By age 35 you should you should have at least twice your annual salary saved for the day you can stop working – so goes the conventional wisdom dished out by financial advisors. But it left me wondering why shouldn’t we mature folks take this concept for ourselves – what should you have done with that wine advice by age 70?
Well in the dedicated drawer full of stuff “too useful to throw away” that you’ll have acquired by age 35 you’ll find several types of corkscrew that were fashionable at some point but proved to be useless (remember the one that pumps air through the cork with a needle to push up the cork? or the wooden one with an inner and outer cylinder that defied understanding?).
Well keep these items there as a momento of a hot head because “by age 70 you should” ignore corkscrews and only buy wines that are easy to access in less than 5 seconds.
If your grip is still strong enough then wine bottles with screwcaps fit this bill, or for easier access you could try the “squirt and slurp” tap type wine boxes or pouches.
What else should you have done by age 70 with that pinch of celery salt?
How about learning to ignore that excellent marketing advice that says celebrations aren’t complete without sparkling wine – particularly champagne. If you like prosecco then toast the new grandchild with this – or why not a glass of your favourite Riesling if that’s your thing?
And don’t be afraid to choose the first, and cheapest wine, off the wine list in a restaurant. Psychology trains us to choose the third one – and restaurant owners know this – but more often than not the cheapest wine (it’ll still be more than ten quid a bottle thanks to the mark up) will taste fruity and fine even though you’ve never heard of it.
So be brave and write your own list of “by age 70 you should”.
PG Wine Reviews
The Black Shiraz 2018, Australia
£8 Co-op
Lots going on in this Aussie Shiraz with creamy plum and parma violets matched with the bitterness of espresso coffee. There’s also some warming blackberry flavours.
Marques de Valido Rioja Reserva 2015
£9 Co-op
A light and juicy red with flavours of blackberry and pencil wood.
Buitenverwachting Sauvignon Blanc 2019, South Africa
£12.25 www.help4hospitality.com
The bottle labelling may look German but this wine is in fact from South Africa – and the wine inside is not at all the blousey in-your-face wines that we’ve come to expect from this country. This example is complex, balanced and fruity with flavours of tangerine, fresh peaches, lime and pear. With all those fruit flavours going on you might expect it to be overwhelming but it is in fact light and refreshing.
Cottonworth sparkling Classic Cuvee Brut, England
£24.99 Simply Wines Direct, £29.95 Hic Wine Merchants, £31.95 www.help4hospitality.com
Grown in Hampshire chalk and made with the same grape varieties as champagne you’d expect this English version to taste the same. Well it does almost – toasted bread, almonds and apples are the same flavours you’d expect in champagne but Hampshire doesn’t quite provide enough sunshine and warmth so this wine is a little sharp on the palate.
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© Paula Goddard 2020 www.wineuncorked.co.uk
