Rhubarb - Bottle A3, 12th November 2011

This was the first bottle that I opened at my Book Launch (not counting the Crab Apple, which opened itself). I needed a stiff drink when I arrived at the book shop. There were only 20 minutes to go before the official start time and the books HAD NOT ARRIVED. Ruth had rung to say they were running late. Of all the disasters I had imagined, this was not one.

One large glass of rhubarb wine later I was a little calmer, and I started opening bottles of wine. If people had to wait then the least I could do would be to ply them with alcohol.

In fact, the books arrived only five minutes late, restoring nerves that until that point had been shattered.

Trying to look relaxed before the books arrived

Crab Apple - Bottle C3, 12th November 2011

Disaster. The salad tray in the bottom of our fridge is swimming with crab apple wine. I put this bottle in our fridge overnight to cool for the Book Launch. There was no room to stand it up, so I laid it on its side. That proved to be a Mistake.The cork popped some time during the night and I have yet to clear up the mess. I considered keeping the bit that was left (about a third of the bottle) for home consumption, but quickly rejected the idea. After all, I was sacrificing 12 bottles to the Book Launch and I suspected (correctly as it turned out) that this would be too many. So, taking a near-empty bottle of crab apple rather than a full one proved to be the right action.

This bottle was finished during the day, but only once we brought it home again. There was so little left that it would have been rude not to.

Blackberry - Bottle C4, 7th-10th November 2011

This was one of two bottles opened live on BBC Radio Leeds, whilst I was being interview by Wes Butters to promote the Book. I took this, as an example of my best wine, and Pumpkin as an example of my worst and, despite it being not-yet-eleven, convince the interviewer to sample them both. He was suitably complementary about the blackberry, at least.

It was an interesting and fun experience - I felt myself relax into the role of interviewee, and listening to myself afterwards was not as mortifying as I had expected. I do have a posh and ever-so-slightly camp voice, though.

As Wes Butters had only drank a sherry glass full, I made sure I took the bottle away with me and it has been drunk slowly during the week. Wednesday's portion was after the best WYSO rehearsal we have had this season. Finally, finally 'Buckaroo Holiday' from Rodeo is starting to make sense. And the first and last movements of 'The New World Symphony' are just fab.

My Fifteen Minutes of Fame ...

This is a quick break to my normal posting, but I have just been on BBC Radio Leeds, and the link is here. I suspect this is only available to those in the UK, but I may be wrong - and it is only available until 14 November. My bit starts at 1:45:30 through.

Bonfire Wine - First Bottle, 5th November 2011

This bottle of wine was doubly appropriate. We drank it both on Bonfire Night and on the occasion of Ellis's first birthday celebration. I had a 190 mile round trip to the party, so could only drink half a glass, but that half glass was marvelous. It is a dry, fizzy red wine with many flavours including a strong taste of chilli with just a hint of heat. The assembled guests, of whom there were several, all said they enjoyed it too (though, curiously, I did not see any having a second glass).

Keith, Lee and Robert ushered us into the garden and set off a gazillion fire works which fizzed and hissed and banged and exploded into an array of colours, leaving the air thick with smoke. It was a lovely day and evening, and the best part of it was seeing Keith and his family so happy and settled.

Elderflower - Bottle B3, 3rd-4th November 2011

During the drinking of this bottle I mostly spent my time reading 'The Angle of Repose' by Wallace Stegner. This was our Book Group book and I have been reading it for the last six weeks. Ordinarily books don't take me that long, but I got lost in the middle of this one and kept on being distracted by shiny objects. However, over the last week (and with Friday's deadline as a spur) I rediscovered its beauty and ate up the final 200 pages. It is a tremendously well written book, about lost dreams and making do, mostly set in the last nineteenth-century American West, and ultimately I thoroughly recommend it. As I do the wine: crisp, dry with a hint of warm summer days.

Elderberry - Bottle A6, 30th October - 1st November 2011

There is currently no law about the amount one may drink before playing the bassoon. This is a Good Thing. On Sunday night I was playing nonets in Guiseley, but was driven by Madeleine, so I took the opportunity to have a glass and a half with our meal of lamb & chick pea stew. This left enough in the bottle for the wine to act as a prop for a photo that may appear in next Wednesday's Yorkshire Post. I was being interviewed as publicity for the Book, and the photographer had me kneeling in front of the table, gazing adoringly at a glass of wine. Which sounds like an ordinary Saturday night in. As it was not yet eleven in the morning, I poured the glass back into the bottle. One has standards, after all. I did, however, press a thimblefull of wine on both the reporter and the photographer, and they declared it 'tasty'.

My final glass was after orchestra on Monday, where we rehearsed Bill Kinghorn's violin concerto with the soloist. It has difficult 5/8 and 7/8 rhythyms which mostly I just guess. Claire finished the bottle while I was in Ilkley.

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I must put in a quick word for Jack Keller and his wine blog. He was kind enough to advertise my blog, and since then, the number of visitors to this blog has pretty much tripled. So, thank you Jack. You are a gent. And you have a blog that is interesting, useful and fun.