With cold nights and outdoor festivities on the horizon, it’s time for some toasty toasts, says Margaret Clancy
There are plenty of people who moan about the nights drawing in and the dankness of autumn, but it’s one of my favourite times of the year. The golden colours, the earthy smells, the abundance of harvest... I also appreciate the fact that in good, old Blighty we have two proper celebrations and feasts. The first – Halloween – was all spooky fun with plenty of games when I was a child: apple bobbing (with new season apples) and disco smoke machines both featured, though a bucket of sweets seems to suffice today. The second – Bonfire Night – admittedly has a pretty grim history, but it is still celebrated with gusto up and downthe country.
These two events, which inevitably involve standing around in the cold, are much improved by outdoor eating and imbibing.
Although the weather is often inclement, the barbecue still rules, but what to drink? The pretty pale rosés of summer aren’t the ticket any longer. You need something more robust, more atmospheric and, given that it’s likely to be cool and even a little frosty, something that doesn’t need to be chilled.
My first choice would be mulled cider (it’s a little early in the calendar for mulled wine). A glass of steaming sweet alcoholic apple juice, with overtones of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, is redolent of autumn. Just warm some cider with a little brown sugar and some spices (use sticks of cinnamon, whole cloves, slices of orange and maybe a slug of Calvados for some extra va-va-voom) and you’ll find it slips down very easily. .
However, if you’re not a fan of hot alcoholic drinks, turn your attention to wine instead. Red wines are definitely the way to go, but you need to find something robust and easy rather than rarified; wine that can cope with being warm or cold, can be shaken about a bit; that won’t be insulted by the use of plastic cups or by a screw top lid. But it also needs to have plenty of body and fruit – just think of what it’s going to be matched with: bangers, steak, baked potatoes, Tangfastics and melted marshmallows as well as the heady aroma of bonfires. And though I am not foolish enough to predict the weather – it may even get watereddown by rain.
So to recommendations... If you have a favourite small wine merchant, it’s well worth asking them for their personal favourites – there may be a perfect little fruity number just waiting to be picked up – but I’ve found some lovely bottles from Majestic and the supermarkets, so those of you whose high streets have been abandoned by independents need not despair.
Funnily enough, the reds are all Australian, but then the Aussies tend to be easy to get on with and are very used to drinking around the barbie.
Entry level
Majestic Loves Shiraz – Majestic, £6.99
An inexpensive and unpretentious Australian wine. When I first tasted this, if I’m honest, I thought it was a little dull, but once it had been open for half an hour, it really came into its own. Lots of hot spicy fruit, a really good rich deep colour and plenty of oomph. The cute barbecue cartoon on the label suggests summertime, but I am all for this in autumn. But be warned – at 14% alcohol – it will go your head remarkably quickly.
Mid-price
Irvine Merlot 2015 Wrattonbully, SE Australia – Waitrose, £7.99
A classic merlot with all the sweetness and softness that the grape has to offer, but which packs plenty of punch with 14% alcohol.It has a lovely purply red colour and all that alcohol gives its fruit a lushness that would suit cheese as wellas a couple of baby back ribs.
The real firecracker
Taste the Difference Château Tanunda Barossa Red 2014 – Sainsburys, £10
A really big Aussie (a whopping 15%), which is frighteningly easy to drink. It is smooth and sumptuous, with all the sweet berry fruitiness you could hope for, but with a richness that will help it cope with toffee apples and brownies as well as barbecue sauces and salads. Softly spoken but with plenty of attitude, there’s little on any dinner table that this chap will have an argument with.
And one for the white wine diehards...
Majestic Loves Pinot Grigio – Majestic, £6.99
Harking back to the seasonal apples, this has that crisp crunchiness that you’d hope for. Not a wine for laying down and keeping, the cartoon label says it all – this is party wine – from Romania rather than Italy – and there’s not a great deal to it, though if people insist on white, it’ll do fine. If you think it needs a little help, it’s amazing whata touch of cassis can do.
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