St Patrick (and zero alcohol rose) to the rescue!

You’re already teetering on the brink of abandoning your Lenten vow to abstain from the devil’s buttermilk.

Some of you, mostly gentlemen, will be needing plenty of drink to steady your nerves or to celebrate or, more likely, cry into as we enter the annual bookies’ benefit better known as the Cheltenham Racing Festival.

While all you refined and beautiful ladies out there, you may feel fearful that reading too much of my poetical prose about the ‘plump, peppery, delicately spiced’ this or the ‘complex, creamy and ferociously crisp’ that, well it might just break your hitherto steely resolve.

Dear tipplers, I understand.

Alas, my livelihood dictates that I may not join you in your noble sacrifice.

It’s my job to drink the accursed stuff and point you towards something palatable.

That doesn’t mean I’m not suffering too.

But I’ve given up the old coffee instead as I like to get my pain out of the way first thing.

More than that, however, I’m here to remind you that we have an “out”.

Thursday is St. Patrick’s Day so we’re all allowed to have a day off, hurrah! I’d wager that if Our Lord himself had come along after St Paddy, he’d have given himself a day off the old fasting and told the dIvil to to come back with his temptations on Friday.

So, I’ve got a few bottles for you to indulge yourselves with- a Languedoc white, a sparkler and, for the very disciplined, a zero alcohol rosé.

First up, today’s Wine of the Week, the gently honeyed, fresh and fruity 2020 Viognier Pays d’Oc (£9, M&S) is an easy-drinking, uncomplicated yet sumptuous French affair.

A vibrantly aromatic bouquet leads to a lively, just off-dry palate that is full of citrus, apricot and melon flavours before a rich, buttery finish. One to enjoy with a creamy aubergine and mushroom ragu and green lentils on a cool, bright Spring evening.

Should you back a winner (my tip for you is Al Boum Photo in the Gold Cup) this week or just want something fizzy to drown your shamrock in, our second selection is the deliciously dry, delicate and ferociously crisp Cremant de Die Brut, Cave Poulet (£10.95, the Wine Society, visit www.thewinesociety.com or telephone 01438-741177).

Brimful of citrus and green apple flavours alongside hints of almond, this extremely well-priced French sparkler is also a perfect aperitif to enjoy with canapes such as bruschetta with goats cheese and tapenade before your Sunday (or Easter) roasts.

And for those of you still abstaining, try the delicate, delightfully dry, salmon-pink McGuigan Zero Rose (widely available at independent wine merchants and off-licences, generally £4-£6).

Teeming with bright redcurrrant, raspberry and strawberry flavours this veritable mouthful of summer in a glass will go wonderfully well with simply cooked fish or poultry.

So let us eat, drink and be merry on Thursday.

I’ll certainly be singing my heart out- all the great arias, the old jazz standards, a few come-all-ye’s and maybe even a little bit of rock and roll.

But most of all, I’ll be hailing glorious St Patrick. Till next week, tipplers, sante! As the great man himself once said: Are youns alright there in the back?

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