Turn your ‘dry January’ into ‘moderation month’
January.
Days that make it impossible to turn off the lights, rail strikes that mean you walk to work, uneven pavements that deliver a plop followed by a bucket’s worth of mucky puddle onto your shoes, and then comes the bill for all that festive fun that seems like a distant starry-eyed memory.
And what do you do? You give up booze for a month, meaning pretty much the only thing that’s not wet is you.
I’m going to recommend that you stick your dry January where the sun don’t shine (which is, err, here) and try a different approach – one of moderation. A ‘damp January’, if you like.
Think Germany, and too many of us think of nuns and the colour blue
Wine is here to help, with some lower alcohol versions that don’t mean making any compromise.
Alcohol levels in wine have been creeping up for years, inspired by our insatiable desire to get more bang for our buck. Indeed, some big reds have been tipping over the 16% point (step forward Californian and Australian winemakers).
That’s on the turn now, however. Some of the ‘bigger’ wines have become a little more refined, generally meaning a slight reduction in alcohol levels.
More interesting is the new band of low alcohol kids on the block. A sort of oenophilic version of what happened when the Jonas Brothers burst onto the scene, a few years back.
If you wonder what alcohol actually ‘tastes’ like, then you might notice a sort of warmth in your mouth, in a big wine with a high ABV (that’s ‘alcohol by volume’, the standard measure of the ethanol level). That warmth is the alcohol doing its thing (or rather, one of its things).
Think Germany, and too many of us think of nuns and the colour blue, or towers that aren’t white, but it produces some truly outstanding wines in its cool climate, and it’s also a bit of an innovator.
Dr Loosen makes a great range wines in its Mosel valley home, using the magnificent Riesling grape. The punch of the grape, with its distinctive stone fruit aromas and flavours, more than makes up for the absence of higher levels of alcohol. I’d love to see more of Dr Loosen’s dry wines more widely available in the UK.
Try Dr Loosen Slate Hill Riesling 2015, £10.99 at Majestic (but £8.99 if you buy six of any wine). It punches you in the nose with peach, and delivers that on the palette too, with a zesty freshness. Some describe it as ‘off dry’, but this one tastes medium sweet to me. Don’t let that put you off. It’s very good, and would be a nice pair with a healthy veggie curry, or any other strong flavours.
Next stop is the other side of the world. Try The Doctors Sauvignon Blanc 2014, £8.99 at Waitrose. It’s one point higher at 9.5% alcohol and delivers those classic Marlborough Sauvignon traits we know and love – tropical fruits, like lychee, some grassiness and quite a long finish. It’s at the off-dry end of dry and would also stand up well to spicy dishes.
Finally, at 10.5%, try a Portuguese Vinho Verde. I think we should all be drinking more of Portugal’s wines, and their ‘green wine’ is incredibly distinctive. Tapada de Villar Vinho Verde 2015, £8.50 at M&S, is good value. The grape is the native Loureiro, in case you’re interested. Its nose is fresh, with lemon and green apple. It has all of those things in the mouth, with an added spritz that makes it refreshing. It gives you a lovely sense of summer on a dark January night. This Vinho Verde is subtler than the other two, so match it with a healthy steamed white fish, or a salad supper.