Wine and cocktails that won’t disappoint

It’s more difficult with wine- it’s just so hard to pour it down the sink and watch it disappear. It feels very wrong. Luckily for us, people tend to disappoint much more regularly than wine. Plus, when they do we’ve still got the wine to fall back on, haven’t we?

Of course, none of us (with the possible exception of my beloved wife, the redoubtable Madame G.) are entirely perfect and sometimes we disappoint others. Meaning that both we- the disappointers- and they- the disappointed- could do with some wine to try to come to terms with it all. For a change, this week I haven’t been the one doing the disappointing. No, it turns out I’ve been a good boy and that Sartre’s definition of Hell (other people) is in the black books instead.

So I’ve been condemning the guilty person to Hell in the company of some wonderful wine. After all, what’s the point of being disappointed if you can’t get a good slagging session or 4 out of it? I’ve been sniping away at the offending party in the company of today’s Wine of the Week, the versatile, light-bodied and wonderfully fresh 2021 Frappato Mandarossa (£10.50, the Wine Society, www.thewinesociety.com or 01438-741177). Best served lightly chilled, this elegant Sicilian red has an abundance of soft raspberry and dark cherry flavours with just a tiny hint of spice alongside lively floral notes and will be an ideal companion to meaty fish like monkfish or tuna. So, if you are someone or you even just know someone who wants a great red wine that you can pair with fish, here’s your answer. You’re welcome. Not all superheroes wear capes. Some wear Panama Hats instead.

One thing that hasn’t disappointed this week is the weather. For me, it’s the kind of weather that demands inexpensive but palatable white wine. Step forward today’s second recommendation, the fresh, fragrant and gloriously refreshing 2021 M&S Classics Pinot Grigio (£7.50). This unoaked Italian white is brimful of juicy peach and sharper lime flavours alongside grassy and herbaceous aromatics. One for a broad bean and goat’s cheese salad with cherry tomatoes, garlic, mustard, oil and lots of dill.

How disappointed would you feel if you came to the News Letter’s drinks column on World Cocktail Day and didn’t find a cocktail recipe? Mercifully, for you, Raymond Gleug doesn’t deal in disappointment. He leaves that to lesser Gleugs. To make a perfect Orange and Lemon Frose, pour a bottle of the fabulously fragrant, racy and ferociously crisp Prosecco Rose Spumante Millesima (£7.99, Lidl) into a baking tray and freeze overnight. Peel 2 large oranges and 2 lemons and blitz along with 4 tablespoons of sugar. Add the frozen Prosecco into the blender and continue blitzing until you have the consistency of a slushie. Add more ice- your mixture should be thick with peaks like a meringue and then finish off with a shot glass per person of Bitterol Spritz (£4.99, Lidl). Garnish with lemon and orange zest and serve in a long-stemmed Martini glass. Bliss!

There, I feel slightly better now. Less disappointed for sure. Serve good wine, food and cocktails in radiant sunshine and the only thing your weekend will lack will be disappointment. Unless the weather breaks. Till next week, tipplers, sante!