The key to successful Bank Holiday Boozing is to remember it's a school night.
The day you usually gain for oenological over-indulgence isn't the official Bank Holiday Monday.
The day you usually gain for oenological over-indulgence isn't the official Bank Holiday Monday.
Rather, it's the Sunday, as there's no work on the Monday morning.
So
you can treat the Sunday just like a Saturday - only with bigger
newspapers.
The
secret to Bank Holiday Boozing is therefore to recognise that Bank
Holiday Monday is not like any other weekend day at all, knowing you can
overdo it over dinner on Saturday night then sleep it off until Sunday
lunch. Or have a second bottle with your Sunday repast thinking you can
sleep it off all through a lazy Sunday afternoon. Or do both and in any
event suffer little ill effect.
No,
Bank Holiday Monday is a unique day that offers an opportunity for
all-day entertainment that requires a wholly original approach to
alcohol that will be unfamiliar to many readers, especially those with a
practical knowledge of attitudes to alcohol in Britain.
Because the key to a happy Bank Holiday Monday is Less is More.
That's right. There's only one rule for Bank Holiday Boozing: Less is More.
Less alcohol that is. But I don't mean fewer glasses of wine.
Instead,
when you're looking for drinks to partner with your inevitable Bank
Holiday barbecue - and in the UK there is really no alternative food
choice on a Bank Holiday - look for wines that not only go well with
burnt burgers, charred chicken and scorched sausages, but also wines
that won't make you fall over before the meat has been thoroughly
under-cooked, in accordance with tradition.
Less
alcohol means a low ABV (alcohol by volume measurement) - the
percentage figure printed on the label as required by UK law on
virtually every sealed vessel containing alcohol.
Among
whites you can find refreshing all day drinking wines offering an ABV
of as little as 9%. Among reds, easy drinking starts around 12% while
sparkling wine and rosé fall between the two at around 11%.
To
make choosing your Bank Holiday wine even easier the New World has
largely decided not to make the vinous equivalent of lunchtime session
beers, so you can safely confine your search for something appropriate
to the wine racks within European shores.
Old,
well-known, even familiar names abound here, yet many may be unfamiliar
drinking for many of us nowadays, so it's a great opportunity to
re-acquaint ourselves with some neglected even long-forgotten, old
friends.
Like
Frascati. As you'll probably be eating, Italy is as good a place as any
to start drinking, with Frascati, Rome's quaffing wine, probably the
lightest of all Italian whites.
It's typically clear, very pale and
supremely refreshing, sometimes with a slight prickle on the palate.
Serve it so cold it's almost frozen and you'd be hard-pushed to realise
you weren't drinking Badoit such is the subtlety of its discernible
flavour.
That's
an observation oft made of Italy's Soave too but relatively recent
regulatory increases in quality, especially of the Soave Classico and
Soave Superiore denominations, stipulate higher minimum alcohol levels
and allow the inclusion of some Chardonnay grapes. Better, riper Soave
is scented and nutty, but for everyday gluggability stick to Soave DOC
for that lightweight, even anonymous, Summer drinking style.
Because
if it's flavour you're after you can look to the shelves of Germany and
Alsace and yet another familiar name, Riesling. Long championed by
Master of Wine, Jancis Robinson OBE, as one of the great white grapes,
unfortunately everyday Riesling - once upon a time often not Riesling at
all - previously acquired a very poor reputation.
Thankfully,
nowadays plenty of young, dry, authentic Rieslings, particularly from
Germany, abound with floral scents and flavours ranging from sharp
apple, through allspice to honeyed nectarine. German Rieslings start at
just 9% alcohol and don't get that much heavier so can be consumed all
day long, while France's Alsace matches them for richness and ripeness
on both the nose and palate.
Just
one word of caution. Much German Riesling is off-dry or even sweet so
if you're unfamiliar with German wine just look for the word trocken on
the label, as it means dry, otherwise do check the shelf labels or ask
for clarification if it's still unclear.
While
we're in Alsace, if you're barbecuing jerk chicken, curry goat or
marinated pork ribs, don't overlook Gewürztraminer, whose exotic, even
pungent, perfume, plus its strongly flavoured, rich and distinctive
spiciness, cut right through hot peppers and chillies like no other
white wine.
Staying
with the European shelves, for familiar all day Summer sparklers I look
no further than Spain's Cava. It's frequently light in weight, usually
11% ABV or so, of a predictable quality level and pretty easy to find a
brand to suit your taste. Along with Prosecco, which is surely due a rest, it's also just about the cheapest fizz on the
rack so it's easily at its best when drunk young. Unfortunately, better
quality Cava doesn't stray very far from Spanish shores, being
comparable in price to Champagne while struggling to compete with the
home of sparkling wine's name and reputation.
When
I'm in Spain, including the Balearic and Canary Islands, I drink very
little apart from Cava during daylight hours, only switching to red wine
once the sun has set.
Before
we consider reds though, a brief foray into rosé wines, and we're not
talking Château d'Esclans here, but simple wines to last us through to
twilight.
Let's
face it, rosé is pink - it's fun, so let's treat it as such and
concentrate on the good dry styles suitable for our purposes that
include Rosé de Loire and some Spanish rosado made from Garnacha -
Grenache as the French have it.
Medium
varieties are best left alone, having once been described by Robert Joseph
as 'mostly dire', so we'll pass on Rosé D'Anjou and Portuguese rosé as
exemplified by slightly frizzante Mateus Rosé, with a particularly
dishonourable mention for California's pink Zinfandel, often referred to
as Blush, presumably in embarrassment.

But if not, then red wine must be the solution.
All day reds are plentiful across the world but once again it is the traditional wine-making nations of Europe that offer the quickest and easiest selection on supermarket shelves and in off-licence bins - grab some on the way to the beach or the park or nip round the corner for a bottle or two before meeting your socially distanced friend.
No
need to scour the shelves, just head straight for the France section
and lo and behold, a couple of familiar easy-drinking red names leap out
at you: Beaujolais is fresh and aromatic with a lightness of body that
means you can drink it at noon until the sun goes down.
Alternatively,
and for a bit of class, not that I'm suggesting you indulge in any
social climbing, but if you did want to impress your barbecue guests,
how about a lovely light red Sancerre, made from delicate Pinot Noir?
Along
the shelf in Italy, everyday young Chianti DOCG can be lively, fruity
and tangy; all sharp ripe cherries and red berry fruit, sometimes with a
hint of bitterness to help you cut through charred meat flavours,
barbecue sauces and over-dressed salads.
So
long as you're still eating, Italian wine makes for excellent food
matching - try cheap and cheerful Valpolicella with plates of
traditional Parma ham, salami and Bresaola, and if you are cooking over
charcoal remember Valpolicella is also great with sausages, steaks and
hamburgers.
Whatever
your wine drinking preferences or Bank Holiday boozing plans, you can
ensure you enjoy yourself just the right amount and not a drop more
simply by recognising that broadly speaking, the lower the ABV the more
glasses of wine you can safely drink.
Choose your wine well and you can enjoy your extra day off from midday to midnight.
Choose badly and it won't just be the barbie that burns out before bedtime.
The Wine Rules: Bank Holiday boozing requires a lighter touch.