bitter, that will be the explanation. 

A particularly poor job of avoiding the pith

On Sunday afternoon, 7th March, I squeezed all 24 oranges - changing hands every three oranges so as to avoid a painful and overused shoulder. This is a sticky job and required frequent handwashing.

Some of the oranges with outer skin removed

With the oranges being larger than most years I got far more juice - 6 pints (including all the bits of flesh). I added 6¾ pints of cold water and the two pints of water that had been covering the peel. Into this I poured 5½ lbs of sugar and gave it a good stir. I then started 2 teaspoons of yeast fermenting in half a pint of water with a teaspoon of sugar and put this into the mix once fermentation had begun. I added a teaspoon of pectolase and 1½ teaspoons of nutrient. Though my usual timetable would have me putting the wine into its demijohn on Friday, it was Book Group that night (Grownups by Marian Keyes - hated by some, loved by others) so I did this all on Saturday 13th March instead. There was little to sieve out so the process was quick. I am left with two demijohns of pure sunshine.

Two demijohns of sunshine

Ginger Wine 2018 - Final Bottle (5), 23rd February 2021

Tuesdays should not be a full-bottle night, but Claire returned from work in such a foul mood that anything else would be unthinkable. After plying her with wine and cooking a quiche, all became so much more right with the world.

We finished the evening watching Lupin on Netflix - an entertaining French Crime Thriller, stylishly done. Otherwise, it was an entirely unremarkable Tuesday. Oh, this ginger wine is lovely - it has a bite to it.

Snowdrops in our garden

Blackberry Wine 2018 - Tenth Bottle (B2), 17th-19th December 2020

Thursday was very nearly a whole bottle of wine night. I finished work at 7:30, having ended with a fractious meeting about an £8m purchase of land in Calderdale that had been stuffed with bad temper and awkward silences. Therefore, most of a bottle between the two of us did not feel excessive. And it is a good one - there is a reason that bramble wine is one of my very favourites. 

Tonight we finished the remainder in a mix with sloe gin - and that works brilliantly. It transforms a good wine into an excellent one with distinct hints of port.

Another Advent Window - this
time in Chapel Allerton

Rose Petal & Orange 2018 - Third Bottle (3), 14th November 2020

I spent Saturday feeling out of sorts. The day was dank and little could lift my mood. Whilst we are being told that there is a vaccine on the horizon, I shall believe it when I see it. A bottle of Rose Petal & Orange helped - it is not as good as 2019's batch, but actually it is not half bad. Perhaps both flavours are too strong, but only slightly - and it goes well with stir-fried Kim Chi. We then watched A Knight's Tale which is gloriously anachronistic and just a huge amount of fun. That helped too.

Playing around with my camera on 14 November

Blackcurrant Wine 2018 - Final Bottle (A6), 16th-17th September 2020

Sausages require a red wine and I gave Claire a free choice of which red wine to choose, which is how we ended up with blackcurrant. She was not in the greatest of spirits - a combination of Brexit, Covid 19, the upcoming US election (Trump will get in again, of course) and despair at research facilities at Leeds University all combined to make opening a bottle of wine a necessity. Both nights I have worked till past 6, so I did not discourage this. The wine itself was a fruity and tasty as ever, but perhaps not the best red to go with sausages.

Another Leeds doorway, taken on 17th September

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2018 - Fifth Bottle (B3), 7th-8th June 2020

I hardly got a taste of this wine. But that was because I had a whole bottle of rhubarb wine to get through that had been rejected by Claire as being undrinkable (I thought it was fine). Therefore I made do with a couple of sips and left the rest to Claire.

On Sunday I was feeling particularly low about nearly being 50 and wasted the day doing virtually nothing. Monday was better, but I do find it odd that I am in the last week of my 40s.

A door in Leeds that I liked on 7 June

Orange Wine 2017 - Final Bottle (A4), 31st January 2020

So, we are now out of the European Union, though I was in bed and asleep by the time it happened. Presumably there were fireworks, but I am not sorry to have missed them. I coped with the evening by drinking more than I ought, including this bottle of Orange Wine - which was more bitter than I remembered it. Still, that matched my mood.

A photo taken on 30 Jan

The boat is called 'Laughing Gravy'

Prune & Parsnip Wine 2017 - Ninth Bottle (B2), 6th June 2020

I am feeling glum about my impending 50th birthday. Why, I'm not sure - it certainly has to do with the onward march towards mortality, but I think it also has to do with the circumstances in which we find ourselves. It wasn't as if my birthday would have been a big celebration anyway - I was due to play in an Airedale concert. But with social distancing, it is now going to be a quiet occasion.

We drank a bottle of Prune & Parsnip which helped improve my mood a little and I was persuaded to watch Pitch Perfect by Sooz, Jayne and Sally. Unexpectedly, I didn't loathe it.

Sage flowers, taken on 6 June.

