We have just returned from a lovely evening in York spent with the parents, Rachael and Myles. It being New Year's Eve, I took something fizzy. There were no explosions on the drive over, but the cork made a 'pop' on opening and pink foam gushed forth. This wine is dry, though not unbearably so, and I think having given it three months to mature has helped. Everyone liked it.
We presented Myles with his Christmas present - a (mostly) wooden 'My First Percussion Set', complete with xylophone, marracas, triangle and drum. Myles was entranced by the hanging chimes and seemed genuinely pleased (though it is difficult to tell with a one year old). It is the sort of present that is every new parent's worst nightmare, but Rachael had suggested it so I refuse to accept any blame!
Wednesday, 8 January 2014
Tuesday, 7 January 2014
Orange Wine - Tenth Bottle (A1), 30th December 2013
It has been a glorious, lazy day entirely fitting for that period between Christmas and New Year. I have either worked on the Christmas jigsaw - a 1,500 piece puzzle with classical music as its theme - or read The Moonstone which is engaging and much funnier than one expects Victorian literature to be.
Unusually for this end-of-year week, I stuck to the orange wine and did not bookend it with various spirits. This is nearly my equivalent of a sober evening. We drank it to home made curry - including a Kashmiri pilau rice and (the highlight) a fabulous red fish curry that cleared nasal passages and caused eyes to water.
Unusually for this end-of-year week, I stuck to the orange wine and did not bookend it with various spirits. This is nearly my equivalent of a sober evening. We drank it to home made curry - including a Kashmiri pilau rice and (the highlight) a fabulous red fish curry that cleared nasal passages and caused eyes to water.
Sunday, 5 January 2014
Lemon & Lime Wine - The Making Of ...
If the first day of the year is any portent, 2014 will be dark and miserable. Just at this moment I am in a 'glass half empty' mood. My bassoon practice has gone badly and I can better understand why Claire becomes down when her viola has not done what she desired. At Airedale Symphony Orchestra we are playing The Polotsvian Dances and I can't play it quickly enough. And try as I might Morning from The Peer Gynt Suite refuses to stay in tune. Oh well. At least I began my Lemon and Lime Wine today. This is a brand new flavour and ticks off yet another letter from my wine alphabet.
Before Christmas I saw that Noshis was selling 11 lemons for a pound. The limes were also good value at five for a pound. Never one to miss a bargain, I snapped them up and used all the lemons and four of the limes for this wine.
I began by thinly peeling five of the lemons and two limes, trying to avoid the pith. The peel is now in a bowl and covered with a pint of boiling water and a layer of clingfilm. I then squeezed all fruit, which produced a pint of juice, and put this together with the citrus detritus collected in the squeezer into my bucket. I added three pounds of sugar and five and a half pints of boiling water. My current worry is that the lemons were all really rather small (hence the price) and this may result in a bland wine.
On Thursday morning, before my first day back at work following the Christmas break, I added the yeast, a teaspoon each of pectolase and nutrient, and the water which had covered the peel. We went to Newcastle on Friday for the weekend so the wine did not get its twice-daily stir.
I put the liquid into its demijohn on our return - the evening of Sunday 5th January, sieving out any solid (mainly pips). Rather than a bright lemony-yellow hoped for, the wine is biege.
If you want to see how this wine turned out, click here
Before Christmas I saw that Noshis was selling 11 lemons for a pound. The limes were also good value at five for a pound. Never one to miss a bargain, I snapped them up and used all the lemons and four of the limes for this wine.
I began by thinly peeling five of the lemons and two limes, trying to avoid the pith. The peel is now in a bowl and covered with a pint of boiling water and a layer of clingfilm. I then squeezed all fruit, which produced a pint of juice, and put this together with the citrus detritus collected in the squeezer into my bucket. I added three pounds of sugar and five and a half pints of boiling water. My current worry is that the lemons were all really rather small (hence the price) and this may result in a bland wine.
On Thursday morning, before my first day back at work following the Christmas break, I added the yeast, a teaspoon each of pectolase and nutrient, and the water which had covered the peel. We went to Newcastle on Friday for the weekend so the wine did not get its twice-daily stir.
I put the liquid into its demijohn on our return - the evening of Sunday 5th January, sieving out any solid (mainly pips). Rather than a bright lemony-yellow hoped for, the wine is biege.
