My Winestack Diary
Where Substack and IRL collide
I’m often hesitant when it comes to Substack articles that are about… Substack. As though we’re all just congratulating each other for being clever little writer bees (which is sometimes what all this feels like). But this week, the only inspiration that struck me was how the wine folk of Substack have influenced my life – my IRL Life – in small but (mostly) positive ways. Let’s call it my Winestack Diary:
Sunday
I’m walking past the supermarket wines – an aisle I often skip unless I’m researching something for an article – and I spot a familiar-looking bottle. The white Côtes du Rhône by E Guigal that Isaac and Zach from
wrote about a couple of weeks ago, and it’s on bonus! (By which I mean Albert Heijn is running one of their buy-one-get-one-half-price deals.)I open the first bottle before dinner – a Kerala prawn curry recipe by
, if you’re interested – and I’m pleasantly surprised. For under €12 (or really under €9 given the bonus deal), you’re getting a face-full of tropical fruits and jasmine flowers and a little vanilla sponge. And it’s from France FFS! (It goes really well with that prawn curry, too…)
Monday
It’s Sober Monday, you lushes – no drinking for me today. But my June wine column for DutchNews came out, and it’s about (oh the originality!) summer rosé. I feel briefly guilty that I’ve not written a Wine Watch Expansion Pack this month, but life circumstances have been getting in the way of wine research lately. With apologies to my DutchNews readers who’ve subscribed to The Wine Edit, I think of a couple of bonus tips. If you like fuller, fruitier rosés (not pale Provençale pinks), try Piekenierskloof’s Grenache-based rosé from South Africa, or this pretty Primitivo rosato from Puglia.
Wednesday
It’s Hump Day, and I’ve been invited to a wine bar-slash-Chinese restaurant in Amstelveen called Amelie. On my way there, I recall that
wrote something about this place a while back but I don’t manage to locate her article before I arrive. I end up tasting a wide range of predominantly Spanish (or Spanish-inspired) wines, alongside modern Chinese dishes that aren’t afraid of salty-sweet-spicy-umami-fermented flavours.I vow to channel my inner Kazumi – and it works. A Grechetto from Lazio offers all things lemony (lemon peel, lemongrass, lemon curd, lemon thyme) and acts as seasoning to har gow dumplings. A South African Grenache Blanc tastes like a classically bees waxy white Rioja, which turns out to be a good match for the umami richness of steak tartar with spicy soybean paste. An unoaked Tempranillo (this time from actual Rioja) has the heft to stand up to cumin-spiced lamb ribs. And a Garnacha Tinta from Montsant is the perfect partner to the sweet fattiness of Beijing roast duck. Days later, I remember to look up Kazumi’s article and I’m relieved to see that we seem to agree!
Friday
For years after I watched Another Round – the Mads Mikkelsen film about a group of school teachers who “experiment” with the effects of alcohol consumption at work – I’ve been going on about how much I love the film (and its theme song) to anyone who will listen. But Brunello Bombshell’s Wine and Movie Pairing a couple of weeks ago reminded me that my husband still hasn’t seen it – because watching it in the Netherlands means watching it with Dutch subtitles.
So tonight we’ve downloaded a version we’ll both understand, and I’ve taken
’s advice – buying a bottle of bubbles to microdose (aka drink) during the film. It’s not Champagne because that’s too spendy for me at the moment; instead, it’s a traditional method sparkling from Trento in northern Italy, inspired by ’s recent article on alternative fizz. I drink it with takeaway fried chicken – because I am an adult and I can do what I want.
Saturday
I’m at a wine bar in Amsterdam that I’ve never been to before, and I spot a Burgundian Aligoté on the menu. I can’t recall which of my Substack wine colleagues has written about Aligoté recently, but I know it’s more than one – Aligoté is one of those grapes that seems to be having a moment among wine circles. As my friends and I polish off the bottle with some alacrity (it’s nutty and citrusy and layered and I really, really like it), I make a mental note that I need to drink more Aligoté – and actually write something down next time.
Sunday
My non-wine friends keep sending me Instagram reels of people sticking slices of jalapeno in their Sauvignon Blanc. I’m horrified, at first, but then I’m curious. Admittedly, I’ve not seen this trend make its way to Substack much (other than a quick mention by
the other week) but it seems like a low-risk experiment, so I decide I’m game. I buy an affordable (sub-€15) New Zealand Savvy B that I trust has the requisite “green pepper notes”. And guess what? It actually works! (Although I probably should’ve discarded some of the seeds as I was forever spitting them out.)
The article inspiration behind this week’s Winestack Diary:
I love the week in wine diary. More, more!
Woohoo, glad our recommendation panned out -- and thanks for tagging us! Yet to try the jalapeño in SB trend, but definitely adding it to the list now. Cheers!