Whether this summer ever gets into the swing of things or not the ambitious plans of the drinks industry, to seduce us to try their wares, must plough ahead regardless. From pairing fine wines with fast food to cocktail fruit fusions made by wine producers and abandoning the ancient art of ummm…. drinking through your mouth…. by absorbing your drink in a mist of breathable booze: this season has been all about breaking with tradition.

The main trend emerging from the Médoc region of Bordeaux is not quite so remarkable but for an area that dines out on centuries of winemaking history it’s Merlot of all things that is paving the way for a new future. ………

I’ve been procrastinating. Baking muffins, mowing the lawn, tidying the house and other random things that have crept to the top of my to do list in favour of putting off my blog posts about Bordeaux.

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A recent trip to Bordeaux with a group of talented sommeliers opened my eyes to a mysterious side of the wine world not often seen by the public. Three days with these energetic, eclectic, enthusiastic and intelligent wine bods firmly put my impression of a sommelier as the ultimate wine snob to bed. Our little French fling was to our mutual benefit, I learnt from them as much as they ate the foie gras from my pregnant lady plate (that’s a lot).
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Headlines take many different forms in the drinks trade; there are the attention grabbers “strap on booze baby seeks funding,” the David & Goliath tales of “Champagne Jayne” and the softer, sweeter entrepreneur success stories of the likes of The New Zealand Cellar but the ones that catch my attention the most centre around the wine trade’s ability to shoot itself in the foot.
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Take Beaujolais for example. Once the envy of wine regions around the world for its Beaujolais Nouveau marketing masterpiece it is now the underdog of the trade, fallen out of favour with the wine drinking fraternities the mere mention of it’s sorry existence is whispered these days with a pitying tone.

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“If you were a wine what wine would you be?” Is a question I get asked a lot. It’s one that I find as frustrating as those magazine articles annually on repeat “what summer style are you?” “Are you a ponytail girl or down and wavy: what your hair style says about you” as if we all need to be pigeon holed in an irritatingly patronising way. Funnily enough I was told what wine I’d be by fellow wine’o @Winebird – and of all the wines in the world she declared me a Côte Rôtie! If only I could afford it!

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Friday this week is officially Sauvignon Blanc day. Who knew?! As if we needed another excuse to open some decent and refreshing wine on a Friday! Here are my top picks from the latest releases from the Cooperative Food so you can be super Savvy this weekend…. ………