Prune & Parsnip Wine 2019 - Second Bottle (A6), 19th-20th February 2020

Claire and I both came home a little discombobulated on Wednesday. My day had been full of mistakes and complaints. The sort of day where Imposter Syndrome is at its strongest. Claire was cross with IT: with her computers and network not working, she can do little work. To remedy matters I cooked a fish pie (though forgot to add parsley to the white sauce) and we drank much of a bottle of Prune & Parsnip. It was finished on Thursday after a slightly better day and before an episode of Doctor Who.

Taken on 20 February. If you look very carefully

you should see a rainbow.

Halloween Wine - Second Bottle (5), 23rd-26th December 2019

My office closed for Christmas on Friday and for most everyone else the atmosphere was all rather jolly. I went in on both Monday and Tuesday. On Monday, therefore (which is not a usual bottle of wine night) we shared most of this wine. I was feeling exceptionally glum and anxious about getting the last contract exchanged on Christmas Eve, and Halloween Wine helped my mood.

We finished it, sharing small glasses with Sooz and Andrew, on Boxing Day. Once I told them that the difference between this and Xmas Tutti Fruti was the chilli they claimed that they could taste this too. I think it quite obvious.

Oh - I did get the exchange on the 24th!

A photo I took on Boxing Day

Rose Petal Wine 2018 - Fifth Bottle (A1), 26th-27th April 2020

Much worse! After being relatively pleased with the previous bottle, this one has reverted to its bitter and overly-floral self. I can't explain the difference - both bottles were from the same demijohn.

Claire was out again on Sunday night, waiting to process samples in the lab, hence opening a bottle that she doesn't much like (mind you, nor do I). Much of it, though, was drunk on Monday night while trying to watch happy things on telly to lift the mood.

A photo I took on 26th April, capturing how I was feeling

Blackberry Wine 2016 - Final Bottle (C6), 20th-23rd December 2019

This bottle was therapy more than anything else. On both nights I came home from work feeling out of sorts. I have not been a fan of Christmas since aged about 30, but working at my house-building firm has made it so much worse. And I'm going in today (Christmas Eve) in the vain attempt to rescue a half-million pound house sale. Bah and, indeed, Humbug. So lashings of blackberry wine on each night (plus other wine besides) has been used to improve my mood. It helped, but not to the extent that I went to bed jolly or with great joy to all mankind.

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Obviously, I have got rather behind with my blog (though I have kept up with my diary). What I will try and do - until ennui gets the better of me - is to continue to post in diary (rather than date) order. So from now on, things will jump around rather. However, the next one I do will be an exception: my first bottle of Magnolia Petal Wine, because people are interested in that.

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

Rhubarb Wine 2019 - The Making Of...

On a wet Wednesday evening in late May, Claire and I drove to Nick's house in Morley to gather rhubarb. In previous years, Nick has delivered rhubarb to us but we were curious about his allotment and so made arrangements to visit. Nick lives within the Rhubarb Triangle and he has an impressive patch. His rhubarb originated from our garden and, whilst our plants are fine, his are flourishing. Giving rhubarb away in vast quantities helps Nick control his stock but it threatens to take over. The remainder of his allotment is well-ordered and lush and the rhubarb is kept in one (large) corner.

Between us we pulled up 6 lbs of stalks, concentrating on the pinker variety, and this was not a difficult or lengthy task. One cup of tea later we were on our way home with our haul, plus some chard plants for the garden.

I started the wine on Friday night, 31st May, whilst Claire was out rehearsing string quartets for Saturday's party. 6 lbs of rhubarb stalks is what is required for a double batch. I washed these, chopped them into slices of about 1 cm in thickness (only spilling one bowl over the floor and swearing loudly) and put them into my bucket. I added 6 lbs sugar and 12-and-a-half pints of boiling water. Rhubarb wine is really very easy!

Saturday morning I added a teaspoon of yeast and pectolase and a teaspoon and a half of nutrient. Ordinarily I would have put this into demijohns on Wednesday, but Wednesday night is WYSO night, so I did this on Thursday instead. I fished the rhubarb pieces out with a colander as far as I could and kept these in a sterilised bowl. I then used the jug, funnel and sieve method to get the (now striking pale pink) liquid into its demijohns. There was quite a gap in each demijohn by the end so I washed my hands and squeezed down the saved rhubarb, pouring the released liquid into my jug. This went into my spare bottle for topping up the demijohns.

With either great foresight or luck, I emptied the jug into the bottle after getting about three-quarters of a pint. When the jug had another half pint in, I knocked it over, spilling its contents all over everything. There was much swearing at this point, followed by a concerned wife coming into the kitchen and some frantic mopping. Not a great disaster in the grand scheme of things, but intensely annoying.

I racked this on 3rd July, less than a month from putting it into its demijohns. It got half a pint of water and 3 oz sugar divided between the two demijohns.

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