Blackcurrant & Raspberry Wine 2020 - Second Bottle, 11th-13th April 2021

Sunday was a day of many pleasures. The best of these was spending time in the garden of 60 Heworth Green, huddled around an outdoor stove chatting with Chris, Kate and my parents. It has been months since I have seen any of them and though we were there for only 90 minutes, it was glorious. We were snowed upon but that just made it all the more memorable.

In the evening we had another virtual dinner party with Rachel & Duncan, where this was our second bottle opened, after a bottle of Prosecco to celebrate Cornelia Gruntfuttock's birthday. The wine is excellent and I will save a bottle for Rachel & Duncan to taste when we eventually see them in person.

The snow came later

Magnolia Petal Wine 2020 - First Bottle (3), 8th-10th April 2021

Distinctly odd but (depending on who you ask) not unpleasant. If the person you ask, however, is my wife, she will tell you just quite how unpleasant it is. Claire took one sip, after a suspicious sniff, and pulled an almighty face as if I had made her drink hemlock. I asked her to repeat the process for the camera. Showing how much she loves me, she did. Thereafter the remainder of the bottle was mine.

The wine does have a strange taste - there is a bitterness that lurks below the surface and there is a hint of tea to the flavour. It is not as good as 2019's batch but I honestly don't think the wine is a disaster. Adding a dash of sugar-syrup helps. Claire has requested that I never make this again, which is a little harsh. This year's harvest has been destroyed by a late April frost and snow showers, so she is certainly safe for the time being.

Claire enjoying the wine

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

Crab Apple Wine 2015 - Twenty-Ninth Bottle (E6), 31st January - 6 February 2021

Claire is of the opinion that this wine has deteriorated massively in quality and refused to drink any. I think that whilst it was not at its refreshing best, it was entirely fine so I drank the bottle over the course of the week, beginning with a Lockdown Dinner Party with Rachel & Duncan and finishing with an incomprehensible film version of Charlie's Angels. I suspect that my lack of comprehension was alcohol related.

Our garden on 2 February

Ginger Wine 2021 - The Making Of...

Saturday 9th January began as one of those bitterly cold sunlit days which is the best sort of winter day. Friday's snow had turned from damp and malleable to hard, crunchy and entirely satisfying to walk over. Claire's gender non-specific snowperson was still standing and no-one had stolen its hat. There were a fox's footsteps leading down our drive and everything in the neighbourhood looked different. We get snow so rarely, far less than I remember from my childhood, that I become giddy when it is here.

Ingredients in the snow (plus a bird's footprints)

The walk to Chapel Allerton to buy ingredients for ginger wine was a pleasure, particularly my route through the park watching children hurtling down the hill on their sleds, colourful against the white.

Ginger

I had intended to start this wine on the Saturday but the day ran away from me, so winemaking was a task for Sunday instead. I weighed 6½ oz ginger and, having read an article in The Guardian saying that removing skin from ginger was unnecessary, I gave it a quick scrub instead, sliced it thinly - skin and all - and put this in my bucket. Next I took four lemons and sliced the outermost peel from them, avoiding the pith, and put this in the bucket along with all their juice (11 fluid ounces). I then minced 1 lb of sultanas with the food processor and this went in too. My final winemaking task for the day was to boil 3½ pints of water and pour this over everything.

Lemons and peel

On Monday lunchtime, a day where the snow has vanished entirely, I boiled another 3½ pints of water and put this into the bucket with 2 lbs 8 oz of sugar. I let this cool for five hours and then added a teaspoon each of yeast, nutrient and pectolase.

The dry ingredients (except for sugar)

It took well over 24 hours before I was convinced that the yeast was doing its thing, but eventually it clearly was. I left the wine until Saturday 16th January before putting it into the demijohn - and there it is bubbling away: opaque and dark yellow.

Ginger wine in its demijohn

Blackcurrant Wine 2019 - Seventh Bottle (B1), 15th January 2021

Having had a massively busy December where I was working 1,000 miles an hour, it is nice to have a gentle January. This week I was able to take Claire's birthday off entirely (and made a Swiss roll!) and on Friday lunchtime Claire and I went for a walk in Moortown Park, which had turned into a winter wonderland. The amount of snow we have had this week has been unusual.

