Prune & Parsnip Wine - Eleventh Bottle (B3), 20th May 2018

It has been a lazy, sunny Sunday rounded off by a bottle of Prune & Parsnip wine. Mostly I have spent my time in the garden doing things. One of those things was planting seeds: courgettes, beetroot and runner beans. Having just spent the week playing in the pit orchestra for Into the Woods, I will be disappointed if the beans do not produce a giant beanstalk running up to the sky within 24 hours.

The wine was, as ever, sherry-like and sent me to sleep.

Zucchini Wine - The Making Of...

Back in the early summer, I freecycled a stack of roof tiles that had been in our garden, gathering spiders and snails, since we bought the house. The woman who collected them gave us a courgette plant in thanks and Claire planted it in our front garden. It did not seem to be particularly fruitful and we mostly ignored it. This is a dangerous strategy when it comes to courgettes. The smallest fruit will, when you turn your back, grow into the most enormous marrow. And so it came to pass.

Our innocent looking courgette plant

Claire went out on Wednesday to harvest what we knew was a large courgette and staggered into the house with a seven pound, twenty inch monster. This was too big to cook and I was given permission to turn it into wine. In honour of my half-American heritage I feel justified in naming this brew 'Zucchini Wine'. Because of my Wine-Alphabet odyssey it is a wine that I had always planned to make, being the natural choice for Z, but I wanted it as my last letter. I have yet to tick off J, so that hasn't quite worked.

Anyway, I consulted my recipe books and have adapted C J J Berry's recipe for Marrow Wine. On Friday 1st September, I grated the zucchini (must not call it 'marrow') using the food processor, only discarding the very ends. I put this in my bucket, along with the juice of two oranges and 2-and-a-bit ounces of grated ginger. I added 2 lb 12 oz sugar and poured over 6½ pints of boiling water. At this stage what I have made is a sweet zucchini soup.

The grated zucchini

On Saturday morning I put in two teaspoons of citric acid (the recipe book asked for four), a teaspoon of tannin (not mentioned in the recipe), a teaspoon each of nutrient and pectolase plus the yeast and gave it all a good stir.

Tuesday (5th September) was my only night in this week, so that is when I sieved the liquid into its demijohn. Once I had removed the bulk of the vegetable matter with a colander, this was a quick job. It is probably not worth noting that I should have used a pint less water (it is highly likely that I won't be making this again). The taste at this stage is unpromising and its colour is dishwater grey-green. I will deem anything better than 'nasty' for this wine as a monumental success.

If you want to see how this wine turned out (and I recommend that you do so if you are thinking of following this recipe), click here.

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

Orange Wine - Sixth Bottle (B1), 11th September 2015

The courgettes have finally started doing their thing. Usually courgette week is the beginning of August. It is only now that we need to keep an eye on them to prevent a marrow invasion. Claire used a couple to make a Thai curry with sticky rice, and it was delicious. Orange wine was the correct bottle to drink. We needed something unsubtle to work with the Thai flavours, and orange has a powerful citrus kick to make its presence known.

The rest of the evening was mostly taken up with wine making and staying on top of the washing up.

Rhubarb Wine - Fifth Bottle (A6), 1st-2nd October 2014

Between starting and finishing this wine, I read the final few chapters of this month's Book Group book - Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield. It was an easy read and will not be universally popular, but I enjoyed it. Partly a ghost story, partly a treatise on Victorian business, it was mostly a tale of a man obsessed. There was no clever twist, and I think that was a strength.

We drank most of the wine to the Bake Off semi-final, in which I was sorry to see Chetna go, and then finished it to swordfish steaks tonight with shallow fried potato slices (also known as 'chips') and griddled courgettes. I have been doing lots of the cooking as of late in an effort to win 'Most Improved Husband 2014'.

Orange Wine - Seventh Bottle (B4), 27th September 2014

I have spent much of today in a bad mood. This is because I have learnt that the bassoonist against whom I hold a grudge the size of South Dakota is playing contra in Brahms 4 next weekend. It is a whole week away and already I am tense. I wish I were a better, less highly strung person. Never mind. Otherwise the day has been extremely quiet. I finished a rubbish book (What Men Say by Joan Smith) and eaten many mussels. The orange wine went well with the latter, and they were followed by a Thai curry with sticky rice, courgettes from the garden and eddoes. Eddoes are a strange, slimy vegetable, but one I quite like. And the wine has been effective. Hic.

Crab Apple & Strawberry Wine - Fifth Bottle (2), 29th August 2014

Claire and I drank this bottle on Friday night to a fabulous courgette curry that she invented, served with home-made rhoti. Though I had not chilled the wine it was still extremely good. Crab apple and strawberry is an excellent combination.

The afternoon had been spent in York. I was playing wind quintets outside the Merchant Adventurers' Hall for Simon's wedding. It was a lovely experience: we played well and occasionally the general public (who were mostly waiting for buses) would lean over the wall and applaud. The first piece was Mendelssohn's wedding march. I handed Simon my bassoon and he got to play his own celebratory music. We were both delighted.

