martini asti

Wines under ten poundsIt might feel like a bit of a throw back but this humbly priced Martini Asti spumante is a supermarket bargain. More relaxed as fizz goes, with plenty of fresh peach aromas and fruity flavour, this low alcohol wine is the perfect after dinner tipple.

A good meal is satisfying in its own way but sometimes it is the post meal drinks that dictate the mood of the rest of the evening. If it is one of those gatherings when chatter is in full flow, the taste buds are attuned to pleasure and the glassware is sparkling, then a liberal pouring of this Martini Asti will keep the party in motion.

At only 7% a.b.v. it is unlikely that you’ll see any heady alcohol rushes or inaptly spoken tongue twisters. It has plenty of our favourite attribute: "one more glass syndrome". At this price there really is no excuse not to keep a dozen bottles under the stairs!

Saluté

£9.00 from Tesco (click here to buy)

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Last week a picture was posted on Twitter of vines in Shabo, a large estate that lies to the west of Odesa on southern Ukraine’s Black Sea coastline. The image seemed benign at face value but the reality, of course, is that the city of Odesa has been bracing itself for attack by Russian forces. 

 

As COVID-19 conspires with the grimmest of winds and rain to force a societal retreat behind our own front doors, the word ennui springs to mind. The muddle of displeasure is pierced when Natalia hands me a large bulbous glass of a liquid I do not recognise.

 

 

Britain’s lamentable exit

On the eve of Britain’s official departure from the EU, my partner and I decided to explore a small town on the Italian Riviera where thewintry cold doesn’t feel so much like cold war bite.

I had warned my significant other that I would be having an inverse departure party, a release of the sanity valve if you like!

 

Sitting inside the ancient castle walls inside the town of Soave, a short drive from Verona in northern Italy, the unique slightly almond aroma of the indigenous grape, Garganega, rises gently from my glass. The castle sprawls up the side of an extinct volcano that gives the region its variant soil structures that mark out the better quality of Soave wines.

 

Tanisha Townsend decided to move to Paris 4 years ago after regularly passing through the city en route to the world’s most famous vineyards. In fact, it was about 2 years ago at the Printemps de Champagne Bouzy Rouge tasting in Reims that I saw (who we shall now refer to as) GirlMeetsGlass chirpily speaking to her web followers on Snapchat.

 

The cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, the final resting place of Saint James, rises out of the landscape, infested with antiquity. The rambling steep streets give way to shafts of dramatic light, emblazoned chapels, and tightly packed tapas bars, dusty, as old novels pressed together in antiquarian bookshops.

 

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