Julia's Wine - Gooseberry 1996, 3rd-4th June 2014

We opened another of Julia's bottles on Tuesday after doing a 'top to bottom' inventory of her house with Ros, Emma and Alex. This was to check if there was anything else we wanted. I came away with a book about ferns, a Tom Lehrer CD and twelve more bottles of wine.

It was quite depressing seeing all this stuff. There was so much that Julia collected over the years to put to use on a day that never arrived.

Anyway, this bottle of gooseberry was not as good as the last but still perfectly drinkable with a taste of sherry. I wonder what will be next out of the box.

Some of Julia's wines (with authentic dust from her cellar)

Elderberry Wine - Ninth Bottle (A3), 1st June 2014

We have been given a slow-cooker by Claire's colleague, Becky, and tonight we have tried it out for the first time. Claire has made an ox-cheek stew and it was fabulous. Full of thick, rich flavour. It needed a heavy red, and elderberry fits that description better than any other home-made wines. This bottle fizzed but did not explode on opening and has slipped down very nicely indeed.

It has been a lovely end to a glorious day. I spent this morning with Sooz, promenading along the front at Whitley Bay, enjoying the sunshine, eating an icecream and talking about all sorts - though mostly Radio 4 related. And coming home is always welcome.

Where I bought my icecream

Orange Wine - Fourth Bottle (B3), 29th-30th May 2014

Orange wine and swimming seem to be inexorably linked. I came back from my second swimming session (20 lengths this time - I am making progress) to find an open bottle of orange wine. And very good it was too - this is a particularly fine batch of orange.

Claire finished what was left on Friday while I was up in Newcastle for Sam's stag-do. This is only the second stag event I have been on, and was far more my cup of tea. The first was twenty years ago and ended up in a Birmingham strip-club. This one involved a long walk in the Cheviots, aided by brilliant sunshine, then beer and curry on Newcastle Quayside. It was a lovely day and made the better by it not ending with someone tied naked to a lamp post.

This did not happen

Exotic Tinned Fruit - Eleventh Bottle (A6), 27th-28th May 2014

Ros came over for a meal last night and brought a bottle of real wine - made from grapes! - with her. That was our first bottle of the evening (after an abortive attempt to drink one of Julia's, which had set) and we moved onto Exotic Tinned Fruit once critical faculties were diminished.

Ros brought a new graphic novel for me to read, on the basis that I hated From Hell so much. This one is a work of art and comes in a large cardboard box. It is called Building Stories and is by Chris Ware. There are many, many books and pages and fold-out bits of cardboard that can be read in any order. It is innovative, and exciting just for that innovation, and I spent tonight and the last glass of wine reading my first segment. And truly enjoying it.

Julia's Wines - Strawberry 1994 - 27th May 2014

Ros came over for a meal tonight, partly to discuss Julia's funeral and partly to have a meal. I thought it would be a suitable occasion for one of Julia's wines so plucked strawberry from the box.

This was remarkably unsuccessful. It hardly poured at all, and what did come from the neck was solid. What I have is a bottle of rancid strawberry jelly and I'm not sure quite how to dispose of it.

Notice how the wine pours

Christmas Tutti Fruti - Sixth Bottle (A5), 26th May 2014

It has been the last of the Spring Bank Holidays today and I spent much of it cleaning windows. Cue George Formby.
This is not a task I enjoy and certainly not one I do with any frequency. I think the last time was more than two years ago and the only reason I did it today was that we returned from York yesterday to find a large amount of birdshit splattered against our kitchen window. The upstairs windows haven't been washed since we moved in - and that was 16 years ago. Many will view our lifestyle with horror.

Anyway, it being a bank holiday Monday, and therefore effectively a Sunday (and we didn't have anything to drink at all yesterday) I opened a bottle of Tutti Fruti. It has a thin, dry taste and is not one of my finest vintages. This didn't stop us finishing the bottle, however.

Pineapple Wine - Third Bottle (6), 24th May 2014

We had a Lab Day Out in York today. Various members of Claire's lab, their partners and children spent the early afternoon in the Railway Museum, the late afternoon at Heworth Green eating rhubarb pie, and the evening at Alistair Droop's troughing fish & chips and drinking pineapple wine.

I enjoyed the Railway Museum more than I have in the past, and spent most my time comparing and contrasting the Royal Carriages. Edward VII won hands down on elegance and style.

The pineapple wine was far better received than I had expected, though Duncan made shuddering grimaces when trying it. There was an unexpected smell of chocolate to the wine and it had a strong tropical fruit taste. Aeryn (who is 8) declared it the best alcohol she has ever tasted, but I was assured by anxious parents that she had little with which to make the comparison.

Interior of Edward VII's train