Getting sloshed with Port Sippers

For my birthday, my friends at Hintons Home gave me a set of four Port Sippers. I'd never seen these beasts before, but frankly, I was very excited as I love port and I love fancy glasses.

I waited until New Year's Eve to try them out. We were spending the evening at my brother's house, who, frankly, loves a good drink. So, I took them to his house with a bottle of Montaria Tawny Port from Naked Wines and brought them out with some delight after lunch. 

We were all a bit sloshed by then anyway to be honest (as you can probably tell by the quality of the photos!) and they were met with some hilarity (especially as they look a bit like some apparatus you might choose to use for illegal activities!). 

My brother had also bought a bottle of Tawny Port from Berry Bros which we ended up drinking instead of mine. So we filled up our glasses (to the top!) and off we went.

The first thing I would say is that the capacity of these glasses is quite large. And, filling them to the top was, perhaps, an error of judgement! Hence why we all got so drunk! 

The blurb said that the sippers were supposed to bring out the flavour of the Port. "By sipping port from the bottom it reduces oxidisation and greatly improves the taste of your tipple." Well, the Port was delicious, but I honestly couldn't tell you whether it tasted better or not. We were all too drunk to remember.

However, I would say it was hilarious drinking out of the little spout and, like sipping it through a straw, it slipped down rather quickly. We laughed all the way through the experiment! 

I will definitely use my Port Sippers every time I drink Port from now on. They are a bit like a kid's sippy cup, but for adults! And, I promise to do a proper taste test in the future. When I'm not so drunk. And can remember what the Port tastes like! 

The Port Sippers are available from Hintons Home online  and they also have a lovely shop in Broadstone in Dorset.

Oh, and drink sensibly and that....

What I drank this Christmas

I'm currently having a dry January, so I thought I would reminisce about some of the fabulous wine I drank this Christmas. 

I always find that everyone tends to splash out a bit more over the Festive Period (including me!) and this one was no exception. So I thought I'd make a little note of all the ones I enjoyed the most.

At the beginning of December, I wrote about how I'd ordered the Christmas mixed case from Naked Wines. Without a doubt, my standout bottle from the hamper was the Hacienda Don Hernan Rioja Crianza 2012. Smooth, fruity and full of vanilla. We all absolutely loved it and I loved having something so rich and dark coloured in my glass. And, not too expensive at £13.99 a bottle.

Many of you may have read that I got married in Italy. My brother, who has fabulous taste in wine, bought all of the wine for after the meal. And, as usual it was all delicious. He'd originally been to Greve in the Chianti region to buy the wine, but on New Year's eve he produced two bottles of the red as a surprise for my husband and I. What a treat. The Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico Riserva was as yummy as I remembered, all fruity and rich and brought back wonderful memories of our wedding day. Available from Berry Bros for £24.99. 

It wasn't just red wine that I particularly enjoyed. I had quite a few delicious bottles of white wine too. My favourite was almost certainly this bottle of Saint Clair Pioneer Block Sauvignon Blanc 2014 Marlborough which is £19.99 from Majestic. It just tastes expensive and I can assure you it is worth the extra pennies (and you get it a bit cheaper if you buy six bottles or "mix six" as they like to call it). Dry, elegant and packed with gooseberry fruits. Seriously slurpable. 

I can't talk about Christmas wines without mentioning a fizz. I drank a lot of very poor sparkling wine over Christmas, I really don't know why people buy cheap Champagne, because IMHO, it is nearly always rubbish. You're much better off buying a Prosecco or English Sparkling wine. As an example, I was sent a bottle of Valdobbiadene Prosecco Spumante DOCG as part of my membership of the Aldi Wine Club. At £7.49 a bottle, it is an absolute steal. Light, fresh and creamy - you honestly wouldn't guess this was so reasonably priced nor from a no frills supermarket. I also really enjoyed the Sacchetto Prosecco Col de L’Utia Brut 2015 from Naked wines at £14.49 a bottle.

Finally, a sticky! On New Year's Eve, we enjoyed the William Pickering, 20-Year-Old, Tawny Port from Berry Bros (£26.95). A fairly sweet and nutty port, with notes of caramel. Dangerously drinkable. We had a lot of fun drinking it with our Port Sippers from Hintons Home. I'll review these in a later post, but they are fab! 

Anyway, these were just a snapshot of the wines I drank over Christmas. And, as my birthday was just before, I can assure you, there were many, many more! My liver hurts! Hence why I am now having a dry January! Did you have any wines over Christmas you'd like to share? Just let me know.