Wine

Alco-pops... no thank you.

White Lightning... even bigger no thank you.

John Smiths Bitter... ychafy!

Glass of red?

Ribena when driving.

Wine if i'm not - preferably of the New World.

Now Anton Dvorak wrote a great piece (his New World Symphony). Think how much better it might've been if he'd been around to sample the delights of the Napa valley et al.

I have drunk some lovely french and italian and spanish reds but my heart lies with that produced from the USA and Australia. Now and again i venture into the territory of South African or South American. Chilean vineyards have a good rep. And i sampled a very tasty Argentinian rose last night.

I was at a dinner last night. Hence my considering what moves my tastebuds.

It was a BYO evening and, of the 6 adults at the table, five brought new world(4 red, 1 rose) wines.

Oxford Landing (merlot), Wolfblass Yellow Label (Cab Sauv), E & J Gallo x 2 (grapes not spotted) and the Argentinian (Mendoza).

A friend from another table entreated me to sample his french. "It's quite dry," he said as i sipped. Yikes!

It reinforced my lack of faith in the old world wines. Maybe i need to get some of that Cuvee from Citie Europe. Too drinkable really ;0)

It's not that i don't drink white it's that i prefer red. Europe seems to have a better choice of white than red. A nice Orvieto goes down very well with some tasty chicken. Having said that I am not one of those officiandos ( i'm not an officiando at all!) who believes that white meat and fish should be complimented with white. And red for red meat. Whatever works for your palette is the way to be.

Quite honestly, i believe there is no room for snobbery in alcohol.

You can the most expensive bubbly or the cheapest vino and it'll do the same thing to you if you imbibe too much. And the result could leave you with your head staring into a space that another part of your anatomy will see more often!

Alcohol. No respector of who or what you are. You abuse it and it will be the winner!

Cheers

[i dug this out 3 weeks after the event and i, subsequently, have a nice Orvieto lined up for drinking in my kitchen right now]