I’ve done a lot of reminiscing over the last few months, turns out it comes with the getting-married territory. From tales told in the Father of the Brides speech to the various stories you’d rather forget but inevitably surface at the Hen! In wine terms if you go back as little as 30 years our wine aisles were a very different story. Compared to the world of choice we take for granted now, the similarities back then are barely recognisable. It was a time when wine was dominated entirely by the Old World; France, Spain, Germany and Bulgaria (strange but true). That’s not to say wine wasn’t being made around the world, the Australians, Californians, Chileans they were all at it, it just wasn’t making it to our shores. Then came The Judgement of Paris. A wine tasting held by a chap called Steven Spurrier an English wine merchant living in Paris that had tasted wines of the ‘New World’ and wanted to bring them to the UK. A story immortalised by a flamboyant but enjoyable film of the event called ‘Bottle Shock’ – it was set to change the way the UK saw and bought wine forever.

I witnessed a similar wine-changing event in September this year, a democratic tasting and Judgement of Argentina at Lord’s cricket ground. ………

It’s one of the nation’s favourite white wines but as it continues to gain grounds in the popularity stakes is Sauvignon Blanc in danger of becoming the next Pinot Grigio? If some of the recent one’s I’ve tasted are anything to go by then move over Sauvignon Blanc; enter Sauvignon Bland. Luckily they’re not all bad. Here’s one to swallow and a couple you should spit:

Wine: 20 Barrels Limited Edition Sauvignon Blanc 2009
Style: White from Casablanca Valley, Chile
Price: £14.00
Outlets: Corks Out, Hailsham Wine Cellars, Slurp.co.uk, Your Favourite Wines
Occasion: A classy aperitif

Swallow because:
With only 1,000 cases produced, it’s a wine you’ll want to get your hands on before stocks run out. Its younger sister, the 2010 vintage, has just won best Sauvignon Blanc in the world (!) at the International Wine & Spirit Challenge this month so while that one is making its way across the Atlantic check out the ‘09 which is an English country garden in a glass; freshly cut grass, pea pod, asparagus and lime characters. New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc….. watch out! ………

Stop. Date check. It’s 2011, non? And yet I’m still rarely passed the wine list unless Mr B gestures for the waiter to do so. It makes me wonder when I’m out with my girlfriends how staff decide which one of us looks worthy of being handed the wine list. What qualities do they look for within the group? The one with the largest nose? The one that looks like they earn the most? Wine savvy or not when it’s just us girls they can’t fall back on the usual indicator of what is or is not between our legs….

With this in mind I’m manning up. Not in a stuff my trousers sort of way or by quoting equal rights the next time a wine list is swooped into Mr B’s hands. Non, this month I’m manning up my wines, I’m talking wood, full bodied, oaky wines that stand up and get noticed and can’t fail to be taken seriously. Au revoir light and floral, delicate whites and pinker than pink summer rosés. This season I’m drinking manly wines, wines that won’t pull their punches and are so fantastically complex that you’ll be left in no doubt as to who’s wearing the trousers. ………

When you think of Portugal what springs to mind? If you asked Mr Bouquet he’d say golf and sand, if you asked Brother Bouquet he’d say stolen wetsuits and surfing. And if you’d asked me even a couple of years ago I’d have said Mateus rosé and post A-level sun. But for most in the wine-know, unsurprisingly, they’d say Port and corks, and with good reason. The country’s cork trees account for 50% of the world’s total cork production, and of course, Port can only be labelled as such if it’s made in Port-ugal!

Without doubt, in terms of growth in reputation and excitement Portuguese still wines have become the next big wine thing in the UK. ………

Every January London’s streets become a training track for the Christmas over indulgers and crazy London marathon runners. After April the pavements are cut some slack but come May a swathe of women take to the streets. Have you noticed? They’re all a similar age, all desperate to tone up & lose some weight and all sporting a diamond or three on their left hand. Beware the Bridezilla’s!

It’s a horrible term isn’t it? Bridezilla. A cross between a bride and an oversized gorilla, ………

The last of the summer wine…. is it that time of year already? My bikini has yet to see the light of day & my consumption of rosé hasn’t peaked since Christmas, yet the *crunch* of pink screwcaps opening, which has long signalled the sound of the summer wine, has been unusually quiet this season. Surprisingly though I’ve realised I’ve not actually missed it.

Amongst the wine trends I’ve been enjoying over the last few weeks – including a renewed interest in chilling red wine (hands up those that heard me on the radio talking about that one?!) and the rise and rise of the delicious wines of Portugal (more on that next time) – a general nonchalance towards the nations favourite summer wine had passed me by. ………