24 years ago today, at 6.05pm, I met a boy in the fields behind our respective houses. We walked to a nearby lake, where he smoked a Turkish cigarette and I tried not to appear too keen. As we climbed the gate that led back home, I could bear it no longer.

Me: “So, are you going to ask me then?”
Him: “Ask you what?”
Me: “Are you going to ask me out?”
Him: “Erm, will you go out with me?”
Me: “OK then.”

It was 1988, we were fifteen years old. Reader, I married him.*

Current white in the fridge: Tesco Finest Hautes Cotes De Beaune 2010, £7.87 on offer, Tesco
This is a white Burgundy, made from the Chardonnay grape (as most white Burgundy is, including Chablis) but unlike most Chablis, this one has been aged in oak barrels for just under a year, giving the wine a muffin top. Here, the little additional weight is carried beautifully. As I wish mine was. The region spreads across a number of villages in the Hautes Cotes (say oat coat to sound like you know your, er, oats) and means ‘higher slopes’. Which ultimately means not quite as good but much more affordable than the smart stuff. Definitely worth a try; especially good with our slightly spicy (ok, burnt) salmon. 

Current red in the rack: La Garnacha Salvaje del Moncayo 2010, £7.99 on offer, Majestic
A friend told me about this one (I say told, he posted about it on facebook) and even though the status update was effusive I knew it was not just because he’d drunk it all but because the wine really was bloody good. And so it is, made from the Garnacha (same as Grenache) grape in northern Spain. It really is a colour pop of a wine, all juicy bramble fruit. So fresh, it would wink at you if it could. Put it with Hugh Fearnley-Whatnot’s Pork ‘Donnie Brasco’ if at all possible.   

Happy days x

*Apols to Jane for nicking her best line.

(Visited 62 times, 1 visits today)

26 Comments

  1. Dr Uncle Bunny

    24 years and six weeks ago on April Fool's Day I went to Charley's Horse in Windsor with a colleague from the wine trade where we drank Mezcal in Black Tie. It was our first date. I married her too!

  2. Gorgeous story and I'm off to buy the white….x

  3. Happy anniversary of sorts.
    Visited a Majestic recently, they have a pretty good selection.

  4. Aw that warms the cockles of my heart. I met my husband when we were 16: snogged at a school disco, lost touch: 12 years later he found me on Friends Reunited!

  5. 24 years ago I was "going out" with a boy called Richard. We held hands and went to the cinema, once. I have no idea what happened to him….

    Hey ho. I met a good one some 15 or so years later…

    Congratulations!

  6. Isn't he lucky he met a woman who knew her own mind! If you left it up to him you might not be married, knackered and drinking wine!! 🙂

  7. Ahh…..The Doctor and I just celebrated 14 years of marriage, but we've been together for 20. So I know what being married to the boy you once knew is like.

  8. Wow – I can't think of anyone I knew at 15 that I would have wanted to marry, I went to an all girls' school miles from my home so that might explain it! Great story though.
    PS. I'm glad you thanked "Jane" for the closing line; I would have been racking my brains all night trying to think where I knew it from!

  9. Wow – you guys didn't muck around, as the farmers say in NZ?

  10. Aww great story, how erm not romantic, I hope he's made up for over the years or are you still calling the shots?

    And… Shock! Horror! A white wine that I know I will hate. I guess this day had to come. x

    And another one who really needs to get rid of the blumming captcha, my eyes are not what they used to be you know! 😉

    • Oh no, why you hate the Burgundy so? Is it the Chardonnay? The oak? The French?!

      And shot calling is about 50/50 now. OK, maybe 60/40.

      Effing catchpa. If I knew how to get rid of it, I would. Any idea?

  11. Beautiful story. And must be so unusual in this day and age.

  12. I love your descriptions – a wine with a muffin top really made me smile.

    I met my husband on holiday, in Tenerife. A holiday romance with a happy ending.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *