Christmas Tutti Fruti - 3rd & 4th Bottles (A5 & A4), 2nd April 2016

This wine was delicious. Uncle Brian said it was better than any of the reds on the table at Quarnford Lodge. Certainly it was sweeter, but the amount of fruit allowed that level of sugar.

Inside Lud's Church

Two bottles emptied over the course of the evening, and I think I was only responsible for a couple of glasses. The day was fantastic. Claire and I were staying at the Knight's Table, a pub down the road, so began with a more than hearty breakfast. Heavy rain and mist delayed any walking but that allowed both of us to be knocked out in the first round of the table-tennis tournament. (As last time, Mike won - his opponent in the final was Ben.) We - eleven of us - set off with more hope than expectation and (after a false start whic involved trudging around the wrong field for 20 minutes) had a terrific 7 mile walk. We climbed up the Roaches into the mist and as we descended, the sun came out. Our destination was Lud's Church - a moss covered fissure connected with the legend of Sir Gawain & the Green Knight. Then home (after watching a peregrine falcon in her nest) to a night of laughter, fun and family stories. And an awful lot of wine.

Four cousins

Crab Apple Wine - 13th & 14th Bottles (C3 & C6), 1st & 2nd April 2016

I am on the border of Derbyshire and Staffordshire with 36 family members. This is the third extended family get-together I have organised (this time with help from Lou) and it has been wonderful. Being the highly-strung individual that I am, I have spent much of the last several months flipping between states of anxiety - mostly because I fell out badly with one family member over the whole thing. But in fact, it has all worked, and absolutely everyone is having a good time. We range in age from 3 to 76 and come from Coll in the Hebrides to Hertfordshire, with Lynn & Billy having travelled from Texas for the occasion. Of course I brought lots of wine with me, including these two bottles of crab apple, and they went down very nicely indeed. Mike and John were particularly keen. I think Mike even voluntarily opened one of the bottles iin preference to real wine.

I lost track of how much I drank on either night, but it was more than sufficient. The next few days will be spent in temperance.

The Entire 37

Rhubarb & Elderflower Wine - Final Bottle (4), 30th March 2016

After last night's Apple Wine Debacle I was instructed to open something drinkable. Examining what we had in the cupboard under the stairs, I came up with this. Much nicer. I don't think that I could detect either rhubarb or elderflower, but what we got was a rather decent white wine. Admittedly the final glass had less clarity than is absolutely desirable in a wine, but we were not in polite society.

Claire is on holiday and that is my excuse for finishing a bottle of wine on a Wednesday night. In fact we finished it before we started eating, and that is borderline disgraceful.

Apple Wine - Fifth Bottle (6), 29th March 2016

This bottle gets a score of 'Abysmal'. Absolutely disgusting. It is one of the few bottles of wine that is so bad that it ended up down the sink. I suspect that the foul taste was at least partly caused by the large sediment at the bottom. Claire decanted it iinto a jug and left this in the fridge. This is the same fridge that contains Craster Kippers. When I opened it this morning, the smell of the wine overpowered the reek of smoked fish. That is how disgusting it was. I am alarmed that we still have a bottle left.

Elderflower Wine - Tenth Bottle (B5), 27th March 2016

This was an Easter Sunday bottle of wine, drunk to a slab or roast pork with crackling done to perfection. We are in Newcastle and Andrew was the cook. Sooz quoted passages of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy at me (something to do with 'filthy elderflower concoctions') but mostly the wine was enjoyed.

Earlier in the day we had a sunny yet bracing walk along the Northumberland coast, taking in Howden, Craster and Dunstanburgh Castle. The distant storm clouds painted the scenery with dramatic light.

Blackberry Wine - Eighth Bottle (B5), 26th March 2016

This wine was drier than most, and I'm not sure why that would be. It is a flaw easily remedied by a teaspoon of sugar syrup per glass - and that also brings out the fruity blackberry flavour, turning a drab wine into something rather good.

We are up in Newcastle for the first time since December 2014, and that is too long ago. It was a lovely evening. Judith cooked lamb meatballs, Bob opened a bottle of Prosecco and Sooz and I struggled with the Guardian's Prize Crossword. How an Easter Saturday should be spent.

Prune & Parsnip Wine 2015 - Second Bottle (B1), 23rd-25th March 2016

I opened this bottle needing a glass or two of wine. I'm not entirely sure, now, what that need was and worry (slightly) about alcoholism. But a very middle-class version where two glasses on a Wednesday night suffices.

Claire and I had a glass each on Thursday night before going to see Damned United at West Yorkshire Playhouse. This was masculine, sweaty theatre - intense and gripping (once I stopped concentrating on the football elements) with two terrific performances. After the play we sat in the the theatre bar, waiting for my parents to emerge from Great Expectations and had a lovely hour together, chatting.

The last dribble of wine was finished this afternoon as a sherry substitute after a sunny morning in the garden, mostly digging.