Rhubarb & Elderflower - Final Bottle (3), 20th April 2014

We spent a lovely evening at 3 The Alders in the company of this bottle. Judith cooked a chicken as our Easter roast and then fed us a ginger & rhubarb fool. There is still a portion of this in the fridge, and my eye is very firmly on it.

Sooz brought Ticket to Ride around, which is a fabulous board game involving strategy, some luck, swearing and steam trains. Judith scuppered my final route and only Bob did worse than I. The wine had been finished by this point in the evening and unusually I did not have much of the real stuff.

Having had six bottles of this flavour now, I would say its worst crime is being a little bland. It is a terrific colour and worth making in the future.

Elderflower Wine - Eighth Bottle (A2), 20th April 2014 (sort of)

I swapped this bottle for a ticket to a rugby match. We are in Newcastle for Easter, and Sooz suggested we go watch the Falcons play the Saracens. Not being one to say "I don't like it" until I've tried it, I thought this sounded like a splendid idea. So Claire, Sooz and I watched the local team put up a brave fight against the Saracens, but lose 23 - 17.

It was a baffling, enjoyable game with moments of genuine excitement. I did not understand the rules around a scrum at all, or why penalties were given. There was often a tangle of arms and legs on the ground as the unfortunate possessor of the ball got jumped on by five burly men. It was essentially a mixture of ballet and fighting, and not something I'd be any good at at all.

Elderberry Wine - Eighth Bottle (A5), 19th April 2014

Most of today was spent walking in the Ingram Valley in the Cheviots. It was a glorious walk in bright sunshine and solitude. The Cheviots are a wilderness; one of the few areas in England where you can turn a circle and see little evidence of modern life before you. We only heard the wind and bird song - curlews, lapwings, chaffinches, skylarks - until we got to Linhope Spout.

Back at 3 The Alders I opened the elderberry, which gave a pop and fizz, and drank it to roast pork. It was a lovely way to round off a perfect Easter Saturday.

Ginger Wine - Third Bottle (2), 18th April 2014

We are in Newcastle for the Easter break and I brought a bottle of Ginger with me. The weather has been splendid. When we eventually arrived I sat in the back yard, soaking up sunshine and reading The Cruel Sea. However, the journey up was frustrating - there was a ten mile traffic jam which took an hour to get through. I stayed in moderate temper by listening to Classic FM's annual top 300 countdown and being snarky.

Anyway, I was disappointed with this bottle of Ginger - it tasted too much of lemons and not enough of its eponymous ingredient. Bob & Judith both said they like it and I believe them, but of the three bottles of this flavour so far, this has been the worst.

NB - Today (24 April) someone has picked up my blog and posted it here: http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=97209 . Which is nice. And has resulted in 100s of hits.

Favourite comment so far: "Ben sounds like a prententious prat". Moi?

And I genuinely like Pazerlenis's comment (and suspect s/he would be disappointed if I did not comment on his/her comment commenting on my comment commenting on the comment above).

Orange Wine - Second Bottle (A3), 16th-17th April 2014

My tongue is on fire and my teeth are coated with caramalised chillies. It is an excellent feeling. Orange wine can only help (although I appear to have finished it). It is Maundy Thursday - which means a very long weekend which we will spend in Newcastle. Too many whiches in that sentence.

I have bottled two flavours while drinking this wine - strawberry yesterday and cherry this evening. Both are good, and they have helped bulk out our alcohol ration. Claire is currently distracting me by rubbing her new gloves against my stubble and declaring "percussion".

Crab Apple Wine - Fifteenth Bottle (A2), 13th-14th April 2014

I opened this bottle on Sunday night after we had polished off a bottle of rhubarb. Emma was here and one bottle between three on a weekend is not enough (despite the gin & tonics). I can't remember what Emma thought of this, or even if she had any. In fact, Sunday evening remains a blur.

On Monday night I cooked sausages, mash & onion gravy, taking the opportunity of a week off Airedale to do more than heat something up and shovel it in.

There are still another three bottles of this vintage to go and I have yet to bottle 2013's. This is unusual for mid-April.

Rhubarb Wine - Eleventh Bottle (B3), 13th April 2014

J is not well and I fear she only has a couple of months left. After spending 45 minutes on her allotment digging, Emma and I went to visit her in hospital. Though better than she was on Saturday, J has physically diminished. Her eyes and teeth now look too large for the rest of her face. I will cope badly when she dies.

Anyway, Emma came back to ours for a short chamber music session (the poor neighbours - we sounded dire), lots of vegetarian curry, and a bottle of rhubarb wine. This rhubarb came from J's allotment and therefore seemed appropriate. It is a good bottle - one of my favourite whites.