Well, no soup-making for me this week as we're on holidays in west Co Cork. The spouse, younger offspring and I are enjoying a break on Heir Island. The weather has been glorious so far, but is due to change tomorrow. Walking around the island in the evenings, we are inhaling the heady scent of wild honeysuckle. The house we're staying in has piles of books around the place, one of which is C J J Berry 's First Steps in Winemaking . This was first published in 1982, shortly before the spouse and I bought our own copy and began our own venture into making country wines. There was ample space in the hot press in the house where we were living at the time, and we duly filled it with demi-johns of rose petal, clove and ginger, and other wines. One wine we definitely didnt' get around to making was "bees" wine. Berry explains it thus: "You used to stand it in the window, and the bees used to go up and down in the liquid ... it made quite a pleasant drink...