As the haze begins to lift following the arrival of baby Bouquet #2 my mind is buzzing with ideas, energy and blog posts to make up for a four month hiatus. Maternity leave and even night time feeds give a refreshing amount of head space for seedling thoughts of the future to germinate. But as any mum might empathise, finding your voice again after such a game changing addition to your life can require some serious soul searching to genuinely reconnect. ………

Whether this summer ever gets into the swing of things or not the ambitious plans of the drinks industry, to seduce us to try their wares, must plough ahead regardless. From pairing fine wines with fast food to cocktail fruit fusions made by wine producers and abandoning the ancient art of ummm…. drinking through your mouth…. by absorbing your drink in a mist of breathable booze: this season has been all about breaking with tradition.

The main trend emerging from the Médoc region of Bordeaux is not quite so remarkable but for an area that dines out on centuries of winemaking history it’s Merlot of all things that is paving the way for a new future. ………

With Baby Girl Bouquet very much on the way I’ve been trying to brush up on all things girly. Enlisting the aid of some friends I was whatsapp’ed a picture to help me on my journey “Who’s this?” was the question. Snow White?? “Belle, from Beauty and the Beast” came the answer with a pity face emoji.

Naturally I turned to the bottle for inspiration: Innocent Bystander Moscato from Australia. If it wasn’t for the rather sinister chap lurking on the front label, I’d argue this bottle of low alcohol (5.5%) lightly fizzy pink wine was about as girly as wine can get. It’s sweet too, perfect for the sugar cravings that baking a baby girl often comes with. Serving it really cool helps take the syrupy edge off for non-pregnant palates while the rhubarb, raspberry and custard flavours remain in abundance . A surprisingly good match to ripe cantaloupe melon which as pairings go helps take the guilty edge off too! Available by the half bottle at winetrust100.co.uk, rrp £6.95.
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I’ve been procrastinating. Baking muffins, mowing the lawn, tidying the house and other random things that have crept to the top of my to do list in favour of putting off my blog posts about Bordeaux.

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As the country gets ready to clock off early and grab seats in the sun to watch the Murray vs Federer Wimbledon semi-final I can’t help but think money has got in the way of sense to have found ourselves with an Aussie brand as this British institution’s official wine. The reality I expect is that it doesn’t really matter, it will be Pimm’s, lager and a hangover all round regardless!

It is worth giving them a shout out though, Jacob’s Creek that is, for their cute strawberry and cream themed tennis video and a half decent bottle of rose which does go well with another Great British institution: strawberries & cream. Although judging by the excitement of the spectators they’re not the perfect match for today’s game!

A recent trip to Bordeaux with a group of talented sommeliers opened my eyes to a mysterious side of the wine world not often seen by the public. Three days with these energetic, eclectic, enthusiastic and intelligent wine bods firmly put my impression of a sommelier as the ultimate wine snob to bed. Our little French fling was to our mutual benefit, I learnt from them as much as they ate the foie gras from my pregnant lady plate (that’s a lot).
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