In the evening I cooked a tortilla (chorizo makes everything better), we watched ER and drank this bottle of blackcurrant wine. It was an unexciting yet thoroughly satisfying day.

 

The Swiss Roll that I made

Prune & Parsnip Wine 2017 - Eleventh Bottle (B6), 30th December 2020

Today has been an excellent day. It has mostly involved a walk round Fairburn Ings and Ledston with Jenny (and Claire, of course). The weather was perfect for a winter walk: low sunshine and never above freezing, with thin dustings of snow. The planned walk went through large swathes of water so this involved much re-routing, but to the benefit of the day. Once home and after a gin & tonic, we drank this Prune & Parsnip to leftover duck cassoulet and an episode of The Queen's Gambit.

Jenny & Claire in perfect winter walking conditions

Kiwi Fruit Wine 2018 - The Making Of...

Easter Monday should be spent in the garden, followed by a trip to the Garden Centre. This is simply what middle-class, middle-aged British people do. It is our cultural duty. On 2nd April 2018, I failed my nation. In my defence, for much of the day it was snowing and when not snowing there was a torrent of rain. Instead, I spent the morning tidying our bedroom (unearthing paraphernalia from Amsterdam - I was last there in 2016) and the afternoon making kiwi-fruit wine.

I have only made this flavour once before - five years ago - though if you google 'Kiwi Fruit wine' it is the second web page out of the box. I made up the recipe that time and pretty much followed it this. To start, I counted out 20 kiwi fruit, weighed them and added another two to bring the weight up to 3 lbs 8 oz. I cut each of them in half, held the half over the bucket and scooped the insides out with a spoon, discarding the skin. This had the advantage that the flesh and all spare juice landed squarely in the bucket. On the downside I discovered a combination of fine kiwi fruit hairs and acidic kiwi fruit juice has blistered my finger and caused an irritating rash. How I suffer for my hobby!

I mashed the fruit with a potato masher, added 3 lbs of sugar and poured over 6½ pints of boiling water. On Tuesday morning I put in a teaspoon each of nutrient, pectolase and tannin (I can't imagine that it needs any additional acid) and added the yeast. I then left the wine in its bucket until Saturday morning, 7th April, mostly forgetting to stir it twice a day.

On Saturday I got up early - Claire has just got a new phone and her alarm turns out to be a rooster call, which refuses to be turned off - and did my wine-making jobs before ten. Transferring the wine to its demijohn was straightforward and I could have reduced the water in the initial mix by a quarter of a pint - but at that level it won't make a difference. I am pleased that the wine has a distinctly green tinge, albeit on the greyish side. Claire thinks it looks like summer pond water - full of algae but (hopefully) no fish.

Fig Wine - Fourth Bottle (1), 18th March 2018

When will it be warm? The weekend has seen yet more snow and I long for a proper Spring. We were in St Albans over Saturday night for Lou's 50th birthday and hot footed it back to Leeds on Sunday morning for a two o'clock rehearsal in Ilkley. Sunday night was spent curled up on the sofa in front of the stove watching Lewis and apologising to the cats. I opened the fig wine for our meal of defrosted leftovers (which was better than that sounds). The wine is lovely - really figgy.

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.

Blackcurrant Wine - Fourth Bottle (1), 28th February- 1st March 2018

Britain really doesn't do snow well. We are in the grip of 'The Beast from the East', which has resulted in four inches of snow. The country is in lock down and there is only one topic of conversation. In fact, driving to work on Wednesday was slow and unpleasant. On Thursday I walked six miles instead, getting in late. But many people remained at home and the day was quiet.

On both nights we drank blackcurrant wine and I think deserve some congratulations for not finishing it as soon as it was opened. It is very drinkable and goes down like pop.

Rose Petal Wine - Sixth Bottle (A2), 10th December 2017

I forgot to chill this wine. However, December did that job for me. It is bitterly cold and for that reason I have not left the house today. There is widespread snow throughout the UK, though not in Leeds. It has been a pleasure, though, to have a remarkably lazy weekend. The only productive thing I have done is to make bread. The wine has done its job, to the extent that I can barely keep my eyes open and it is only just past nine. It was its usual exotic, dry, floral flavour and a good pink colour too. But now I really must go to bed. I'll leave Claire to deal with the cats.

