An Occasional Tipple: Mysteries of Easter and magnificent wine
Easter time is coming, the goose is getting fat! Please to put your pennies in the old man's...no, no, that's not it.
"Try again, fail again, fail better," as Dostoevsky, I think it was, famously said.. It's Easter time, there's no need to be afraid, at Easter time we let in light and no, no... another false start. He is Lord! He is Lord! He is risen from the dead and He is Lord! That's the one. So, what wine shall we imbibe this weekend, to celebrate the greatest feast in the Christian calendar?
It depends a lot, dear tipplers, on what you're eating. For Easter Sunday dinner at my lovely home, Rose Cottage, my beautiful wife, the illustrious Madame G, plans to fry some duck breasts like only she can and to serve it with a spicy, plummy jus, roast potatoes and red cabbage.
A perfect match to this is lithesome, supple and satisfyingly complex 2023 Finca Las Moras Malbec (£7, Tesco). Ripe, muscular blackberry flavours, a warm, smoky palate and a spicy, judiciously oaked finish with hints of dark chocolate combine to create a robust, rustic and thoroughly satisfying drop.
Or, if you’re entertaining a crowd, the devilishly smooth, exquisitely balanced and very elegant 2023 Benjamin Darnault Cotes du Rhone (£24.99 for 1.5l magnum, visit www.nakedwines.com) should fit the bill.
Equally perfect alongside chicken or pork, this medium-bodied red combines rich, tangy blackberry with softer cherry flavours over vividly atmospheric notes of wild violets before expertly judged hints of vanilla and spice add some complexity to its luxurious finish
If the Lord deigns to bless us with some sunshine over the Easter weekend you may wish to get tore into today’s WINE OF THE WEEK, the delightfully dry, elegant and gloriously refreshing 2024 La Balconne (£19.99, M&S). This well-rounded, supple Cotes de Provence drop is packed with red berry and citrus flavours which will go wonderfully well with a nice platter of cold meats, cheese and olives which you may wish to enjoy on the patio on Easter Monday before backing the winner of the Irish Grand National- my money’s on Now is The Hour.
Those of you eating lamb tomorrow should rush out now and buy today's final recommendation, the superbly balanced, subtly spiced and sumptuously smooth 2022 La Masseria Del Borgo Primitivo Manduria (£13.50, Sainsbury’s). One to decant and allow to breathe for an hour or so before serving. Vibrantly aromatic with a rich palate full of berry and plum flavours before a peppery finish.
Sitting, standing, thinking, pacing, pondering the mysteries of life, glass in hand. Our Lord lying battered and bleeding on the cross one day, rising from death in glory the next.
Nothing lasts forever, it seems, disaster or triumph, or any other earthly thing. But we still have much to be grateful for. Like my glass, life goes from full to empty and then back to full again. Then empty. Then full again. Then empty- I feel certain there's a poem in there… Perhaps it's hiding in the sediment at the very bottom of my glass..
Time to fill it up again so. Till next week, tipplers, have a happy, holy Easter and sante!