I finished work there the last day and was strolling over to my friend’s house when it struck how Autumnal it was… I think its my favourite word- autumnal- and if not then certainly in the top 3… Why you may ask! Well it’s the only seasonal adjective to end in a al… all the others end in a Y summery, wintery, Springy…. But Autumnal you really feel like your intelligent saying it! And at the end of the day if you appear intelligent, then why would you actually put effort into actually being intelligent… Point in case- Superman! He didn’t need to wear the glasses when he was Clark Kent and then take them off when he was superman… surely simply putting on a mask like any other super hero worth his salt did would have been much more effective… But our self-proclaimed “SUPER” Man clearly felt like he needed to look intelligent some of the time! And it worked! He got a job working in a newspaper company with from what i could see were very limited credentials- so the only conclusion I can come to is that it was the glasses making him look intelligent that landed him the job… pretty sneaky Superman!

Well that’s the usual digression over (another word in my top 5!) so we can get back to the business at hand! Autumn wine! Wine that is Autumnal! You see once we entered summer it struck me that wines are perfect at different times of the year so each season has its own nuances that need to be played off against the right wine! So while I was strolling around I started to think about wines that would be perfect for this season! Now as I always say with these lists- these are just my own preferences, everyone is different so think of this as a guideline and find what works for yourself!

So… what do people do during Autumn??? Well if your anything like me you’ll prob be doing…. absolutely nothing! Don’t get me wrong I love the season and there’s always stuff going on… but I turn kinda lazy! Now the second thing to do is take into consideration the weather! Autumn starts to pick up a sort of damp coldness- makes the air fresh, but you’re still cold!

In reverse order at number 3/ Going to go with Chardonnay… I know controversial what with everyone hating it! but its got its charms! Especially for this type of weather Autumn seems to bring to the table. There’s something I really like about Chardonnay… I think its the contrast that it brings to the table! You see its got this weight and this smoothness that almost reminds me of a red wine, but it’s chilled and it almost has a creamy oaky side to it that’s just amazing when its done right!

Number 2!  We’ll go with red on this one I think! I’m thinking Italian… I’m thinking north Italy… I’m thinking either Barbara or Valpolicella… maybe even a Ripasso… in fact yes- Yes I think we will go with Valpolicella Ripasso! It’s that rasiny almondy edge that it gives that really has my mouth-watering right now!

And finally- our winner is the Gamay grape- surprisingly! More specific Burgundy Gamay! See aside from Beaujolais Noveu it’s not really well-known but it’s actually a funny enough grape. Basically in 1395 the Duke of Burgundy Phillipe the Bold (worst evil name ever! about as good as John the ill-mannered, or Carl the grumpy) outlawed the grape because it was “very bad and disloyal…” These dukes really had way too much time on their hands! But then a mere 60 years later, the Duke at the time- any guesses at the name??- Phillipe the Good brought it back in. However in the 60 years it wasn’t around all of the places it used to take up was gone, which naturally pushed it further down south! But it was in these granite based soils that the grape really thrived- so it’s all thanks to our Phillipes… I guess you have to take the good with the bad…. cough cough… But the grape itself is perfect for Autumn if it’s from the Moulin A Vent region! Why this region? Well some of the producers here oak age it slightly, which just adds that little bit of extra tannin to the wine which is absolutely perfect for enjoying wine on those Autumnal evenings!