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.

Blackberry Wine 2018 - Fourth Bottle (A3), 18th-19th March 2020

We should have been at WYSO on Wednesday for our final rehearsal of La Villi before Saturday and Sunday's performances. Instead we were at WYSO collecting the music in to return to the publishers. It is only a small sacrifice to have made to the Corona Virus pandemic, but a miserable one. Artistic life is going to be devastated over the coming months.

At home I opened a bottle of blackberry wine and we had a take-out pizza. The pizza was somewhat less disappointing than the wine. Curiously, the wine had improved the next day.

Some mushrooms - I took this photo on 18th March

Blackcurrant Wine 2018 - Seventh Bottle (A4), 28th March 2020

This social distancing and lockdown regime does mean that one has to be more inventive with both communication and entertainment. I opened a bottle of blackcurrant wine during a virtual drinks party, where three of my colleagues and I appeared on my phone screen using WhatsApp. Whilst not a perfect success, it was entertaining. Lots of laughter. Then Claire and I finished the bottle whilst watching a concert put together by suggestions from our Newcastle friends, using YouTube. There was a collective enjoyment (though I fell asleep during Shostakovich 5). Despite the circumstances, a good day.

A photo I took on 28th March - it is a good book.

Blackcurrant Wine 2018 - Fifth Bottle (A1), 12th-14th December 2019

This last week has been busy with evening engagements, not to mention how much there is to do at work. Next year I must remember to keep the last three weeks of December free of anything that requires thought process and energy after about 6 p.m.. Anyway, on Thursday I was at Pat & Peter's, and on Saturday I was depping for Leeds College of Music's Christmas Concert. Claire took the opportunities to neck a bottle of blackcurrant wine. Actually, that is unfair. I had a much-needed glass after Pat & Peter's. Peter has started talking about performing again at Leeds Music Club.

At the College of Music concert

Strawberry Wine 2019 - The Making Of

On Tuesday evening, 2nd July, after work, I went to pick strawberries at the Horsforth Pick Your Own fields. At the weighing counter I was directed to a far away field and told that this was where the 'Superb' strawberries could be found. Maybe the adjective used was 'Magnificent'. The man behind the counter must have a different dictionary to me. I would have used the words 'Barely Adequate' myself. Mostly the fruit was unripe or gone over. However, if I was to end up with 4 lbs of strawberries, I could not afford to be fussy. My one requirement was that they were mostly red, but even then it seemed like every strawberry was an effort. I was not helped by feeling dizzy every time I stood up, occasionally seeing brown swirling patches before my vision cleared. It being past six, I was the only person in the field and fainting would have been a poor choice. Despite all this, I ended up with a basketful which, when weighed, came to over 6 lbs - so I have enough for apple and strawberry wine later in the year. I am dubious about the quality, though.

The Pick Your Own Field with 'Superb' Strawberries

Mashing 4 lbs of (hulled) strawberries took longer than it should and I don't think the fruit was ripe enough. If this wine turns out badly, this will be why.

My basket of strawberries

To the 4 lbs of mashed strawberries, I added 4 pints of boiling water. The following evening, 3rd July, I strained the liquid into a demijohn and stored the fruit in a sterilised bowl. I poured 2 pints of cold water over the fruit and let it sit for about an hour. Next I poured the strained liquid back into my (washed and re-sterilised) bucket and then strained the fruit again from the new liquid, pouring the liquid into the bucket and discarding the fruit. At this point I put 3 lbs of sugar into the bucket and a teaspoon each of yeast, nutrient, pectolase and tannin. Wednesday was a busy evening!

Giving the strawberries a wash

I left the wine until Saturday, giving it a daily stir. Saturday evening was meant to be spent playing in a concert, but the piece I was meant to play in - Fauré's Requiem - got cancelled at the last minute, so I put my wine into its demijohn instead. The wine is far less red than usual and this year it is brick-red rather than post-box red. I am not hopeful.

Strawberries in my bucket

I racked this on 15th August and by that point was became more hopeful as the small taste I got was fine. I added over half a pint of water with 2 oz sugar dissolved.

A few tiny strawberries from our garden that I put in

On bottling, which happened on 12th March, this wine has turned into something rather good. Maybe a less distinctive strawberry hit than usual - but definitely akin to wine.