Blackcurrant Wine - First Bottle (5), 22nd August 2014

Ros came over for a meal on Friday and Claire suggested a red. I gave Ros the choice of blackcurrant or elderberry and she chose this. This did not stop us opening the elderberry later in the evening, or polishing off a bottle of Chianti. It was a good evening.

Claire did her usual job of marvellous food. We started with French onion soup - one of the primary reasons I married her, followed by salad with nasturtium petals, then a spicy chicken stew with griddled courgettes and finally a lemon meringue pie. Delicious. The wine was disappointing, however. Too thin, a little dry and without that powerful blackcurrant hit that other vintages have produced.

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

Kiwi Fruit Wine - Third Bottle (2), 7th-10th August 2014

Claire writes:

This bottle was threatening to open itself on the day that we returned from Rydal. To my "joy", Ben declared it just about acceptable that I should drink it while he is in Wales. "Yippee". I had been studiously ignoring it, but fancied something cold and a bit fizzy tonight, so bit the bullet. It is bland, inoffensive and tastes nothing like kiwi fruit*.

Watched the fist episode of Bake Off 2014. One of the contestants looks horrifyingly like my PhD supervisor. Gave me quite a turn.

The annual courgette glut has started.

Ian Eperon - the PhD supervisor

A contestant on Great British Bake Off

* She lies

Crab Apple Wine - Second Bottle (B6), 23rd July 2014

We are very nearly on holiday, but perhaps not so close to justify a gin, the remnants of a bottle of Tutti Fruti and the whole of a bottle of crab apple. In my defence Emma was here, so there were three of us. And we had to celebrate the first proper courgette of the season. As usual courgette fortnight will coincide nicely with Rydal week.

The wine was lovely and complemented our meal of fish, fried tomatoes and peppers, griddled courgette, crispy potatoes, white sauce and salad from the garden. It was a good evening.

Crab Apple Wine - Sixth Bottle (B4), 1st September 2013

The day has been spent making blackberry wine, baking bread and trying to calm Claire down about all the air travel we will be doing shortly. She has a real phobia about flying - and I don't know what I can do. I have suggested that she can always decide not to come to America, but I would hate that. Still, things improved over the course of the evening, and I think the crab apple wine helped. We drank it to the egg, tomato and pepper thing, which is always a winner. Except we had no peppers and an abundance of courgettes, so used those instead. I spent the rest of the evening arseing about on the computer while Claire read.

The wine was its usual crab apple self, thought there is something cloying about this batch. Worth drinking nonetheless.

Dandelion Wine - Final Bottle (4), 11th-13th August 2013

I had expected marvellous things of this bottle, remembering that the last two had been superb. Instead, I got something that was on the good side of drinkable. There was the dandelion herby taste from earlier bottles, which is distinctive without being actively nice. I am pleased that I did not serve this wine at Book Group on Friday, and instead shared it only between Claire and me.

We drank the bottle to our first home grown tomato of the year, which was small and yellow. This is a small, yellow tomato more than we got last year, and I expect many more. Claire's plants are looking healthy and fecund, and we should be eating a tomato glut shortly after courgette week has passed.

Claire's tomato plants

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With this post, my blog has come full circle. This batch of dandelion was the first wine that I made after starting the blog, and you can see how I made it by clicking here. If you want to see how each bottle turned out, just click on the label 'Dandelion' below. So, in the 2 years and 4 months that I have been writing this blog, I have provided recipes for fifty batches of wine and thirty separate flavours. There have been 440 posts, of which only a handful are neither about making wine or drinking bottles. Therefore, I reckon that about 370 posts relate to drinking a bottle of wine. As I say at the top of the blog, you may come to the conclusion that I am drinking too much! Cheers.

Elderberry Wine - Tenth Bottle (B1), 10th August 2013

Well, I do make a grand bottle of elderberry wine if I say so myself. This wine was rich, dark and heavy and has made me rather sleepy. To the extent that I shall finish this entry tomorrow. Pathetic, I know.

(It is now tomorrow.) I had a glorious time drinking this. Claire and I were in the kitchen together: she jam making and I making wine and cooking. It was nothing exciting or out of the ordinary, but it was special. This togetherness. Pottering about in hobbit-like fashion.

The meal I cooked was griddled courgettes, grilled lamb chops marinated in olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, oregano and rosemary, and Julia's home grown beans. All delicious and the wine went splendidly with it.

Blackcurrant and Red Gooseberry Wine 2013 - The Making Of ...

Eight days ago I opened my first bottle of blackcurrant and red gooseberry wine. It was really rather lovely - full of sharp, fruity flavour that takes the best from each ingredient. Therefore, when presented with a heavy crop of blackcurrants this year, I decided to do it again.

Both Fruits Together

Our blackcurrant bushes are prolific this summer. Even though we are towards the end of the season I still managed to get nearly two pounds of fruit off them today, 10th August, and there are several pounds in the freezer. Between us, Claire and I are planning another batch of wine, several jars of jam, blackcurrant gin, blackcurrant vodka, sorbet and still plenty left over for Christmas Tutti Fruti.

