where art collides philosoperontap

Da big news is the fermentation has started. Feels as if we are adding continuity to millennia of wine making. There is science added to the process nowadays but that is just us taking advantage of the learnings of recent times.

The likely timeline:

• 20 October: press into demijohns.
• Early November: fermentation finishes and we do the first racking off the sediment.
• January–February: second racking. The wine should be clearing by now, helped by a cold winter.
• March–April: a third racking if there’s still sediment dropping.
• April–June: bottle once it’s clear and a gravity reading stays steady.

Then it will be a long wait until the wine is ready in the bottles. Don’t want to rush these things.

Anyway today we are doing the Mindful Mile walk. Three times around the Cathedral being mindful of things. There is a meetup for a cawfee in the cathedral caff at 11:30 before heading to the west front to start deep thinking. I imagine we will avoid much brainwork in the caff so as not to use it all up too quickly. Americano or latte? ummmm.

Also this evening I have a meeting of scout group chairs and treasurers. Not been able to go to any of the others which has engendered a certain degree of regret. Hey…

Hoping to make some more progress on the compost bins. It rained for much of yesterday but I did move some wood pallets into place to see what it might look like. A meeting is planned with THG for after lunch to make sure the positioning and config is right.

In the meantime the wind is getting up and rain is on its way. Unfortunately the weather god’s plan is pour down when THG is out running with the Pink Ladies. Tough nuts one and all but with soft inners and hearts of gold 🙂 

…

Compost bins 75% complete. They now look like compost bins. Just the removable front to do. A good afternoon’s work.

The leader didn’t turn up for the Mindful Mile. Same thing happened before the “summer break”. V poor tbh.

V nice night out at the Lincoln Jazz Café with Richard and Diana Sands. Tiny venue and not full but the 17 of us there (I counted) felt fine. The nice thing about it is the early doors start and 8.15 finish. Suited us down to the ground as we thought we might get back to watch Liverpool v Manchester Criminals. However the men in stripy shirts and masks won 0 – 3 after the sending off of Ryan Gravenbach so we didn’t bother.

For an hour or so yesterday the kitchen was a hive of activity as the members of the Lincoln Wine Producers Coop descended for the next stage in the production process. The adding of the sugar and the yeast.

D’aujourd’hui I’m going to make a start on the compost bins now that son in law George has helpfully moved some of the the log pile to a less inconvenient spot. Also have a few errands to run and perhaps even get a haircut.

Nipped to B&Q for some light bulbs. They were putting out all the Christmas stuff. Blimmin eck! Gordon Bennet! Etc etc. Also picked up some Oxi powder to clean the dozen or so wine bottles we brought back from the Jazz Café last night. We didn’t drink them all, obvs. Well perhaps not obvs 🙂 Light bulbs now in place. Also started the cleaning but in doing so discovered two things. We won’t be bottling until the spring so no real rush. Then we need to only have corked bottles – screw top ain’t no use.

Dunno about you but I’m rubbish at cracking open eggs. I can crack em open ok but perhaps one in three breaks. There is obviously a knack as you see chefs in hotels do them by the dozen but it’s a knack I don’t have. Not sure I’ll ever get it now. Anyway a good breakfast was had and now I’m sat in the snug with a nice cup of cawfee made for my by ma gal THG.

There are jobs on the list for today. I have something to buy from Wickes, a large mixing tray of some sort for THG and I need to buy some cord to secure the bottom of the patio furniture cover. The cover arrived on Friday and now all the hardwood furniture is under it but string needs threading through to stop it blowing away during the approaching winter storms. I do have some gorilla cord but not enough of it so will get a new reel whilst I’m in Wickes, assuming they sell it. While I’m out I’ll get some milk but not from Wickes obvs.

I also have to put the furniture cushions away in the cupboard in the utility room aaand make a beef casserole for tomorrow night. Blimey O’Reilly.

This evening we are off to the Jazz Cafe with Richard and Diana. Not been before. They’ve put us to shame by beating us to it despite having only been in Lincoln a few months. I used to work with Richard at Marconi on Doddington Road and it is good to see them back in town. He was the year below me at Bangor.

The Lincoln Wine Producers Cooperative had its first harvest today. Activity began soon after dawn (9:15 ish). The wine harvest is typically a long hard day where the whole family gets involved. On this occasion, because it was our first and we were very much in learning mode, the sheilas kept away leaving the men to get on with it. We realised later that many hands make light work and that more people on the job would have been better. A lesson learned for 2027.

Pete arrived first and after the traditional welcoming brew we headed out to the vineyard to pic the grapes. Leaving a few bunches for the table we harvested around 15 Kg. Pete had brought with him another 2 or 3Kg. His grapes had been ready for a while and the birds had got most of them. Adie’s grapevine brought the total up to around 40Kg.

As you’d expect at a high grade wine producer we have pretty much all the equipment needed for the full production process although we still need to source a fair number of bottles. Today we sterilised the fruit crusher and the barrels we are using for the initial colouring process. We are after red wine where the grape juice needs time to be infused with the colour of the skins. The barrels are really a big plastic home brew bucket and a trug.

Separating the grapes from the stalks and discarding the bad ones took the best part of the morning, including a tea break when THG came back from the park run and stuck the kettle on. We eventually ended up with around 40Kg of crushed grapes with a great deal of juice already in the barrels. Quite pleasing. Still a long way to go. Tomorrow we add the sugar and then (if my memory serves me right) the yeast and we have another week or so in the barrels before the press.

