chrisbutler

Sad to hear of the demise of Realms of Fantasy magazine.

And dismayed to see this attributed to "plummeting newsstand sales" rather than loss of subscriptions. It suggests that the fate of all the fiction magazines will be determined only by the state of the economy.

Had to carry out emergency wine racking (winemaking term meaning to syphon wine from one container to another) last night after noticing I had somehow broken the air lock (S-bend designed to keep air away from wine whilst allowing fermentation gases to escape).

Fortunately I had a spare air lock, campden tablets on hand, and the racking was due soon anyway, so no great problem.

Naturally I took the opportunity to taste the wine. Well you would, wouldn't you, and I can report that the 2008 harvest has tons of flavour. It is quite pale in colour, looks like a rosé (more determined crushing of the grape skins would have given a darker colour, but I don't see this as a necessity).

I get six bottles of wine each year from a grapevine in my garden.