Red Gooseberries - always the bridesmaid and never the bride

The red gooseberries are doing less well, and I blame the sawfly, which I ignored entirely this year. But there were still enough of them for my arms to get thoroughly scratched and to get the 8 oz needed for this recipe.

I started making the wine this evening whilst also cooking tonight's meal - lamb chops marinated in olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, rosemary and oregano, griddled courgettes, cous-cous and french beans - so had to be careful not to mix the ingredients and processes. I weighed out 2½ lbs blackcurrants (getting some from the freezer) and 8 oz red gooseberries. These were put in the bucket and I mashed them (after pouring over half a pint of boiling water) while heating 5½ pints of water with 3 lbs sugar dissolved.

The ingredients in the bucket before the yeast was added

Once the water had reached boiling point I poured it over the mashed fruit and left it overnight before adding the yeast and a teaspoon each of nutrient and pectolase. I left it for a further four days - till Wednesday 14th August - before sieving out the fruit and putting the liquid into its demijohn. I did this part while listening to Tchaikovsky's Third Symphony on Radio 3. It is not a piece I know at all and, apart from the bombastic and tedious final movement, it is rather good.

The result so far

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

Gooseberry Wine - Second Bottle (3), 3rd August 2013

We are just back from Rydal but still officially on holiday until 8:30 on Monday morning. Claire, having drunk only beer while we were in the Lakes, wanted something nice, so chose gooseberry wine.

Whilst we were away the garden has become a land of plenty so our meal was entirely home grown, apart from the eggs. We had a fritatta with broad beans, runner beans and all sorts of herbs, a green salad and the first courgette of the season, griddled and drenched in lemon. Actually, the lemon didn't come from our garden either. Global warming hasn't got that far yet. The gooseberry wine went well with all of this - sharp, dry and alcoholic. What's not to like?

Rhubarb & Elderflower - First Bottle (4), 1st June 2013

I have been looking forward to this bottle of wine for some time. Almost since I started making it a year ago, and certainly since I bottled it at Christmas. It has not disappointed. Rhubarb & Elderflower is a glorious pink-bronze colour and (until the last couple of glasses) absolutely clear. There is a slight fizz and the taste is excellent. It does not have the single (albeit pleasant) note of pure elderflower and is more complex than rhubarb. On the basis of this bottle I will definitely make it again.

The day has been a pleasant, undemanding one. Much of it was spent writing a guest blog post for Lovely Greens and some involved drinking tea and eating scones with Julia and Ros. It being the first of June, we had a summer meal of various salads, griddled courgettes and an asparagus & horseradish quiche.

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

Christmas Tutti Fruti - Sixth Bottle (B4), 17th May 2013

Friday night began with gins and tonics at ten past the yard arm and continued from there. It was a wine making night, so I spent most of it surrounded by glass containers and sterilising solution. I racked the orange and transferred both my dandelion and the rhubarb into their demijohns - a sticky process aided by Claire chatting amiably in the kitchen. We were late eating cabbage leaves stuffed with rice and courgettes, covered in a tomato sauce (we both decided that they would have benefitted from some minced lamb) meaning most of a bottle of Christmas Tutti Fruti sent each of us squiffy. So, all in all both a pleasant bottle of wine and pleasant evening in an unremarkable sort of way.

Gooseberry Wine - Third Bottle (2), 8th September 2012

We spent the whole of Saturday rehearsing Acts 2 & 3 of Der Rosenkavalier. This requires an enormous amount of concentration and a bottle of wine to recover. Renate is staying over, so we began with gins in the garden. The weather is about the best it has been this year, and chatting outside, inspecting the brassicas and sipping gin & tonic was just lovely.

Once the gooseberry wine was open it was time to go indoors, and we drank it to honey & lemon roasted chicken with a side order of garden vegetables. The courgettes have reached marrow status and I predict they will be a feature of the coming week.

This is a fine batch of gooseberry wine - sharp, distinctive and mostly unmusty.

Elderberry Wine - 15th Bottle (C3), 13th August 2012

Courgette Week has arrived - about a fortnight off schedule. I blame the terrible summer, though the last week has reminded me why we live in this country. Claire harvested the two large courgettes and proceeded to stuff them with beef mince, their own flesh, fried onions and some aubergine offcuts, adding nutmeg and covering it with a tomato sauce. Delicious. A bottle of elderberry went well - it always does with red meat - and I drank my half trying not to think about work tomorrow. Having just had a fortnight away I am nervous about what lies in store and I shall probably sleep badly tonight.

Blackcurrant Wine - Final Bottle (2), 5th June 2012

It was the final night of Patriotic Fervour on Tuesday and this was the second bottle opened to mark the occasion. Having to go to work the following day was not given a moment's consideration. Bob and Judith are staying and my father came over for the evening, so I wanted to give them one of my better bottles. They should feel truly honoured: not only is blackcurrant one of the nicest wines I make, it was also my last of this flavour in the house. There was too little fruit in 2011 to make any - though our bushes this year look promising.

The other celebration was Claire completing the Jubilee Raised Bed, in which she has planted the Jubilee Courgettes. This project has been going on some time - delayed by weather, by the wrong sort of mortar and by the general lack of time. But it is now finished and we shall have courgettes in abundance.