Elderberry Wine - Bottle A5, 9th April 2012

It has been an odd sort of day, but I find that Bank Holiday Mondays often are. To be somewhat pretentious, they are liminal days. Not a weekend, nor a holiday. A day for moping around the house and ennui. I spent some of it in the garden, helping move a cotoneaster from the old raised bed in the back to the wall at the front. Mostly this involved digging and general shifting of earth at Claire's direction, which, in truth, is my favourite gardening task. Otherwise I have spent the day on the computer or reading.

We drank the elderberry wine with our evening meal, which started with home-made pork pies and potato salad, left over from yesterday's lunch. Next it was eggs baked in spinach, yoghurt and parmesan with buttered toast made from stout-bread, which was delicious. This was all followed by, I think, my favourite David Tennant Doctor Who episode - The Family of Blood - during which I finished my wine, and I am now on the Bush Tea. I am currently debating whether to dive into the rhubarb fool. Maybe I should consult Claire.

Citrus Wine - Bottle B5, 6th April 2012

I could not let Good Friday pass without a bottle of wine, and this year it was Citrus. I chose the bottle to go with a Vietnamese chicken salad (courtesy of Nigella) and a lemon meringue pie (courtesy of the Hairy Bikers), and it went well with both. The sharp citrus flavour contrasted with the first and matched the second, and both food and wine were tasty. However, Sooz, who arrived today for the Easter weekend and who has mostly given up booze for Lent, described the wine as "Not my favourite".

I have spent much of the day tidying in anticipation of Sooz's arrival. The house has been knee-deep in deritus for weeks and it has taken some cleaning.

Orange Wine - Bottle A1, 3rd-5th April 2012

This batch of orange wine is sweeter than usual, and I cannot decide whether that is a good or a bad thing. On the whole, I like my wines dry, but the additional sugar reduces the orange peel bitterness which is sometimes a problem with this flavour. I suspect I shall be having this internal debate for the remaining ten bottles. Most of these, like this one, will be a mid-week bottle rationed over the evenings. Claire benefitted from this process: she had the last glass whilst I was at a WYSO committee meeting on Thursday, so I had some whisky instead. But the WYSO programme for next year sounds good - with individual concerts dedicated to the Classical era, to Bohemian Romanticism and to English music. Lots to get our teeth stuck into - like the biscuits Jude provided at the meeting. I had four.

Blackberry Wine - Bottle A2, 1st April 2012

Having drunk far, far too much on Friday and only far too much on Saturday, I wondered whether Sunday night should be one of sobriety. My arm took some twisting, I can tell you. Claire piled on the pressure by asking "What bottle should I open?"

Blackberry it was and we drank it to French Onion soup - which is one of the reasons I asked Claire to marry me all those years ago. She won't divulge the recipe in case it renders her redundant.

The wine was as good as ever and the evening pleasantly dull. We each had a bath and I renewed my acquaintance with the computer. Being out of e-mail or Facebook contact for 48 hours makes me depressingly twitchy.

Crab Apple Wine - Bottle B2, 31st March 2012

The final bottle of Crab Apple 2010 ended in dramatic fashion.

I took this with me to an extended family gathering at Great Hucklow. Shortly after finishing the bottle we all gathered outside in the evening sunlight for a family photo. Except my mother was not there. She had gone to get her shoes. My father, being an impatient soul - a trait I have inherited - decided after thirty seconds that she was taking too long, and strode off to find her. He caught his sandal on a step and went sprawling, wine glass in hand. There was a simultaneous sound of collective gasp and shattering glass. Anne said "He's hit his head" and it was clear that blood was flowing from this crumpled heap. Happily, Anne was wrong and all he had done was cut his hand badly.

Pop was carted off to Casualty whilst the rest of us (except Mom, who went with him) ate and played games and generally had an excellent time.

Government Health Warning: Crab Apple Wine can cause Serious Injury.

Raspberry Wine - Bottle 2, 30th March 2012

This was the second bottle of my wine opened at Great Hucklow. It fizzed beautifully, and I poured the glasses carefully to ensure that everyone who wanted some got. Except Uncle Brian looked at me askance at his half measure and requested that I fill the glass properly. So I did.

I think raspberry was popular - certainly it should have been, as it is a lovely flavour - but I can't really remember as the evening rapidly descended into an alcoholic haze.

We finished this in the sitting room - all 22 of us - before dinner. The weekend as a whole was fabulous. Everyone had a splendid time, catching up with all their relatives, and I met a couple of first-cousins-once-removed for the first time. It should not have taken David's death as a catalyst to organise it. I was told he would have loved it.

Blackcurrant Wine - Bottle 4, 30th March 2012

This was the first bottle I opened at the Extended Family Gathering in Great Hucklow, Derbyshire. I thought it likely the cousins, uncle and aunts would be interested in sampling some of my wine, so brought four of my best bottles, though only three were drunk. That makes it sound like a near tee-total weekend, which I can assure you it was not.

The reaction to this wine was wholly positive. Emily and Abbie, neither of whom like red wine, claimed they enjoyed this flavour - mostly because it was sweet and tastes of Ribena.

One negative was that each bottle of my wine opened cost £2.50 corkage fee. Outrageous. Paying for wine made by me goes entirely against the grain. It increased the wine's raw cost seven-fold, so I got my father to pay.