After the Christmas hamper wine

I’m on the last bottle of our Christmas hamper wine, excluding the bubbly that has remained which will hopefully be used at some stage to celebrate our engagement (just six weeks before the wedding, but we can’t be too picky). Which means I’m now back to buying wine after a month of free stuff my fiancé didn’t drink at Christmas.

Some white wine that I bought recently I have thoroughly enjoyed, although I must say the supermarket choice can be quite limiting if you’re looking for budget, but not too budget. A recently discovered varietal which I have known about since the days of my sommelier course is pinot bianco, with this particular example from Alto Adige.

I was pleasantly surprised. The pinot bianco is fresh with plenty of fruity bouquet and decent acidic structure. Apparently it has been getting some good results as a sparkling white as well, and I’ll be interested to try it if I come across one in the future.

Unfortunately I haven’t been able to do much food and wine matching recently, especially given that my fiancé rarely drinks wine and I’d be stuck finishing off anything that turned out to be a little too experimental for our tastes. We’re also a little hamstrung in our finances in that department, which could be a lasting reality for us so I may as well get used to it now. However, I’m looking forward to choosing the wines for our wedding lunch and there could be asparagus on the menu, so that means a nice white. More on this later (when we actually get the proposed menu).

In the meantime, I can enjoy a short period of cheap wine before my parents get here and I’m required to buy something a little more decent for my Dad. Which hopefully he will pay for, and then I can enjoy a short period of good wine before he goes away again and I’m back to budgeting.... Life is difficult and short for wine choices.