“I love wine, wine is my friend” - An I Heart Wines review (Pinot Grigio)

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Okay, okay - with that title, I’ve just let slip I like Big Brother. Please don’t judge me too harshly - at the end of a long day parenting my two munchkins, I need to watch something that doesn’t require too much thought. I also need deserve a few glasses of wine to kill off the stress of the day.

In fact, wine isn’t just my friend, it’s something I’m obsessive about. I love discovering upcoming vineyards, touring regions, and continuing on in my quest to find a Chilean wine that doesn’t give me a migraine. We’re signed up to wine subscription boxes, receive regular e-newsletters from vineyards, and have a wine rack brimming with vintage wines we seem to never have an occasion to open. Yep, I’m an unapologetic wine snob.

Craig enjoys a good bottle too - but he’s more partial to red (and could bore you to death with what he know about Rioja, and little else!). He’s pretty clueless on his whites though and dreads me asking him to grab a bottle on the way home from work. He’ll call me at least 3 times from the alcohol aisle to query the labels, and comes home biting his lip when I take the first sip. It’s because I’m fussy. Even worse, I’m fussier depending on my mood.

I Heart Pinot Grigio - I Heart Wines

I heart wines is an exciting new range of great quality, fruit-driven wines in standout, innovative and iconic packaging. Currently stocked at a number of selected retailers and public houses (such as Tesco, Hungry Horse, NISA and Sainsbury’s) they’re quickly gathering momentum as the new kids on the block. A mid-priced range at around £6.49 per bottle, they’re taking on brands such as Stowells, Hardy’s and Echo Falls.

I was recently asked if I’d like to try a sample, and it took me all of 10 seconds to say yes. Perhaps selfishly, I plumped for I heart Pinot Grigio because I love it, and Craig doesn’t (so he wouldn’t get a look in).

Why do we ♥ our Pinot Grigio? True to style showing delicate citrus aromas and lemon and lime flavours it is light, dry and crisp making it perfect to drink on its own. We think you will ♥ it as much as we do!

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Vintage: 2013

Wine of Hungary

Alcohol 11.5%

This was a bit of grower for me. First sips were powerful and zesty, almost bitter. With time however, this wine made a hell of a lot more sense. As my palette acclimatised to it, it was fresh, pleasing and finely balanced. It’s a tricky thing describing wine, but the most notable thing for me is that the grapes tasted riper and fuller than other mid-priced Pinots I’ve drank. Going one step beyond chilled and adding a few ice cubes to the mix, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were sipping pummeled white grapes fresh from the Nutribullet.

This is pretty typically of Hungarian Pinots. Chalky soils in the Eytek region, combined with fertile forest brown soils (with high clay content) from the South part of Lake Balaton culminate in crisp and fresh wines. The Hungarian climate is well-suited to vines, with a long growing season ensuring perfectly ripe fruit. The result is a more mature tipple, with grapes sill retaining their vibrancy long after fermentation.

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It doesn’t get boring mid bottle either. You’re constantly hitting new aromas and the citrus makes your palette cartwheel a little as it comes into contact with more of your tongue. I enjoyed mine with a chicken salad and the combination was pretty much perfect - I’d also recommend it as an accompaniment to sushi as it can hold its own against stronger flavours.

My verdict? - I LOVED it. Whether you’re basking in the summer sun, need something light to partner with lunchtime dishes, or just gossiping with the girlies - it won’t be a disappointment. I can’t wait to try more of the range and see if they deliver half as well as this.

Find out more at iheartwines.co.uk, or head to Facebook and Twitter to say what others are saying.

 


The Glenlivet’s #CheersDad campaign asks dads what their legacy will be

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It’s a question we rarely ask, but many of us so often think about. Whether we’re memoralising dads that have passed, reflecting on the relationship we’ve had with our dads throughout the ages, or thinking ahead to the values we’re instilling in our own children…

Just what legacy have/will these dads leave behind?

I really love this video from The Glenlivet, who are celebrating the uncelebrated this Father’s Day with their #CheersDad campaign. It explores what sons and daughters value most from their fathers and what they think they will, in turn, pass on to their children one day.

