Muscat of Alexandria - First Bottle (6), 3rd-5th March 2020

I was not at all sure what to expect for this wine. I mean - grapes! What exotic flavour might by summoned by a wine made from grapes? Certainly it had all the appearance of a white wine: beautifully clear and a pale yellow colour. The taste was tart yet floral. If making it again I would add more sugar because there was a dessert wine struggling its way through. Claire said that it was merely disappointing: a conference wine.

On the last night that it was open Claire was out playing chamber music and I made a cake. This is not usual activity for me, but was surprisingly easy - a marmalade cake. If offered a glass of this wine or a slice of cake, I would choose the cake consistently.

A photo I took on 4 March:

my feet aren't really that big!

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

Ginger Wine 2019 - Fourth Bottle (3), 15th-16th May 2020

We are getting through this flavour more quickly than I might otherwise have planned. However, what other flavour should I have chosen for a Chinese Takeaway? Friday evening was beautiful weather, if cold, and it felt so normal (and therefore abnormal) to wander out, hand in hand, with my wife to collect a takeout. Claire donning a facemask, as she went into the shop and I stood outside, was a reminder of course.

We drank half the bottle on Friday and the remainder on Saturday evening whilst watching the Eurovision Song Contest replacement, which was surprisingly lovely as all 41 countries sang Love Shine a Light.

A photo I took on 16th May

Ginger Wine 2019 - Third Bottle (1), 19th April 2020

I thought that this wine was too dry. The lemon was nearly more pronounced than the ginger. My expectations were set too high and that often makes for a disappointing wine. Claire disagreed and did not think that it needed to be any sweeter.

We drank this wine at the end of a lovely day. The weather has been glorious (though we do need some rain) and I spent my morning in the front garden, digging and turning earth. It is a hugely satisfying activity. In the evening we ate Jerk Chicken and watched Last Tango in Halifax and, despite everything, it felt like all was right with the world. (It very clearly isn't!)

Ginger Wine 2019 - Second Bottle (2), 11th January 2020

Claire has blue hair. It is really very blue indeed. Pretty much the colour of the Tardis. She has been planning this for over a year as a way to mark her 50th birthday. I shrieked when I saw it and then laughed and then decided that it looks fabulous.

Once she had come back from the hairdressers we went up to Newcastle where this ginger wine was the first bottle of the evening and enjoyed by all. Claire's family reacted to her blue hair as one would expect. Andrew asked if she was having a mid-life crisis and Claire replied that now was the time to have it.

Claire's blue hair - yes, really that blue

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2018 - Fourth Bottle (A6), 7th May 2020

This was meant to be a bottle of Xmas Tutti Fruti 2015, but we each had a sip of that and decided that something better was required. And this wine was much nicer. It is sharp and fruity with some depth to it. I had earlier in the day walked very nearly 20 miles and this wine was much needed muscle relaxant. 15 of those miles had been delightful, mostly doing the Horsforth Round (and only getting lost thrice). The final stretch home, though, was a slog round the A6120

Underneath the A6120

A delightful walled path

A pastoral panorama

Xmas Tutti Fruti 2018 - Third Bottle (B5), 10th-11th April 2020

I have another string to my bow: on Saturday I cut Claire's hair. Now that all non-essential shops are closed, Claire cannot go to the hairdressers. I think I did quite a good job. In return, Claire shaved my head, so I am now completely bald. It is an odd feeling, not having hair, and I think an experiment that I won't repeat. More because the process took an age and by the end of it both Claire and I were bored. Anyway, I opened this bottle on Friday night and we finished it on Saturday, shockingly after drinking a bottle of champagne. Blackcurrant is the dominant flavour.

After the haircuts

Prune & Parsnip Wine 2020 - The Making Of...

This year I have decided to do a single batch of Prune & Parsnip, and consequently will do a double batch of Orange Wine next month. Whilst I am certain that I am not drinking less, it feels like I am drinking more proper wine, which means that the home-made stuff is accumulating rather.

The Fruit & Veg stall where I bought parsnips

I bought my parsnips on 8th February from Kirkgate Market. I was in town anyway because I had a WYSO meeting with Jude & Katie (which ended with me sitting in Leeds Town Hall listening to the BBC Phil rehearse the Romeo & Juliet Overture) followed by the last night of playing in the pit for Don Giovanni. So I went to one of the Fruit & Veg stalls and bought the 2 lbs of parsnips required for this wine. My server looked about 14 - and very probably he was. I think 14 year-olds are allowed to have Saturday jobs.

Prunes & Parsnips

Whilst I meant to make the wine on Sunday I delayed it until Monday 10th February, which I had taken off from work to recover from a week of Mozart. I cut the parsnips into small pieces and boiled them in 8 pints of water for 20 minutes (bringing the parsnips in cold water up to the boil rather than putting them directly into the boiling water).

Weighing the ingredients

I sliced up 8 oz prunes into three or four pieces per prune and put these into my bucket along with 2 lbs 12 oz sugar. Once the parsnips had finished boiling I poured the water into the bucket, leaving the parsnips to one side. Claire used a small selection of these to make a curried mashed parsnip dish, which was rather good.

Chopping the parsnips

In the evening, after an Airedale Symphony Orchestra rehearsal, I put in a teaspoon each of yeast, nutrient and pectolase and then pretty much ignored the wine until Saturday morning, 15th February. That was when I put the wine into its demijohn. As the only thing to sieve out was the prunes, I did not bother with a colander. It was not a long process. The amount of water used was just about perfect and I now have a demijohn full of the brownest of wines.

The brownest of wines

By racking on 12th April  2020, this had cleared beautifully and needed little additional sugar. I dissolved 1 oz in half a pint of water and poured this in.

If you want to see how this wine turned out, click here.