Love yourself (and your wine) for lifelong happiness

And some mustard seeds. Fried chicken, garlic, red chilli, ginger, lemongrass, mushrooms and a bright mix of red, orange and yellow peppers. Coconut milk, fresh coriander, a little chicken stock, some curry powder, saffron and turmeric. A long simmer and a squeeze of lime to finish. Yes, perhaps there’s still enough Summer left to enjoy a delicious homemade curry out on the patio of my lovely home, Rose Cottage, in the late evening sun.

I’ll need a white wine. Something aromatic and fruity with bright floral notes should be ideal. Step forward today’s WINE OF THE WEEK, the fabulously fresh, lively and zesty 2021 Pecorino Abruzzo Contesa (£9.95, the Wine Society, visit www.thewinesociety.com or telephone 01438-741177). This elegant, well-structured Italian white has a complex palate wherein pronounced lemon and peach flavours mingle with apricot, hazelnut and minerally backnotes before a very clean, judiciously spiced finish. It will also go extremely well with seafood or salads.

Ah, but what if it rains? Which is what happens most of the time. Well, then we’ll stay inside and just talk in rhyme. And rather than the broad bean salad with goat’s cheese, garlic, dill and homemade sourdough which I’d been planning, we’ll just have to throw a pair of steaks on the grill and serve with garlic fries, mushrooms and a superbly executed Bearnaise sauce. No bother to me, the writer lies.

I’ll be needing a red wine as well in that case. It will have to be opulent, intense and full-bodied. Step forward today’s second recommendation, the decadently rich, full-bodied and impressively flavoursome 2020 M&S Classics Corbieres (£7). Ripe, muscular blackberry flavours, a warm, tangy palate and a spicy, peppery finish combine to create a robust, jammy and quite old-fashioned but thoroughly enjoyable blend of Grenache and Syrah. It will go equally well with Beef Bourgignon or Irish Stew.

I have of late, I know not why, been accumulating lots of bottles of Prosecco. Sadly, due to a lack of happy occasions in my personal life recently, I haven’t had the chance to open them. Not being the type to allow my own abject misery to get in the way of other’s good cheer, I decided to open one this evening with my darling wife, the redoubtable Madame G., on the dubious pretext that my readers might be happy in their lives and may wish to know what a good Prosecco tastes like.

If, unlike miserable old me, you do have something wonderful to celebrate, then today’s final recommendation is the lipsmackingly crisp, reassuringly complex and satisfyingly savoury Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Extra Dry (£7.99, Lidl). This effervescent Italian fizz greets you with captivating floral aromas before a richly textured palate that teems with tangy berry and slightly sharper citrus flavours. Serve with canapes for an ideal aperitif.

But hark! What’s this? A message from on high! An epiphany, no less. It turns out I do have reason to be happy. I love and am loved. The chances are that you are too if you stop to think about it. And if you’re not, more fool them- ‘tis their loss. As Oscar Wilde wrote- to love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. So forget the Prosecco, crack open the champers! Love is here and it’s here to stay. Till next week, tipplers, sante!