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It prompted me to ask Craig what he thinks his legacy to our children will be. Typically he quipped that he hoped they’d inherit his sense of humour (I seriously hope they don’t!), but after pushing him for something a little more sentimental, he said the following:

“I hope they learn how to be passionate and caring from you (that would be me, their mum), and they can balance this with a healthy dose of Me. I mean, I hope they don’t panic, can face all challenges with a sense of calm, and will continue to smile when all seems wrong in their world. Whether they get dumped, get sacked or fail a test - there’s a joke in there that they’ll come to appreciate in a few years time”

This is just so disarmingly Him. It’s what attracted me to him in the first place, and what made me know what an amazing father he would be. If I’m having a bad day with the kids and am surrounded by Lego and baby wipes (and crying that could have led to an early capture of Bin Laden had it been played on loop to his Al-Qaeda conspirators), Craig is the very first person I call. He’ll say something funny and somehow I’ll manage to carry on until he gets home from work.

It’s this that makes us a perfect team. The ability to at laugh ourselves and each other means we can survive anything as a family. I can’t really think of a better thing for us all to thank him for this Father’s Day.


My Dream Duvet Day

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All this talk of Father’s Day is making this mummy feel rather left out. All those months ago, on a rainy March morning, Craig shoved a bunch of garage-bought flowers in my face along with a hastily-scribbled card (kids names omitted) for Mother’s Day. If I remember rightly, he then went to the pub with his mates to watch Manchester can Spurs, coming home some 5 hours later considerably less effectual then he left.

Craig Bastard

Any thoughts I had had of a lie-in and few hours watching Sunday Politics, were sadly put paid to by a teething baby and toddler trying (without success) to tell daddy that he wanted to watch Toy Story 3, not Toy Story 2 downstairs. The waft of bacon and eggs being cooked was the final straw. I knew he’d serve it to my two-year-old who would react violently and launch the plate at the wall in protestation (he doesn’t like eggs. Really doesn’t like eggs).

So I shrugged on a jumper over ‘yesterday’s’ bra and knickers and stomped downstairs to restore calm and order. I then proceeded to parent the kids the entire morning, afternoon and evening - sulking the whole way through. My cheeks didn’t see a single swipe of bronzer, and my hair was scraggy for the duration. Given Craig was rendered useless by the evening, we didn’t manage the quickest of quickys either.

So when Eve Mattress asked me this morning what my dream duvet day would look like, it got me thinking how hard done by I was. I was effectively cheated out of Mother’s Day, and by its very definition, I should get it back. I am a Mother after-all. Okay, I’m often a crap one. But a Mother none-the-less.

… So here’s what I intend to do on Sunday 7th June:

Absolutely no housework!

This includes making my own drinks, loading the dishwasher, de-pooing Heidi’s leggings ready for the washing machine, rescuing Rusk crumbs from the sides of the sofa, replacing batteries in toys, putting empty loo rolls out for recycling… everything. Let’s just forget the fact I rarely do these things anyway, on Sunday I definitely won’t be.

Dyson

Reclaiming my bed / sofa

Oh okay… these two are cute. But I need a day where I don’t have to move sleeping children to get to the remote control. I’m simply fed up of little feet in my face, sharing my pillow with a dribbling baby, and Iggle Piggle and Spider-man prodding my bum whilst I sleep. The last one is resulting in dreams unsuitable for sharing publicly.

Sleeping Kids

Substituting water for wine

Okay I do this most days, but on Sunday I’ll do it with style and absolutely no apologies! I intend to have forgotten my own name by 1pm, be incapable of standing at 3pm, and pregnant again by 7pm. I doubt I’ll eat. I’ll double my body weight in wine calories alone.

Watch all 3 seasons of American Horror Story on Netflix

I can’t get enough of this. It’s trashy, it’s dark, it’s saved the latex economy from certain death. For obvious reasons, I can’t watch it around the kiddies, and there’s too much sex in it for me to watch it with Craig without cringing. So I’d watch this on my own - all day. Which will inevitably lead to…

… A cuddle with this guy

I doubt it’ll be memorable, but then, it rarely is. Sorry Craig.

Craig

And that’s it. Considering all that is tantamount to doing nothing - it really shouldn’t be as hard to achieve as it undoubtedly will be!

* REVISION (added later) * - Craig has asked me to quickly clear up that he is actually a legend in the bedroom. Given I’m planning on a weekend of such extreme self-indulgence, it would be unwise of me to disagree.

 

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