Quaffing Wine Like Beer

One of the joys of being on anti-seizure meds is that I can't drink a lot. Officially I'm not meant to drink at all but like many people with epilepsy I still drink a bit. The rule of thumb I use, based on comments from other sufferers, is a maximum of the equivalent of one pint of beer every other day. If it's a mild (or at least sub 4%) I'll stretch that to 1.5 pints.

In practice these days it means I have a beer on a Friday night and some wine on Sunday and, occasionally, a drink mid-week, usually either a fortified wine of some sort or an Armagnac. Wine is the one that's been tricky as Beth doesn't drink it any more and I can only really drink a third of a bottle¹.

As I've posted here before I've toyed with alcohol free but it doesn't really work very well. It's OK for whites and roses but it doesn't work well for reds.

There's some good news however: there's been a recent rise in "lite" wines aimed both at people looking for low alcohol and also less calories. They're typically 4.5% to 5.5% and some of them are really very fine. The reds are a bit marginal but the whites and rosés are very good. In particular First Cape has proved reliable.

But now a new discovery. I'm not really a great fan of white but my favourite white grape is Colombard and JP Chenet have a 5.5% Colombard Chardonnay Light 75cl which is 5.5%. I bought a bottle last Friday from Tesco and I've opened it tonight. It's just the job. At 5.5% this is the same strength as a strong beer so in theory I can drink most of the bottle but I've had half and the rest is in the fridge for another night.

Cheers.

1. Which you can buy, both third and quarter bottles, if you shop around.