Brick-Red Strawberry Wine

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

Prune and Parsnip Wine 2018 - Eighth Bottle (B6), 24th November 2019

Sunday was a lazy day rounded off with baked fish and a bottle of Prune & Parsnip Wine. I'm not certain that this is the best of wines to go with fish, on account of its relative sweetness, but it is what Claire chose when I put the available options to her. We needed a lazy Sunday - Saturday had been extremely busy, taken up almost entirely by our WYSO concert. From letting the piano-tuner into the church at 9:15 a.m. to having put all pews and altars back in their proper place by 9:45 p.m. and fitting in a rehearsal and concert in between, there was little time for rest.

The entrance to the church in which we played

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)

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.

Cherry Wine - First Bottle (1), 6th-7th July 2019.

Well, this is a strange bottle of wine. There is both a lovely, fruity taste and vaguely poisonous flavour fighting for dominance. The fruity taste wins out - and that is an excellent one, and distinctly cherry. Next time I should make the effort to remove the stones.

I opened the bottle after Claire had returned from a choral concert in Bradford. The piece was new and confusing for all concerned. I made the last 10 minutes of it at the point everything was collapsing. The conductor knocked his music to the floor and Claire wondered if this was on purpose to allow a regroup.

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

Inca Berry & Raisin Wine - Third Bottle (2), 13th-15th June 2019

We needed a mid-week bottle for Thursday night and Inca Berry & Raisin had studied that particular job description and submitted its application. Neither Claire nor I could really remember what it tasted like - and the answer is 'raisiny'. Not a bad wine by any means, but not one for Sunday Best.

We drank most of the bottle whilst watching the penultimate episode of Line of Duty, leaving a glass for Claire to have whilst I was off playing Sibelius 2 at Leeds College of Music. I don't think I have been in a concert before where the music comes to a shuddering halt and we have to start again. My lucky musical socks were obviously not working.

My lucky musical socks (plus Wiggy)

Elderberry Wine - Seventh Bottle (A3), 20th January 2019

This was a post-concert bottle. Airedale Symphony Orchestra played Roman Carnival by Berlioz, Beethoven's Violin Concerto and Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony in Saltaire. The concert went well, but for me it will be remembered as 'The one where I had a coughing fit'. I was trying my best to supress a cough during the violinist's cadenza and ended up turning purple, nearly choking with tears streaming down my face. It was awful. Anyway, back at home I restored myself with a bottle of elderberry wine - which is particularly fine, and a venison sausage and red cabbage casserole.

A view from the stand, during the rehearsal

Prune & Parsnip Wine - Eighth Bottle (A6), 16th-17th January 2019

On Wednesday and Thursday I really should have done some bassoon practice. There is a concert on Sunday and my lip has yet to recover from the Christmas lull. Instead, I drank prune and parsnip wine. It is a tasty bottle, but not a true substitute for getting those tricky semi-quavers under my fingers. Still, there is always Friday - so plenty of time to prepare. Nothing remarkable happened either day; the most exciting thing was seeing two cars collide in slow-motion outside work.

Xmas Tutti Fruti - Seventh Bottle (B6), 2nd December 2018

I needed Sunday. Whilst the previous week at work had been a busy one, Saturday was manic. It was the WYSO concert (Siegfried Idyll, Mendelssohn's Piano Concert No. 1 and Beethoven 6) and when I wasn't playing, I was organising things (keys, gifts for the soloist, rearranging the church, tea and coffee). The concert went brilliantly and we drank a bottle of real wine to celebrate. Consequently, Sunday was quiet and restful. I finished by book (The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner - excellent), did crosswords and ordered roses for the garden. Oh, and drank a bottle of Christmas Tutti Fruti, which is one of my better batches - as fruity as the name implies.

Blackcurrant & Gooseberry Wine - Fifth Bottle (3), 13th-14th November 2018

This bottle was shared between Tuesday and Wednesday nights where very little happened. I chose Blackcurrant & Gooseberry as one that will not appear at the Wine Party and it was a tasty choice.

