Elderberry Wine 2019 - First Bottle (B3), 4th September 2021

I left this vintage two years before opening the first bottle. As a consequence I have avoided a disappointing thin and metallic elderberry wine. This bottle was a fine elderberry: rich and dark, with a hint of real wine.

Duncan and Rachel are here: our first overnight visitors since the Before Times, and our house is tidy! We had a lovely evening which started with negronis and ended with bush tea. Then tomorrow we go to Aysgarth to begin a 52 mile walk round the Herriot Way. Wish us luck!

Taken on 5th September - at Aysgarth Church

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

Rose Petal & Orange Wine 2019 - Fifth Bottle (4), 11th July 2021

We had another virtual dinner party with Rachel & Duncan on Sunday night and this was our bottle of choice (after a small whisky smash). The food was a Turkish dish: Lemon & Apricot Cinnamon Chicken: so something involving rose petal for the wine was perfect. There was a more pronounced orange flavour than I had remembered, but that wasn't a bad thing. The meal was sumptuous - and easy to make. And then for pudding I produced a white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake.

White Chocolate & Raspberry Cheesecake

Blackberry Wine 2019 - Eleventh Bottle (C4), 26th-27th March 2021

Blackberry 2019, on the strength of this bottle, is a fine vintage. It is a wine that is deep and round and delicious. Therefore it is unusual, and shows remarkable restraint, that we have stretched it out over two nights. Friday was a result of having too much to drink on Thursday. Tonight, though, has been Decided By Claire. I quite fancy a whiskey but we have had a Manhattan already and she is probably right. Claire would replace "Probably" with "Definitely"

Our Rhubarb is starting to come through.

Blackberry Wine 2019 - Tenth Bottle (A2), 26th February 2021

A beer, a Negroni and a bottle of blackberry wine on a Friday night do not make a particularly joyful Saturday morning. However, they seemed like a good idea at the time. It had been a difficult couple of days at work - not bad at all; in fact more interesting than most - and drinking to excess was a way to close off the week. The wine was no more than okay - Claire described it as a disappointing red. It led to an entirely sober Saturday, which is distinctly unusual, but was needed.

Catkins - taken on my morning walk

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2017 - Tenth Bottle (B4), 22nd-23rd November 2019

This bottle was one of those rare creatures that we opened on a Friday and finished on a Saturday. Even more unusual, unless one counts a Negroni each on Friday, we didn't have anything else to drink either night. This is mostly explained by the presence of a WYSO concert on Saturday. I didn't want a hangover on the day and by the time we finished it was rather late.

The concert went brilliantly and I was stood up for particular applause for the bassoony bit in Alborado del Gracioso by Ravel. In case you hadn't noticed, I thrive on being centre of attention.

The altar in the church we performed

 (and taken on 23 November 2019)

Elderberry Wine 2017 - Fifth Bottle (B4), 29th December 2019

Our second bottle of the evening, not counting the Negronis or the glass of Magnolia Petal wine. We did have company; Angie and Phil; so it isn't quite as shocking as it sounds. By the time this bottle was open we were full of pizza, more than a little tiddly and sitting in front of the fire. The wine was okay, but it is still too young to be thoroughly satisfying.

A photo I took on 29 December

Blackcurrant Wine - Second Bottle (B5), 15th-17th September 2019

Having started Sunday evening with a Cosmopolitan, half a bottle of blackcurrant wine between the two of us was the correct decision. This allowed us to drink the remaining half as one of our Bake Off treats on Tuesday. The other two treats were a bag of Cheesy Wotsits and a chocolate éclair.

The wine continues to be excellent. Blackcurrant in not often smooth, but this vintage is. No jagged edges to make the drinker go "ooh".

Blackcurrant Wine - Eighth Bottle (A6), 26th July 2019

I really should not have finished this bottle. I had already had a glass of rose petal & orange and a negroni. But my day in the office was over 11 hours long and we are now on holiday. Therefore drinking lots in a short space of time was always going to happen. It is now Saturday morning and I feel somewhat the worse for wear. But we had a nice evening - eating cheesy wotsits followed by pizza in the garden and then an episode of Mad Men. In my defence, if we had not finished the bottle, it would have remained half open whilst we were away at Rydal. And that would have been a waste.

