Fig Wine - Fourth Bottle (4), 16th April 2016

Fig wine is delightful. We drank it on Saturday evening in front of (possibly) our last fire of the season. April continues to be cold and there was snow in some parts of West Yorkshire. The wine was our reward for a day of solid playing. St Matthews in Chapel Allerton had a 'Come and Sing Messiah' this weekend and Claire and I were in the (small yet perfectly formed) orchestra. Rehearsals started at 10:30. By 11:20 my lip was starting to die, and there was still another 6 hours to go. At lunch I ate vast quantities of cake in the hope this would resurrect it. It did. Hallelujah.

Clementine Wine - Second Bottle (1), 14th-19th April 2016

With cries of "That's disgusting" and "Did you make this from a gold-miner's drowned daughter?" Claire decided not to finish her glass. I admit that there is an element of bitterness to the flavour and that it is otherwise dry and unremarkable, but I think she is being a little unfair. I won't make clementine wine again, but in my opinion it is still drinkable. The bottle did stay in the fridge for five days, though. During this period I performed in the Messiah, had a first rehearsal of Rachmaninov's Second Symphony (difficult) and saw Northern Broadsides do The Merry Wives of Windsor. This was fabulous. I haven't laughed so much in the theatre ever. The two wives were particularly good and the physical comedy was superb.

Orange Wine - Second Bottle (A5), 10th April 2016

I do like orange wine. This vintage is the best that I have ever made: beautifully clear with a strong orange taste minus any bitterness that sometimes affects this flavour.

We drank it after a lovely day mostly spent in the garden. Jenny, who has done a garden design course, came round for lunch with leaflets and ideas, and we ate Morrocan food. Then in the evening we drank the wine listening to The Archers and discussing what might come next in the gripping domestic abuse story line (which has resulted in a rather-too-dramatic stabbing).

Blackberry Wine - Final Bottle (B), 9th-10th April 2016

On Saturday I went for a boozy lunch with Rodney. There is no other kind when Rodney is your dining partner. We went to Flying Pizza and I was only slightly concerned when he invited the maitre-de to choose our wine for us. Therefore, in the evening I was not in any need of alcohol, so handed the (500 ml) bottle to Claire. She complained that it was thin, and left a glass for me to have on Sunday. I agree with her assessment. Demijohn B from this triple batch of blackberry has been disappointing. It is odd how one flavour from the same vintage has so much variation.

Prune & Parsnip Wine - Third Bottle (A5), 6th-7th April 2016

I am quite a good cook. Nowhere near Claire's league, but given some ingredients, a few pans and a hob, I can generally make something without written instructions. What gets me, on nearly every occasion, though, is timing. On Wednesday I was doing onion gravy, bean burgers, mashed potato and kale. And whilst it all came out right, in the last 15 minutes I got flustered and felt out of control. Once it was on the table, Claire poured me a large glass of prune and parsnip wine. Followed by another. It is a fine wine - smooth, medium sweet, sherry-like. And it did its job nicely.

Mango Wine - First Bottle (6), 4th April 2016

After a raucous weekend in Derbyshire I had not planned to round it off with a bottle of wine on Monday evening. However, Anne and David came round to inspect the house. I offered them a drink of anywhere between 0 and 40% proof, and they settled on wine. Feeling brave, they chose the Mango - and I warned them that I had yet to try a bottle of this.

In fact, it was okay. I didn't catch a taste of mango - it was more 'generic white wine' than that. Dry, but not overly so and entirely drinkable, which in my book is a 'Hit'. Anne said it slipped down nicely but also too quickly.

If you want to see how I made this wine, click here

Rose Petal Wine - Ninth Bottle (B5), 2nd April 2016

I can't remember who I shared this bottle with. There were 36 candidates - well, 32 if you discount those who are not yet teenagers. It was one of five bottles of home-made wine drunk during the Family Extravaganza. Anne said over breakfast the next morning that I had been "well-oiled". Sufficiently so that in Adam's quiz I could not remember for the life of me who wrote Moby Dick. Part of the lubrication was certainly rose petal wine and of the home-mades that I took, I think this was the least good. Still drinkable, though, but with an initial bitter taste. There was nothing bitter about the weekend. I spent the entire time gloriously happy and thankful.