Sipping wine on holiday may not be possible this year but we can have a liquid holiday instead by drinking bottles from our favourite destinations
Sharing wine with friends is among my favourite things – only pipped to the post by sharing wine with friends on holidays. Since neither are hugely possible at the moment, I’ve got two ways for us to experience similar sensations without moving a muscle.
Firstly, we can still drink wine from our favourite destinations, in a sort of liquid holiday. Happily, wine-making has spread so widely across the globe, there are plenty of options.
The culture of wine creates delicious rivalries, whether it’s between neighbouring villages, regions or countries. I’m always falling in love with simple wines made locally that are inexpensive and unique.
The ambience no doubt contributes, but while we’re living through these challenging times, they seem to hit the spot magnificently.
The second way of sharing wine more widely is online. I’ve been connecting with wineries and regions via the web in lockdown and this week also sees the release of series seven of my podcast A Glass With…, which is free to listen to via all the usual podcast outlets or at aglasswith.com.
The format is simple – sharing a glass with a celebrity while the interview flows with the wine. Episode one of this series is TV chef Matt Tebbutt, an old friend of mine, which made it trickier than I’d expected to research and prepare!
SUMMERTIME BOOZE £10.95 Xinomavro Jeunes Vignes Thymiopoulos 2018 (13%) The Wine Society and WINE OF THE WEEK £5.99 Voyage au Sud Vermentino 2019 (12.5%) Waitrose
Matt sipped a glass of excellent rosé from Babylonstoren in South Africa – check out the offer below.
Episode two comes out on Monday, starring Tamzin Outhwaite, and I look forward to sharing further guests along the line. Meantime, if we can’t travel in person, let’s at least take our taste buds on holiday, one glass at a time.
SPECIAL OFFER
Buy three or more bottles of Babylonstoren’s 2020 Mouvèdre Rosé and get a 500ml tin of their Extra Virgin Olive Oil as a gift. Simply visit thenewt.co.uk/aglasswith
