Alcohol!
I like the odd tipple now and then – although I wouldn’t class myself as a drinker. Well, not really anyway!
My OH and I do stock up on alcohol for Christmas; it seems wrong not to offer visitors a celebratory drink when they call in and I like to give a choice, so, on a recent trip away, while travelling back via France, we called in at Majestic Wines and Leclerc.
I knew we already had a few gin varieties at home – ‘Needle’ being my current favourite as it is aptly named (we live in’ Needle Cottage’) so I wasn’t planning to buy any gin: we also keep Whiskey, Brandy, Aperol, Vodka and Tia Maria in, but our wine stock is severely depleted, so that was the main reason for our visit.
Several cases of wine – red, white and rose – went into the trolley, a bottle of Liebfraumilch for my mum, a bottle of Chateau Neuf du Pape (a Christmas gift), port (very well priced and recommended by Majestic, a bottle of Pastis and my favourite appertif – Pineau de Charentes: I couldn’t resist a bottle of Mateus Rose (reminding me of the 70’s) so that snuck in too!
Whilst chatting to the knowledgeable and friendly sales advisor I discovered that sweeter wines such as Hock, Liebfraumilch and are best drunk in the afternoon with a slice of cake. What a marvellous idea?
She told me, ‘If you have cake – like you might have at an English afternoon tea – with Champagne or Prosecco it is…’, at this point she screwed her eyes up, wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out. It did the job: six bottles of Piesporter were added to the trolley meaning invites to a ‘Girls Afternoon Tea – French-Style’ will be sent to my closest girlfriends after Christmas.
I just hope the wine lasts till then.
Hugs
Leigh