One of the glorious rituals of hot summer days is the purchasing of picnic food and wine before heading up to the local park for a lazy afternoon with the wife, baby. dog and weekend papers.

So, at which point would you sacrifice the satisfying popping of the cork from your bottle of Rosé in favour of this? This hideous foil peel plastic wine glass.

One can only imagine how appalling the actual wine is.

At what stage in the decision making process does someone think that buying six “peel and drink” wine glasses is somehow more convenient than buying a whole bottle?

And at what point does someone look at this packaging and say “Wow, I bet that’s quality wine?”.

And finally, in the pursuit of convenience, have we really forgotten that the cork does actually go back into the bottle?

The picture below explains everything. Well done mate, you can carry them upside down. Just as Bacchus intended. I’ve blacked out his face to protect the innocent.

I’ve just returned from the village shop carrying a bag of coal on my shoulder and a bottle of Shiraz under my arm. Shoreham is covered in snow. And it looks simply stunning.

Now that I’m home and the fire is starting to roar I really fancy some  ice cream. Cold and snow do that for me – just makes me want to eat tubs of the stuff. However, ice cream is almost impossible to match with wine and the Shiraz is now open. What to do?

Well, if I was living in New York or New Jersey then I’d now exactly what to do. I’d have a freezer full of these Wine Cellar Sorbets. There are six flavours: Sangria Rojo, Riesling, Champagne, Pino Noir, Rose, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Sangria Rojo and they contain about 5% alcohol content.

Alas, they are currently only available in the US.

A few words about Wedding wine. My wedding wine to be precise. One of the advantages of holding our reception in Shoreham village hall was not having to worry about corkage (the “c” word that causes greatest offence). I’ve had a few enquiries about the wine so here’s a summary of what was drunk.

"The red really packed a punch Darling"

The wine was bought from The Wine Society and all (except the Sauternes) were sub £7.

Here’s the selection -

White – D’Arenberg Hermit’s Crab Viognier Marsanne 2006

Given the number of bottles that were leftover (none) I’m ranking this as the most popular wine of the day. D’Arenberg represent the best of Australia, a seemingly boutique winery with international reach and possessing an irreverant and experimental touch that allows them to create great blends like the Hermit Crab

Red -Hayes Ranch Shiraz, 2006

I’m sure this used to be marketed as Syrah but I guess it’s been repositioned for the English market more attuned to the Shiraz label. A full on, powerhouse wine ideal for bbq’s, pasta and … weddings.

Rose – Domaine Houchard, 2006

Everyone loves Rose these days, right? Well no actually. The rise of Rose seems to relate to its comparative cheapness and the easy appeal of the sugary confections of the supermarket shelves (Is Californian Blush still available?). For me though, the Domaine Houchard is a Rose of choice. It’s made by real winemakers in the style of a white wine and although it has upfront fruit, it’s still light and dry enough not to resemble sugar water.

Sweet – Wine Society Exhibition Sauternes 2005

Wow. What a choice. It’s always seemed to me that Champagne is the wrong choice of a wine to be used as a toast. Inspired by a friend who used Port as a wedding toast, I opted for Sauternes to accompany the ritual of the cutting of the cake. Bloody lovely.

If you want to try these wines again then do yourself a favour – join The Wine Society it’s the best large scale merchant out there.

P.S. Don’t ask me about the Champagne – that involved a run to Majestic for the best value Cava-lisitc bubbles I could find!