Pointless Pinky

'Life is like a river. You follow it and it takes you on a strange course...'

[Jacques Thienpont, Le Pin]

SUCH catch-all confectioners are a shuddering insult to wine afficionados. I still don't have any form of cellar; I am far too inquisitive to leave a special bottle alone. Faced with a dry mouth, 'Food & Wine' shops like that pictured above, peddling unpotable, dusty filth, stored under heating lamps, make me wince.

I recently tried a very odd product, which left me similarly unsatiated: Rosé Frizzant from Mas de Daumas Gassac. Once liberated from the purple labelled bottle, the lightly sparkling product ignited intrigue. Synthetic, magenta dye in colour with a bittersweet strawberry jelly tot nose and dissolved calcium tablet palate. I was left wondering, a). whether this waste of Cabernet was really wine; b). who it was meant for, and: c). what series of decisions led to its creation... If I had produced it, even for personal amusement, I wouldn't then unleash it on the public, not even via the careless ilk of the merchant above.