Prune & Parsnip Wine - Sixth Bottle (B2), 10th-12th June 2013

This bottle has been strangely better than the last few of this flavour. It has a definite taste of sherry - a point made by Rosie who arrived on Tuesday and is staying to observe a Leeds school as part of her forthcoming 'Teach First' teacher training.

I sneaked a glass of this on Monday after Airedale, believing that it would be the only taste I would get. I had imagined that Claire and Rosie would finish the rest between them on Tuesday whilst I was out in Ilkley playing wind quintets. However, Rosie is far too polite and well behaved for that, and indeed she did not try any until Wednesday night, when we returned from WYSO. It was a good evening - the first movement of Beethoven's Fifth is starting to work. Then getting home and chatting to Rosie about the extended family was just lovely.

Crab Apple & Blackcurrant Wine - Fifth Bottle (5), 9th June 2013

We celebrated the Eve of the Feast of St Ithamar tonight. In past years we have observed the feast day itself, but in 2013 it falls on a Monday, and that is incovenient.

As part of our celebrations I cooked a SNAPE (Something New And Possibly Exciting) which I have not done for an age. This time it was Delia's Mexican Chicken Chilli, and was superb (if I do say so myself). We also had the first of this year's salad-from-the-garden, and washed it all down with a bottle of crab apple and blackcurrant.

The wine has matured well. It has a sparkle, and a strong fruity flavour. Our blackcurrant bushes are looking promising this year and I can imagine worse uses of their fruit than this. I should have spent this evening tidying in preparation for Rosie's visit on Tuesday but never mind.

The first garden salad of the year

Peach and Banana Wine - The Making Of ...

This wine was entirely unplanned. My wine making muscles have been twitching over the last week. We are now at 8th June and there are no hints of elderflowers or roses, and the gooseberries are a long way from ripe. I knew I wanted to rack my Kiwi fruit wine today, and I always like to do two processes at the same time to make efficient use of my sterilising solution. Therefore, when I walked into Noshis for our weekly fruit and veg shop, and saw they were selling manky peaches and bananas past their first flush of youth off cheap, I siezed the moment.

Manky fruit in soft focus

I made this wine five years ago and remember it as being rather lovely. However, buying ingredients in the summer does feel like cheating - so once every five years is probably about right. In all I bought six peaches (for a pound) and five bananas (for 60p) and added a sixth banana from our fruit bowl. In weight this accounted for a pound and a half per fruit, after getting rid of stones and skins. This may not be enough. Last time I had twice the peaches but two thirds the bananas. We shall see.

I chopped the peaches, discarding the stones, and put the fruit in the bucket with 3 lbs sugar. I peeled and chopped the bananas and put these in a pan with 2 pints of water. This was brought to the boil and I simmered it for 15 minutes. During this time I mashed the peaches and sugar. Then I poured the bananas and water into the bucket and gave it all a good stir. A couple of hours later I added four pints of boiling water and left it overnight. The yeast and a teaspoon each of nutrient and pectolase went in on Sunday morning.

Peaches and sugar in the bucket

I left this until Thursday and then put Rosie - my first cousin once removed - to work. She transferred the liquid into the demijohn while I bottled the elderberry. I could have added another pint of water to the process. The wine's colour is currently an attractive golden yellow.

'Attractive golden yellow' or 'Dishwater grey'?

Rhubarb Wine - Second Bottle (B6), 8th June 2013

It has been a lovely Saturday. The sun has shone all day and we have had little that we must do. In fact we did quite a lot but we did it voluntarily - and that is important. I started an impromptu batch of peach & banana wine and Claire baked shortbread and a tea loaf (alas for a Music Club committee meeting rather than for me). We had a trip out to Saltaire where there was a Vintage Bric a Brac sale in Victoria Hall. Some of it was tat, and I struggle to include "The 1980s" into my definition of vintage, but we bought a cushion from Jude for our chaiselong and some bowls for Mom.

At home I opened this wine and Claire cooked four fabulous curries - the chicken one being the highlight. The wine as less pink than usual but still tasted as it should - dry with a hint of white wine.

A Splanky Designs Cushion - but not the one we bought

Crab Apple Wine - Third Bottle (B2), 5th-6th June 2013

We came back from WYSO on Wednesday humming The Sound of Music, which Nick describes as 'the Stepford Wives of musicals'. As part of our upcoming Pontefract Castle concert (300 tickets sold so far - yikes), we are playing a school arrangement of this, and it is relentlessly jaunty. Nick has promised that next week we will end with something more sophisticated. Mozart's 40th, perhaps. A glass of crab apple wine afterwards helped remove some of the sugar.

We finished the bottle on Thursday after I returned from a WYSO committee meeting. Lots of exciting things are planned for next year, including an all Beethoven programme, something Edwardian and light, and a concert dedicated to the letter F to celebrate the Tour de France. Bizarrely, in 2014 this will start in that well known French city and centre of all that is Gallic - Leeds.

A Photo from our concert at Pontefract Castle last year

Elderberry Wine - Ninth Bottle (A5), 2nd June 2013

It being my mother's birthday today I have not only spoken to her but both her brothers. My vague and half-formed plans of going to Nebraska later this year look like they may become reality. It has stopped being one of those jobs that I am forever putting off for no good reason (other than I have yet to do it) and I am now starting to get excited.

My mother and uncles can all talk for a very long time, and during each conversation I had a glass of elderberry wine to hand. By the time it was Quin's turn I was well on the way to Tipsy. The wine has matured nicely, and has a rich, deep taste. We drank it to a spicy sausage and lentil casserole followed by a Queen of Puddings with stewed rhubarb instead of jam. All delicious, and now I must sleep.

Rhubarb & Elderflower - First Bottle (4), 1st June 2013

I have been looking forward to this bottle of wine for some time. Almost since I started making it a year ago, and certainly since I bottled it at Christmas. It has not disappointed. Rhubarb & Elderflower is a glorious pink-bronze colour and (until the last couple of glasses) absolutely clear. There is a slight fizz and the taste is excellent. It does not have the single (albeit pleasant) note of pure elderflower and is more complex than rhubarb. On the basis of this bottle I will definitely make it again.

The day has been a pleasant, undemanding one. Much of it was spent writing a guest blog post for Lovely Greens and some involved drinking tea and eating scones with Julia and Ros. It being the first of June, we had a summer meal of various salads, griddled courgettes and an asparagus & horseradish quiche.

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