Prune & Parsnip Wine - Fifth Bottle (B1), 20th-22nd July 2019

Writing this three days later, I can't remember why we did not finish the bottle on Saturday. It may have had something to do with Negronis. Anyway, we had most of it after I returned from a chamber music party in Wetherby where I mostly played in decets and ate three sorts of pudding.

The prune & parsnip wine was unmemorable - but that can be a good thing. We finished it on Monday, where the most exciting thing to happen was that Claire found a newt in our garden.

This is not THE newt, but it is A newt

Elderberry Wine - Eighth Bottle (A6), 26th-29th May 2019

Bob and Judith stopped in Leeds on Sunday night as a staging post between Wiltshire and Newcastle. This provided an excuse for several cocktails, a vegetarian moussaka and a couple of bottles of wine, of which this elderberry was one. Elderberry 2016 is a fine vintage: dark and rich and smoother than the previous year's. Due to the large amount of alcohol already consumed, we did not finish the bottle but left that particular task for Tuesday night.

Something else which is dark and rich and smooth

Crab Apple Wine - 28th Bottle (D6), 26th May 2019

This was my 500 ml bottle of Crab Apple wine, chosen to share with Bob, Judith and Claire because we had just drunk two cocktails each and I planned a bottle of elderberry with our main meal.

This wine has not suffered from age at all. Bob described it as a close relation to Croft Original, though it is not as sweet as that implies.

The cocktails were negronis (of course) plus mint juleps, which I thought worked splendidly. I shall investigate these further in due course.

Elderflower, Rhubarb and Mint - Sixth Bottle (2), 28th April 2019

We have not had a Parents' Evening for an age - many years - and for this one I wanted to treat the ancestors with some of my best wine. Therefore, we started with a bottle of Elderflower, Rhubarb and Mint (if one does not count the Cosmopolitans). It continues to be an excellent bottle: there is a freshness to it, with I think must be the mint. By the time we reached the dinner table, the wine was mostly gone, so I fished out a blackberry from under the stairs.

We are so lucky to have four parents between us, who we like enormously and who get on fabulously well with each other. It is the very opposite of a soap opera.

Blackcurrant Wine - Sixth Bottle (B1), 20th April 2019

One might argue that after a bottle of blackberry at lunchtime, early evening negronis and a bottle of rose petal to go with our meal, that we did not strictly need a bottle of blackcurrant wine. One might have a point. However, this wine is so delicious - my best ever blackcurrant vintage - and Claire did ask so nicely, that who am I to refuse?

Early evening negronis

Dandelion Wine - Second Bottle (1), 19th April 2019

On a day that I started my next batch of dandelion wine, which was Good Friday where Andrew, Sooz and Jayne were all here, it seemed right and proper that we should drink this year's bottle of dandelion wine. This was after having an early (and floppy) gin and tonic, followed by Cosmopolitans in the garden. The weather has been idyllic over the last few days (though we do need some rain quite badly, just not this Easter weekend).

This wine was good without being outstanding: a medium-dry sherry with a definite hint of lemons. I wonder how next year's bottle will be.

Cosmopolitans in the garden

Blackberry Wine - Eighth Bottle (A6), 31st March - 2nd April 2019

Having started our Sunday evening with negronis, we exercised some self-control and only drank half a bottle of blackberry wine. According to my step-counter, I had had a sedentary day (fewer than 3,000 steps) and this was because I spent the morning reading The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy - trying to get it finished in time for Book Group. Therefore, I could not justify having additional wine due to an active and exhausting day.

The blackberry was as good as ever and accompanied a slow-cooked lamb stew. I didn't get a look-in for the remainder of the bottle. Claire had a glass in the garden to celebrate her first Monday off work and then finished it on Tuesday whilst I was out playing Glinka trios with Madeleine.

Rose Petal Wine - Thirteenth Bottle (A3), 29th March 2019

After a busy, stressful, yet ultimately successful and interesting week at work, what better way to relax than a Cosmopolitan cocktail followed by a bottle of rose petal wine? Our alcohol consumption was sponsored by the colour pink on Friday night.

At the beginning of the week, the Quarter One Target at work was hanging by a thread. By 3 o'clock on Friday I got the last completion and everyone got their bonus. Being the last piece in a jigsaw puzzle brings its own problems. Anyway, the cocktail was better than the wine, but the wine improved the more of it we drank. We then both fell asleep to Midsomer Murders.