Saturday, 4 January 2014
Blackcurrant Wine - Fourth Bottle (3), 28th December 2013
Towards the end of Saturday evening, Duncan realised that we had yet to open the blackcurrant wine. This was easily, though not sensibly, remedied. It was our fourth bottle of the evening. But the period between Christmas and New Year is never meant to be one of abstemiousness. Earlier we had drunk a bottle of ginger, some ordinary white wine transformed into Kir, and bottle of real red from 1995 that I think was probably rather special. Rachel fed us steak and chips, adding up to a night of excellent food, wine and company. In fact we did not finish the blackcurrant, good though it was, and Rachel has promised to return the (empty) bottle on her return to Leeds.
Friday, 3 January 2014
Ginger Wine - Second Bottle (4), 28th December 2013
This bottle was the first of a four bottle night. Between four of us.
Claire and I were down in Cambridge spending a couple of nights at Duncan's. He has a wonderful house, reminiscent of a three sided Roman villa (complete with hypercourse) and mostly open plan. The four bottles were a reward for a seven mile walk from Little Thetford to Ely and back. Cambridgeshire is entirely flat, not a hillock to be seen in any direction. Ely Cathedral was splendid - its painted octagonal tower being the outstanding feature. It ticks another cathedral off my list, too.
None of this has anything to do with Ginger wine, though. It was a good choice of first bottle - you wouldn't want any food with it, owing to its sweetness. The ginger flavour is about right and on the whole a very tasty wine.
Claire and I were down in Cambridge spending a couple of nights at Duncan's. He has a wonderful house, reminiscent of a three sided Roman villa (complete with hypercourse) and mostly open plan. The four bottles were a reward for a seven mile walk from Little Thetford to Ely and back. Cambridgeshire is entirely flat, not a hillock to be seen in any direction. Ely Cathedral was splendid - its painted octagonal tower being the outstanding feature. It ticks another cathedral off my list, too.
None of this has anything to do with Ginger wine, though. It was a good choice of first bottle - you wouldn't want any food with it, owing to its sweetness. The ginger flavour is about right and on the whole a very tasty wine.
Thursday, 2 January 2014
Christmas Tutti Fruti - First Bottle (B2), 25th December 2013
Tutti Fruti 2012 is better than Tutti Fruti 2011. It has a richer, deeper taste with elements of pepper. Mind you, it was (very nearly) my last bottle of the evening and so I might have lost my sense of discernment.
Immediately after the meal we opened presents, so there was a flurry of wrapping paper and thank yous. Ellis's presents included a horn, a bell and a drum - none of which came from his parents. I was responsible for the drum and expect to be cursed often and loudly during the year.
Claire said she didn't want any presents, so I got a reputation for bravery by not getting her any. I did, however, get the nephews to wrap my chin so that I could present her with a goatee.
If you want to see how I made this wine, please click here.
Immediately after the meal we opened presents, so there was a flurry of wrapping paper and thank yous. Ellis's presents included a horn, a bell and a drum - none of which came from his parents. I was responsible for the drum and expect to be cursed often and loudly during the year.
Claire said she didn't want any presents, so I got a reputation for bravery by not getting her any. I did, however, get the nephews to wrap my chin so that I could present her with a goatee.
Wednesday, 1 January 2014
Christmas Tutti Fruti - Final Bottle (A2), 25th December 2013
Keith and family are in York for Christmas, resulting in a chaotic, charming day. Unusually for Christmas at the Hardys there have been no tears or raised voices, and I may not wait a decade until I brave it again.
We had the full turkey works for Christmas dinner, allowing Claire to have her annual sprout and pull her 'This is nasty' face (which sometimes appears when drinking my wine).
This final bottle of Christmas Tutti Fruti was very much the same as its predecessors: fizzy, dry, not as interesting as I had once hoped. But seeing as it was Christmas Day, we had a tradition to keep up and therefore not only a duty to finish this bottle, but finish the first bottle of Christmas Tutti Fruti 2012. Oh, the hardship.
We had the full turkey works for Christmas dinner, allowing Claire to have her annual sprout and pull her 'This is nasty' face (which sometimes appears when drinking my wine).
This final bottle of Christmas Tutti Fruti was very much the same as its predecessors: fizzy, dry, not as interesting as I had once hoped. But seeing as it was Christmas Day, we had a tradition to keep up and therefore not only a duty to finish this bottle, but finish the first bottle of Christmas Tutti Fruti 2012. Oh, the hardship.
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