Strawberry Wine 2018 - Second Bottle (1), 28th November 2019

On the basis that strawberry wine is Richard's favourite, I opened this bottle for Thanksgiving. As with the previous bottle, this one had a distinct fizz. Unlike the previous bottle, I removed its cork. It was with some trepidation that I asked Richard whether it was acceptable. Happily it was more than: it was actively nice. Rather drier than previous bottles of strawberry wine and perhaps a little less strawberry flavoured. The fizz is entirely beneficial, apart from giving the wine a tendency to explode.

Our Thanksgiving Table - before the food!

Rhubarb, Mint & Elderflower Wine 2018 - Third Bottle (6), 31st December 2019

As has been our practice for the last several years, we spent New Year's Eve in Cambridge with Rachel and Duncan. And continuing the tradition we had all gone to bed before midnight. This year I'm not sure that we made it up much past 10:30. It was a lovely evening, though, and this bottle of Rhubarb, Mint & Elderflower was one of the three drunk. Claire thinks that I need to dial back a little on the mint, to avoid any more of a mouth wash feel. I think that I have it about right.

Duncan, Claire and Rachel cooking on New Year's Eve

Rhubarb Wine 2018 - Seventh Bottle (B3), 11th-16th February 2020

Claire opened this bottle because I had finished the whisky in a whisky-mac and she also wanted something to drink. Her first sip rapidly turning into gagging, which then became a stream of invective about how awful this wine was. I remember something about 'cheese' and 'sweaty men'. Personally, I thought the wine was entirely acceptable and could not see what the fuss was about. This meant I drank the bottle slowly over the next several days. Claire had one more sip some days later to see if exposing the wine to oxygen had helped. It very much had not.

A Quince Tree planted on 16th February

Rose Petal & Orange Wine 2019 - The Making Of...

This year I have scaled back my rose petal wine production. I think that I have more bottles of rose petal in the house than any other flavour and 2018's vintage was poor. Going cold-turkey, though, was never the plan so I have made a single batch of rose petal & orange.

The Rose Petals

Obviously November is not the time of year to be gathering rose petals. In anticipation of this flavour, I started freezing roses past their first flush of youth from June. Mostly they were white roses, as that is our most prolific bush, but I did manage to get a few reds in there as well.

Oranges are available all year round so I left this wine until November and I decided to buy my oranges from the Fruit Stall in Chapel Allerton, albeit that this meant the wine is about 80p more expensive than it might otherwise be. They were large and juicy oranges, though, and I only needed five of them.

On Saturday evening, 2nd November, I thinly peeled one orange and covered its peel with a pint of boiling water, leaving this to one side. I then juiced all five oranges, which gave me a pint of juice, and put this in my bucket. Next I measured two pints of frozen rose petals, which is half what I used last year, and put these into the bucket with 3 lbs of sugar. I boiled 5-and-a-half pints of water and poured this in, releasing a heady aroma. On Sunday morning I added the water that had been covering the peel (but not the peel) and a teaspoon each of yeast, nutrient and pectolase.

The wine in its bucket

Ordinarily I would have put this in its demijohn on Thursday or Friday, but I was out both nights, so it waited until Saturday morning, 9th November. It was a quick job and I am left with a peach-coloured liquid.

The colour on racking was beautiful - a light dusky orange - and the wine has cleared entirely. I couldn't tell from my tiny sip, however, whether this was going to be any good or not. It didn't need much sugar, but I dissolved 2 oz in half a pint of water and poured that in.

The wine when first in its demijohn

If you want to see how this wine turned out (hint: very well indeed), click here

Rhubarb Wine 2018 - Sixth Bottle, 24th November 2019

I gave this bottle to Paul & Becky in lieu of a statutory declaration fee. My firm is taking a lease of a compound at Cawood which is to be outside the provisions of Part II of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954. This requires a statutory declaration in front of a solicitor and they generally cost £5. A bottle of rhubarb wine is probably a good deal, possibly for both sides.

I put on my best shirt, thinking that the occasion (6:30 p.m. on a Sunday night) might mean the bottle would be opened there and then and would become a social affair. It wasn't and it didn't.

A not very interesting photo I took on 23rd November

Kiwi Fruit Wine - Third Bottle (1), 23rd-24th January 2020

Well, this wine was unexpectedly good. The secret? Set your expectations low. The wine had a buttery taste to it and was not dissimilar to a proper white wine. Claire had the first half of the bottle whilst I was at Alan and Audrey's (here, setting my expectations low did not produce a musically satisfying evening). I had the second half of the bottle on Friday whilst Claire was out playing string quartets. It was a lazy evening where all I did was watch things on the internet and drink copiously. In other words, a thoroughly satisfactory Friday night.

A really dull photo that I took on 23 January 

(work related, to check on boundaries of one

of the houses that my firm built)

Kiwi Fruit Wine - Second Bottle (2), 9th-12th November 2019

This was not a popular wine at my Wine Party. It came in equal 10th (or second-to-last) place, with an average score of 2.5 out of 5. However, the fact that one of the worst wines of the evening was comfortably above 2 indicates that my overall quality has improved. Two people said that Kiwi Fruit wine was bland and I am inclined to agree.

One notable thing of the Wine Party was Claire's Rabbit Pie. It was a raised pie, looked amazing and tasted sublime. She used redcurrants in the mix and their sharpness really set off the rabbit flavours.