BEWARE the leap years." Those words echoed round my head last Saturday night at Ian and Anne Fraser's party as I forced down my third glass of apricot-infused fizzy water. Some of you may know Ian, who set up the hugely successful Elephant House café
on Edinburgh's George IV Bridge. Rumour has it that JK Rowling was a regular around the time of writing the first Harry Potter instalment, so perhaps we have Ian partly to thank for the boy wonder.
Teen wizards aside, the irony of attending a coffee-shop owner's party while on the wagon was not lost on me. Which brings me to leap years. February is always a twitchy month in my household. The bottles are cleared away, the wine glasses are put back in their boxes and the cellar key is hidden away in a drawer as I struggle through a month without booze.
Readers of this column will know who is to blame for this extraordinary behaviour: Edward Demery, chairman of my previous employer, wine merchant Justerini & Brooks. Edward's theory is that, although it's good to spend a month on the wagon each year, January is just far too busy for abstinence.
Certainly, from a tasting perspective, it is a hectic month. No sooner has the year started than the Burgundians arrive with barrel samples of their new vintage. Hot on their heels are the Australians, eager to show off their wines; then comes the round of busy trade tastings. February, in contrast, is relatively quiet – and short. "A lot of my friends give up in January," says Demery, "but it's 31 days long! Go for February instead, Wills, but beware the leap years."
So far so good. My waistline has shrunk, my liver has taken down the white flag and my energy levels are certainly higher. But every year I wonder if I am doing the right thing. Is abstinence really the answer? What about just cutting down a bit?
Well, cutting down is harder than you would think, since one of the hazards facing today's wine drinker is soaring alcohol levels. These began to creep up around 15 years ago, when winemakers realised that leaving the grapes on the vines longer produced richer, riper flavours. A side-effect was more alcohol. Thirty years ago French supermarkets sold wine at three alcohol levels only: 10%, 11% and 12%. Nowadays, 13% is at the lower end of much of what is on our supermarket shelves.
One of the first professionals to notice this trend was Michael Romer, proprietor of Peter Green's wine merchants in Edinburgh. I recall listening to a lecture he gave on this very topic in the autumn of 1995. "Customers used to marvel at Châteauneuf-du-Pape, with its alcohol level of more than 13%," he says now. "These days many of us take for granted 13% or 14%." He doesn't even mention the growing prevalence of 15%-plus wines.
So, in a bid to formulate some sort of low-alcohol guide, we have come together and created a chart made up of the good guys, the cliff-hangers and the lost causes.
THE GOOD GUYS (12.5% and below): Most German wines; all Muscadet, which has an upper limit of 12%.
THE CLIFF-HANGERS (Sometimes above 12.5%): Valpolicella and Bardolino; Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé; the wines of Bordeaux and Alsace.
THE LOST CAUSES (Above 13%): Most wines from Australia, Chile and South Africa (fewer than one bottle in six will have less than 13%).
2006 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, Domaine de la Brouardière, Loire Valley, France, 12%, £5.95Deliciously dry. Rich and creamy in the mouth, yeasty on the palate with a zippy, energetic finish. An ideal lunchtime tipple.
2005 Riesling Kabinett, Selbach, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Germany, 10%, £7.95The cool climate of the Mosel allows the grapes to ripen fully but crucially manage to retain their low sugar content, which, in turn, keeps the alcohol content low. This Selbach throws up a kaleidoscope of floral flavours, including peach, apricots and fresh citrus.
2005 Beaujolais Villages, J L Quinson, Beaujolais, France, 12%, £7.502003 was a remarkable vintage for Beaujolais and rightly grabbed all the headlines. But the 2005s are good too, with deep, pure fruit concentration. Quinson's has a crunchy, cherry-flavoured character with stunning acidity.
Stockists: Peter Green & Co, Edinburgh (0131 229 5925)
The full article contains 755 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
