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Warming reds for winter
I have a friend who, as regular as clockwork, puts away all her summer clothes on the last day of September and replaces them with warm woollens and rainproof jackets. Regardless of the weather, she swaps back again on May 1 as though chilly, damp days are no longer a possibility.
I find that quirky - but sweet. Less comprehensible is her seasonal fixation with wines.
In summer she drinks whites alone and come the winter months she reverts entirely to red. We've argued about this a million times over but she remains committed to the view that reds just feel right' when it's colder.
Anyway, there we were the other day; stood outside in the lashing rain and what felt like force ten gales, freezing to death.
I was grumpy. "Don't worry," she said, "I know just what you need." She produced a reassuringly large thermos flask, gave me a wicked little smile and poured me a - quite unexpected - glass of perfectly chilled sauvignon. I was now even grumpier. "You see, nobody wants white when it's cold."
I wasn't in a position to disagree and so here are our top five reasons why red wines are the undisputed champions for the (renegotiated) period of December to February.
Firstly, there's no getting away from the fact that our bodies have different needs the chillier it becomes. We seem to crave hearty casseroles, buttery mash and I, for one, see my meat intake increase four-fold at this time of year. I have mentioned before in this column that the secret of good food and wine pairing is to consider the weight of the food you are eating. The heartier the fare, the more robust the wine needs to be.
That's the first strike for the reds.
Next, it's unquestionably true that drinking something cold is a bit strange when you're fingers are still numb from scraping the ice from the car and you can barely stretch down to the wine rack for the extra layers of thermals you have recently started wearing. Please don't serve your reds too warm - they shouldn't be served a degree over 18C. Do this and you'll allow the flavours to be as expressive as possible and literally warm you, inside to out.
Some time ago, Spanish scientists claimed that following a year-long study of 4,000 volunteers, they had clear evidence to suggest that people who drank as little as one glass of red wine a day were significantly less likely to suffer from colds as those who were teetotal. This, it has been suggested, is due to the antioxidant properties of red wine.
While I don't recommend that you avoid your flu jab this winter in exchange for a couple of glasses of cabernet sauvignon, it might not be such a bad thing to enjoy a daily glass of red over supper.
I do believe that some wines do show better depending on the environment we're in. On a hot summer day the very last thing I feel like drinking is a robust, 14 per cent alcohol Australian Shiraz. It'll be inevitably overpowering and exhausting. When the temperatures drop though, this very same wine becomes comforting and attractive.
Personally, I love the spiciness that comes with many Rhône-style syrah wines and there's never a better night for a glass than those days when you return to the house in darkness.
Last but by no means least, when you want to cheer up your friends, and give them something to smile about when they are oozing cold from head to foot, a glass of red will be much, much better received than something from the fridge.
Best of all, a glass of mulled wine has to be one of life's loveliest winter treats. Maybe that's what we all need in our thermos!
An excellent range of warm, spicy reds has been put together by the Oxford Times Wine Club this week and I think you'll find they are just what you're after this winter.
Click here for The Oxford Times Wine Club offers.
10:08am Thursday 29th November 2007
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