On Tuesday evening we watched an old and ridiculous (is there any other sort?) Midsomer Murders and on Wednesday we had an entirely satisfactory WYSO rehearsal. The concert is not far off and we are beginning to sound like we mean it when we play Beethoven's Sixth.

Rhubarb Wine - Fifth Bottle (C6), 21st October 2018

I opened this bottle on Sunday night after returning from a terrific concert in Leeds Town Hall. We were playing crowd-pleasing patriotic guff and the 1812 Overture (though no actual cannons) and the audience loved it. A great cheer arose as we finished - and I think not a cheer of relief. My parents and Nancy Voynow were in that audience and returned to ours for a meal. Nancy asked for a glass of white wine so I gave her a glass of rhubarb without telling her what it was. When she was several sips through I confessed all - though rhubarb (oddly) is quite close to real white. Nancy said she enjoyed it - and let's face it: what's not to like?

The interior of Leeds Town Hall - a ridiculous wedding cake of a building

Rose Petal Wine - First Bottle (B6), 23rd-24th July 2018

I am pleased with this vintage of rose petal wine. It is lacking the bitter hint of 2016's batch and is light, refreshing and distinctive. A beautiful pale orangey-pink too. It being the summer with no regular orchestras, I opened it on a Monday evening and we finished it tonight. The summer is not without its music, however. On Sunday night we were playing a concert of Beethoven 3 (his best symphony) on remarkably little rehearsal. Josh, the conductor, got a nose bleed at the beginning of the second movement, which was more than a little distracting.

NB - I'm away now on my holidays, so there won't be a post for at least a week. Have a good one.

Blackberry Wine - Tenth Bottle (A5), 6th-8th June 2018

On our return from WYSO on Wednesday night, Claire was grouchy. WYSO itself had been a good rehearsal - it needed to be: our Pontefract Castle concert is in a fortnight and we don't want to embarrass ourselves. But Claire was inexplicably cross. Half a bottle of blackberry wine and a tube of dill-pickle flavoured Pringles later, things were rather rosier. Funny that.

This batch of blackberry continues to fall into the category of "A Little Disappointing", making it perfect mid-week drinking. The Pringles were both odd and interesting - neither of which you necessarily want in a crisp.

Orange Wine 2015 - Final Bottle (A6), 27th-28th March 2018

Having had a weekend stuffed with concerts (including a spine-tingling performance of an opera in a barely converted mill) and consequently little alcohol, I opened this bottle on a Monday night. Claire asked for something citrusy to go with fish. It has been over a year since our last bottle of this vintage and age has changed the wine. There is something fuller about it; you do not get the first, lingering hit of orange. Claire says she prefers her orange wine young and sharp, and I can't decide which I would choose. It was a pleasure, though, to have both Monday and Tuesday night at home not rushing off anywhere, recovering from the previous week.

Me at the opera...

Blackberry Wine - Seventh Bottle (B4), 14th-16th March 2018

Returning home from WYSO, I asked if I should open a bottle and received a positive response. We had been rehearsing with the chorus for La traviata where the six men outsang the thirty or so women. I chose blackberry as a decent mid-week bottle. In past years, blackberry has been for special occasions only, but not this vintage.

I finished the wine on Friday after being in the audience of Vivaldi's Gloria  and Bach's  Magnificat. Claire was playing viola in the tiny orchestra. The Vivaldi was better than the Bach: it felt like the choir were more familiar with it. We walked back in the snow and warmed ourselves with alcohol.

Elderflower Wine - Final Bottle (3), 22nd-28th February 2018

What better to go with fish pie than a bottle of elderflower wine? Quite a lot, it turns out. The first taste was on the verge of rancid. However, it improved dramatically for being left in the fridge: maybe exposure to oxygen helped (though that sounds implausible).

On Friday night when drinking this, a loveable character in The Archers was killed off through sepsis, and I found myself surprisingly affected. I spent the evening feeling low.

My two glasses on Saturday were after a chamber music concert in Todmorden. The concert itself was good - Dvorak's serenade for wind, cello and bass, and the Strauss Serenade Opus 7 - but it took me nearly two hours to get there. And rather than thanking me for making the effort (or even greeting me with a quick 'hello'), all the conductor said to me during the evening was "Could you help me shift the piano?". I won't be returning.