The season has turned and it’s time to warm up. That means knitwear, re-engaging with your difficult boiler, and cosy nights spent indoors with friends ... and good food and drink.
Indeed, Prometheus might have given fire to mankind but, in my experience, people find just as much warmth in the company of others. Joan Crawford was particularly insightful on the heat of relationships when she said that “love is a fire, but whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell”. That said, Sylvia Plath’s words resonate more closely with me. She wrote that each one of us needs “another body to keep us warm, someone to pour ourselves into”.
Like so many of us, I’ve spent numerous nights lost in conversation with someone during the winter months, either snuggled up by the fireplace or perched over a communal bowl of pasta. A bottle of something delicious was always part of the equation. For this reason, when I drink any of the below, I feel warmer for being alive.
Have you ever spent a night with a good friend in the kitchen, poring over cookbooks and trying to make as many new recipes as possible? Moments like these put me in the mood for delicious drink discoveries too, such as this southern French grenache/carignan blend recently brought to me by one such trailblazing guest. Domaine of the Bee 2011, £25, domaineofthebee.com
Some friends like to talk into the wee hours, hoping to solve personal problems, as well as those that beset the world, by daybreak. These occasions require something that helps us contemplate. This is spicy, long and wonderful. Highland Park 12 Year Old Single Malt Whisky, £42.50, bbr.com
What about a companion for a group activity? Some pals are made to kick back with over a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit, or better still, Ellen Degeneres’ app game, Heads Up! This calls for something light, fresh and tasty that won’t detract from your mental faculties. A London lager, perhaps? Camden Hells Lager, £1.89, waitrose.com
Whatever you drink and whomever you drink with this winter, take comfort in the warmth that only good friends can provide. Raise a glass to their health as well as to your own … and to the collective unconscious. At least until the trees start budding again.
Christian Holthausen is a Franco-American wine specialist living in London. Twitter: @bosiechampagne
