Do you need a drink yet? Now is the perfect time to pop that cork
Welcome to 5 January, folks. In ecclesiastical terms, today is Twelfth Night, which means that tomorrow is the Feast of the Epiphany when the wise men felt the power of the Holy Spirit from the infant Jesus in the manger. Back then, and after such long camel rides, Christmas seemed like it knew how to kick back and chill – at this point in the greatest story ever told, surely there were still all sorts of glad tidings to be announced and blessings bestowed. But now? Well, your decorations are down, you’ve just logged into your email and in three hours’ time you’ll be wondering whether you should feel guilty for thinking about what sort of wine is the perfect partner to a sandwich from Pret. You’re back, then, at work. Do you need a drink yet?
It could depend on when you went off on holiday. If you’re the sort of person who toasted the New Year with a couple of glasses of Krug, lots of hugs from friends and some well-timed wishes whispered in the ear of your significant other before turning in at about half past two, then good for you. The eight hours’ shut-eyed restoration that followed your classy party will have blissfully dispelled any wish to darken the doors of the cocktail cabinet any time since. And isn’t it your business partner’s birthday at the end of the month? A perfect time to pop a cork. Well, congrats.
Or maybe you saw in the New Year by hiring a little house on a remote coast somewhere in Sumatra (or maybe Shetland), the tide and flow of which seemed to baptise you anew in a heightened sense of grounding you in the here, the now. You didn’t need a drink then and you won’t need a drink any old time because you’re the you in your youniverse. Well, please sod off and only come back when you need a sand-dry martini.
No? OK. Or maybe you went for it a bit because it was a really fun (and sociable!) party season in the run-up. Then at Christmas proper it was your turn to “do the drinks” and you didn’t want to be shown up but you also didn’t want everyone else to drink all that nice Château d’Yquem – or the chambertin or the sauternes. And then people kept turning up with bottles so it wasn’t your fault, right? Am I gabbling? I’m probably fine! And then, and then, um, and then…last night. Well, there were some bits to finish and the cheese was wasted without something decent to go with it and the cognac had hardly even been started and anyway. And isn’t micro-dosing good for you? So imagine macro-dosing. You do the math! Well, in a way, congratulations because your boss has probably already told you that you’re now starting tomorrow at the earliest. But also working on Saturday. Oops.
So: yes, you do need a drink. I’d recommend a riesling kabinett from the women-run vineyard of Dr H Thanisch in the Mosel Valley, produced – as if by today’s fickle finger of fate – from the vineyard known as the Berncasteler Doctor. And the doctor always knows best. Delicious with that crayfish and rocket from Pret. Then? Maybe give it a wee rest for a couple of weeks. Happy New Year, friends!
Robert Bound is a contributing editor at Monocle. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.
