While the Cat's Away...

My husband was in Paris for the last few days. When he goes away, I like to treat myself to something different, cheap, and sparkling - something I can pop open, have a glass with dinner, and leave in the fridge to try again another night - a bit of a guilty pleasure.

This time around, I bought a sparkling shiraz rose from McGuigan vineyards in Australia. It was around £9 for the bottle, and it's supposed to be 'perfect for savoury canapes'. Over the last few days, I've had it with pizza, vegetarian curry, and Chinese dumplings. While the wine did stand up to the food, I have to say, it's not one of my favourites.

It does have a lovely, fruity, ripe red berry start. But that's the best of it. It's a sparkling wine the way San Pellegrino is a sparkling water - you can feel a bit of fizz on your tongue, but that's it by way of bubbles. And that lovely fruitiness at the start? Turns into a very sour cherry on the finish.

That said, it's a very alcoholic sparkler - 13%. I hadn't noticed it when I purchased the wine, but checked the bottle after dozing off after my first glass!! Good thing my husband wasn't around to hear me snoring...