Judging by the number of emails I’ve had from firms asking if I want to opt out of Valentine’s Day communications, it’s clear that this is a fraught day for many, and one heavily loaded with Fomo. I don’t get it myself, never having fallen for the kind of guy who does a dozen red roses and a candlelit dinner, and at the same time never having felt deprived as a result. There’s no one way to express your love, after all. Frankly, I’d prefer a cuppa brought to me in bed and the occasional £5 bunch of supermarket flowers over the occasional grand gesture.
If you are in a relationship with a romantic, however, it’s more a question of managing expectations, and Valentine’s Day is synonymous with fizz. Does that need to be champagne? No, but you might as well – though, as I suggest below, it could also be English wine. Should it be a household name? Maybe, especially if you’re trying to impress your partner, but if they don’t know that Lidl sells the more than adequate Comte de Senneval for £14.99, you should maybe try to get away with that.
If eating is part of your Valentine’s Day plans (and I seriously suggest you dine in rather than out, not least from a cost point of view), red wine might well be on the cards, especially if you’re cooking a steak. And you can get a very nice one indeed, for less than the cost of a bottle of fizz that your loved one will recognise. Or, for that matter, a pukka white such as the assyrtiko in today’s pick, which would be more appropriate if you’re having seafood.
If you’re inclined to send up the whole business of Valentine’s Day while not entirely ignoring it, you might like a jokey label such as the Love Bite in my pick or, failing that, a wine with an apposite name. Admittedly there aren’t many Toms, Harrys or, for entirely understandable reasons, Dicks on wine labels, but if Gertie is the pet name for your inamorata, the absolutely luscious natural cabernet franc of that name, from Australia’s Clare Valley, should do the trick (£24.99 Nicholson’s Wines, 13.8%).
It’s perfectly possible, of course, that you and/or your partner might not be drinking at the moment and, although I’m not generally a big fan of alcohol-free fizz, Gratien & Meyer’s Festillant Cuvée Blanche Sans Alcool is way better than most and an impressively affordable £4.50: off-dry, but with a nice touch of honey, rather than a confected sweetness. Personally, though, I’d rather have the LA kombucha in today’s recommendations, because it’s really delicious. (And a bunch of supermarket tulips, if you wouldn’t mind.)
Five drinks to woo your Valentine
Nouveau Love Bite Cinsault 2022 £18.95 Planet Organic, £18.99 Selfridges, 12%. I couldn’t resist the name, or the wine, once I’d tasted it – this Stellenbosch red is like sticking your nose into a bucket of roses. It’s light, though, so not for lovers of big reds.
Busi Jacobsohn Rosé 2018/19 £39 Yapp Brothers, 12%. Elegant, dry, English (despite the name) fizz that tastes of freshly picked redcurrants. Would be great with sushi, crab or prawns.
Chateau Julia Assyrtiko 2021 £18.95 Private Cellar, 13.5%. Beautifully pure, Greek white that bears comparison to premier cru chablis. Would be perfect with a plate of oysters.
LA Brewery Sparkling English Blush Kombucha £9.50 The Wine Society, £10 labrewery.co.uk, Ocado. Delicious blend of strawberries and pink rhubarb. Quite sweet, but balanced by a bright, green apple sharpness. Perfect for a bed picnic.
Drappier Champagne Rosé Brut Nature £48.75 The Champagne Company, 12%. A seductively dark pink rosé champagne that tastes of super-ripe strawberries. Would be good with the heart-shaped coeur de Neufchâtel or another brie cheese.
For more by Fiona Beckett, go to fionabeckett.substack.com