All in all a good morning’s work. It’s a learning process and the team done good, as they say (somewhere where their master of the language is not as complete as it might be).

Some of you have expressed an interest in joining the Cooperative and I’ve noted that for future harvests. If you have a vineyard and want to participate let me know. One vine maketh a vineyard as far as I am concerned.

It’s ten past eight in the morning but I am not hungry. I might wait and “do brunch”. Will have to see how it goze. I want to pop to B&Q sometime this am. Might grab a bacon bap whilst I am there.

THG has already one out for an early swim. She is off to lunch with the girls later so wanted to work off some of the calories beforehand. Build up an appetite. These lunches can get messy. White Hart Hotel. Prosecco… Don’t really like prosecco meself. They drink it because it is cheaper than champagne.

The heating is on in the shed.

Rain has returned to this land. Sat in the conservatory listening to the steady drumming on the roof. It isn’t a cloudburst but a decent fall of wetness which should soak the garden. Good job I got the golf in yesterday. Beeootiful afternoon. THG is off to the gym and is taking the car instead of going on her bike as she usually does.

Not totes figured out my schedule for the day. Half thinking of hitting the gym and pool meself this pm. Been very neglected over the summer months. The summer is surely over. It still isn’t quite long trousers weather. The noise on the roof has got louder.

Sitting under the canopy on Sue’s deck. This being a green and pleasant land it has been raining but right now the sun is out with blue skies up above.

Sbeen an action packed weekend and we did say that we should set off back to Lincoln by about 10am but can’t see that happening. It’s almost 9.30 already. I am packed though.

On the way down on Friday I messaged Carys to say we would be in town and she responded that her dad, me old mate Rhys was down for the footie. We arranged to meet in the Mochyn Du at six ish for a couple of sherbets before Carys, Rhys and Iws set off for an event that she had organised. We (THG & Sue) went to the Purple Poppadom for a v nice bit of supper. Can’t remember what it was I ordered but Sue noted that I order the same thing every time we go there. Why change a winning recipe.

Saturday morning we breakfasted at The Tuck Inn before THG hit the charity shops (she is a very charitable person) and Sue and I visited her fave hardware shop. I bought a load of miscellaneous washers and springs. Always come in handy. I spent the rest of the morning on book research and in the afternoon hit the Cardiff University Arts library (or similar) where I eyeballed a number of v interesting tomes. Took hundreds of pics for Claude to look at but it really killed my battery. Realised a bit late that I was backing up my photos over cellular. Switched that off and had to husband my battery usage until I met up with THG.

We met outside the castle and took a taxi “down the bay” whereupon we had a fairly mediocre dinner with Sue before kneading over to the Millenium Centre to see her play with the Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra.Vgfp.

We did have a funny incident. There was a performance of La Boheme going on in the next auditorium and found ourselves in the wrong seats waiting for the wrong gig to start. I did think it was a bit strange that you couldn’t really see the orchestra. Five minutes before the start of the show the safety curtain went up and the words La Boheme appeared on the screen in front of us. We were in the wrong place! Funnily enough a group had turned up with tickets for the same seats as us but we shoed them off and the left to try and sort out the confusion. We buggered off before they came back.

Sue’s concert was great and we went home happy and tired to meet our Tom who was just arriving from London. Back at Sue’s we found the gate to be locked and I didn’t have a key! No problemo. We directed Tom to meet us in the bar of Chapter, the local arts centre around the corner. Having ordered a pint I was told they were closing in ten minutes!!!

Fortunately Sue rocked up as we were headed to another pub, the Corp, and so we went home. Ya gorra laugh.

Sunday was the big day. Joe running the Cardiff half marathon. The lad had a terrible cold so it wasn’t ideal for him but he bravely battled through it fair play. THG, Sue, Tom and I saw him at mile 1 and then at mile 8 where we met up with the Bradshaws. The area around the finishing line was rammed with the supporters of 28,000 runners but we managed to meet him and Lucy’s pal Catherine and went off to a pub for a prebooked Sunday lunch.

After that I figured might as well keep going and met Rhys and Iws in the Corp for a few slurps before the game. Wales lost 0 – 1 to Denmark with a solitary penalty.Home to bed.

Before 08:30 and the pile of logs that is where the compost heap is going has already been moved. By son in law George fair play. Took him minutes instead of the hours it would have taken me. There is nothing now to stop me assembling the compost bins, next week. No time today. It leaves me time to focus on making the cauliflower mac n cheese (with bacon bits) that has been requested. It has to be done this morning as I’m off golfing after lunch, if you can call it golf. Been pretty ropey of late.

Some of you will say it doesn’t take long to make a mac n cheese. Well you aren’t wrong but I like to make sure these things are done properly and I know for sure we don’t have all the right ingredients. No parmigiano for example.

Last night THG and I watched University Challenge. She was away on Monday when it was broadcast and it is something we do together. I got the answer to the opening question: Tito. One or two more but not that many. When you think about it you really wonder why they bother with TV schedules these days, apart from sports and other events with fixed times. I think I’ve finally moved on from my childhood TV habits. BBC1, 2 ITV and Channel 4 (in  later years). As far as sports go, Grandstand ain’t no more. Neither is the one day cricket on BBC2 on Sunday afternoons. Is ski Sunday still a thing? Might be. I don’t think Harry Secombe does Songs of Praise anymore. The Generation Game has defo stopped, I think. Wouldn’t know tbh.

Anyway gorrago. Ingredients to source.