Helen McGinn January is over. I repeat: o-vah. And man, am I glad to see the back of it. Not just because I was wasn’t drinking. Really. But I’m happy to report I’ve had my first glass of wine of the year. It was chilled, sparkling and perfect. We had it with fish & chips, with my in-laws (on the eve of them moving out of the house they’d lived in for nearly forty years. Amazing!). Back to me. The feature I’ve written for the paper on ‘wine face’, and what not drinking for a month did for my skin, will run on Saturday. I’ll share details here next week. In the meantime, I plan to enjoy wet February.
*SPA KLAXON* the winner for the Lime Wood spa/lunch/body MOT day is Emma! Congratulations – and thank you to everyone who took the time to enter. I wish we could all go.
Current sparkling in the fridge: Blanquette de Limoux
Price: £7.99 - Buy From Aldi
There are loads of good wine buys on the Aldi shelves. All very well if you live near one. Not so good if you don’t. But now – hurrah! – they are doing wine online, with free delivery at the moment too. Their Exquisite Collection is really very good, despite sounding like a range of black-and-tan lacy underwear you might find in Anne Summers. This is a gorgeous fizz from the Languedoc region in Southern France, made in the same way as Champagne in that it’s bottle-fermented. Almost as if the sea air’s got to it, it’s really fresh and crisp. Completely perfect with Tuesday night’s fish & chips, after the longest month of my life.
Current red in the rack: Tim Adams Shiraz
Price: £10.00 - Buy From Tesco
Subtle this is not. But loaded with juicy, rich, incredible blackcurrant fruit flavours and a liberal sprinkling of spice thanks to time spent ageing in oak barrels, it is. Made by a very tall man called Tim, this is such a classic Aussie red. Not so much a hug in a glass as a full on body slam. Still, put it with the right food (bowl of stew, roast beef, that kind of thing) and everything works perfectly.
Happy wet February! Elinor X
Ah, thank you! You too x
Good to leave January behind, just seemed to go on forever and mine wasn’t a dry one! Linda x
Glad I did it – but even more glad it’s over x
Well done you and I love the o-va thing ! I was telling my teenage son how cool James Corden’s carpool is and he realised I have only just discovered you tube….
Chin chin..x
Ah, thank you…very glad it’s all over. I mean, o-vah.