Fig Wine - Fourth Bottle (4), 16th April 2016

Fig wine is delightful. We drank it on Saturday evening in front of (possibly) our last fire of the season. April continues to be cold and there was snow in some parts of West Yorkshire. The wine was our reward for a day of solid playing. St Matthews in Chapel Allerton had a 'Come and Sing Messiah' this weekend and Claire and I were in the (small yet perfectly formed) orchestra. Rehearsals started at 10:30. By 11:20 my lip was starting to die, and there was still another 6 hours to go. At lunch I ate vast quantities of cake in the hope this would resurrect it. It did. Hallelujah.

Kiwi Fruit Wine - The Making Of ...

Spring may finally have sprung, though it has taken until 6th April to do so. The sky is blue, there is virtually no snow remaining and our rhubarb plants are raising their first exploratory tendrils. I should really be outside digging, but I need to get April's wine started today.

I went into our usual fruit and veg shop fully intending to come out with three tins of exotic fruit, but my eye was caught by the kiwi fruit, being sold at five for a pound. This is a whole kiwi fruit per pound cheaper than normal and I do love a bargain. Also, joy of joys, I get to tick off the letter K from my alphabet of wine. So all portents for this flavour are hopeful. (Though Claire thinks it will  be bland.)

I do not have a recipe for kiwi fruit wine, so I decided that twenty kiwi fruit would probably be about right - which is four pounds in weight (and, coincidentally, price). I have not googled the recipe in case I find out I need double that. I peeled them, though did not worry overly about leaving some skin on. This was tedious and sticky, and it is easier to peel them whole rather than in halves.

I chopped each fruit into eight and put them all in the bucket. They got a good mash and I added three pounds of sugar. I boiled seven pints of water and poured this over. The process made me irritable - which I worked out was because I got too hot and Stan, who does not like any food I currently serve (except creme caramel), whined incessantly. I locked him in the front room with some Sainsbury's Own Brand.

On my return from the theatre - Rutherford & Son, performed by Northern Broadsides (shouty, intense, good) - the wine's temperature had dropped to 29 degrees, so I added the yeast and a teaspoon each of nutrient, pectolase and tannin.

I strained the liquid into its demijohn on Wednesday evening, 10th April. I was close with my estimate of water required - there is probably about half a pint too much. As was entirely predictable, the wine has turned from green to its usual cloudy-piss yellow.

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

Elderberry Wine - Seventh Bottle (A6), 23rd-24th March 2013

The scene from my bedroom window

I opened this bottle after our WYSO spring concert. Not that it feels like Spring. On the way up our street, the car got stuck on the snow and ice, and Claire spent ten minutes shovelling so I could get down the drive. Elderberry wine was her reward - and also our reward for the WYSO concert. It went remarkably well, all things considered, and we even got an audience, despite the snow. All my bassoon-prominent bits worked (though sending my thumb rest clattering to the ground during a quiet bit in the concerto was possibly more prominent than ideal). We got home too late to finish an entire bottle, so had the remainder on Sunday with a rabbit & prune casserole, which had Stan very excited.

Blackberry Wine - Eleventh Bottle (A2), 22nd March 2013

I was actually looking for a bottle of elderberry. My wine is stored in haphazard fashion and I can rarely find what I am seeking. Still, blackberry is a more-than- adequate substitute and tonight a bottle of wine has been welcome. Work was more stressful than ideal, we have a concert tomorrow which has significant terror potential, and there is an inch of snow on the ground. It is nearly April. Claire made a snow bunny just to prove a point. We are in never-ending winter and I wonder if I have become trapped in Narnia's sensible cousin. Blackberry wine is a good substitute for Turkish Delight, and it has dulled the senses somewhat.

Orange Wine - Final Bottle (A2), 10th-13th February 2013

It is a rare Sunday night that we allow a bottle to go unfinished, but that was this bottle's fate. Maybe we are getting old and sensible. It accompanied a rather splendid fish pie, which I cooked whilst Claire was out rehearsing Ludlow and Team, and orange wine always goes well with fish. Then the bottle sat in the fridge until Wednesday.

I was moderately surprised that Claire did not take the opportunity to finish the wine on Tuesday whilst I was out for a beer and curry night with Darren and Nigel. Instead we each had a glass the following evening on a day that was only made remarkable by a heavy snow fall. I am writing this on Thursday, and the snow has all gone, but it caused traffic chaos on Wednesday evening. It took my colleagues two to three hours to get home. It took me five minutes longer than usual. Walking has its benefits.

Rhubarb Wine - Ninth Bottle (B2), 22nd-25th January 2013

Well, what a lot happened during the four days this bottle was open.

Tuesday - nothing much (to the extent that I can barely remember that Tuesday existed).

Wednesday was a satisfactory WYSO rehearsal where we are getting to grips with Dvorak 7.

Thursday, however, I met Myles (and forgot to take a bottle of wine with me, for which I was sorely chastised). He is small and gremlin-like in the best possible way. Rachael appears to have taken to motherhood as if she was born to it, and Paul glows with pride. I was not going to get out of the house without a hold of the baby - and it made me far less uncomfortable than I would have predicted. To the extent that I enjoyed it.

Then Friday we had the most exciting bus journey ever outside a Keanu Reeve's movie, on the unlikely route 'Harrogate to Leeds'. It was the final bus of the evening, and the roads were snow covered. Our Polish driver, presumably used to these conditions, saw it as an adventure and at one point drove up a hill on the wrong side of the road, passing all the cars travelling at less than walking pace. Claire and I looked out nervously for traffic coming the other way. Once we were safely home (after a mile's walk in four inches of snow) we felt justified in finishing the rhubarb wine.

Elderberry Wine - Fifth Bottle (A2), 18th January 2013

Elderberry wine was really the only choice for this evening. It has been snowing since mid afternoon, and I arrived home from work to an open fire and a glass of whisky. Claire rustled up some French Onion Soup (which itself is one of the reasons I married her) and a rice pudding. What wine other than elderberry could possibly be opened in these circumstances? It was an excellent bottle too: rich and dark flavours made for a cold winter evening.

Orange Wine - Eleventh Bottle (B2), 17th January 2013

This bottle was compensation for not meeting Myles, my brand new nephew.

We had originally planned to travel to York on Friday, but the weather forecast suggested heavy snow. Tonight's prediction was 'white cloud', so I rang my mother at lunchtime to tell her to buy extra food. Which she did. And started cooking it. Whilst the snow arrived 24 hours early.

I rang to apologise for a change of plans: despite my American heritage I am English through and through. This partly manifests itself in panic at the first hint of snow. Mom was not best pleased - and in retrospect, we should have gone. But (and small consolation) the orange wine was particularly good, drunk to a fish curry, and I will make it again this March, in preference to Citrus.

Celery Wine - The Making Of ...

I may live to regret this wine. The phrase 'Celery Wine' does not summon up images of a lip-smacking paradise. However, last summer I was rung by a wine-making enthusiast who assured me that this was a successful flavour. And February is a month to experiment - it is a single batch month where nothing is in season. Perhaps, though, I should have repeated Exotic Tinned Fruit. Time will tell.

Today, 5th February, has been lovely. I did not get dressed until noon, which is always the sign of a good Sunday. Whilst I was lounging around, Claire - suffering from a hearty cough - was outside shovelling snow off our street. But she claims that she enjoyed it.

We spent the afternoon in York, eating Big Breakfast and seeing Bridget, who is spending the weekend in Terrington. Last time we saw her she was eight months pregnant. This time she is again eight months pregnant - but had Gemma in tow. Gemma is at 'delightful toddler' stage and is a mini-Bridget: red hair, blue eyes, mischevious looking.

Anyway, back at home I chopped up four pounds of celery and boiled it for thirty minutes in seven and a half pints of water. This was poured over three pounds of sugar and one tablespoon of citric acid. It is now a pale green liquid smelling of soup.



Four pounds of celery in 7.5 pints of water

I put in the yeast and a teaspoon of nutrient on Monday morning. I have not bothered to put in any pectolase as I do not thing celery is a rich source of pectin.

During the five days it has been in its bucket I have stirred the wine twice a day and each time have been surprised and pleased at the fragrance this produces. I put the wine in its demijohn on Friday night, 10th February, whilst listening to 'Any Questions' on Radio 4. This involved Anne Widdecombe and lots of shouting. It is a noisy, irritating programme. The volume of liquid I used was perfect and though the wine still looks like a nourishing broth, I am rather more hopeful about it than I was originally.

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If you want my first impressions of how it tastes, click here.