Wine with the Gargle Guru Martin Moran MW

So, did you manage to consume 6,000 calories on Christmas day and maybe 3000-4000 in the following days, which is what surveys suggest the average person does? Like me, you’ve probably put on four or five pounds and are resolving to lose it, to maybe quit drinking to help with that and to detox your liver. So far, so predictable.

What is also predictable is our resolve to actually do these things wanes fairly quickly. Those few pounds often persist and after a few days of no wine with smaller meals I get bored. Water, milk, juice, fizzy drinks, various teas or coffee just don’t enhance the eating experience like wine does.

Technology exists to dealcoholise wine, so you might think that would be the answer and that you’d get the flavour but not the buzz or calories? Sadly not. When you remove alcohol the remaining liquid tastes hollow and harsh, so to make it more palatable it has to be sweetened. The result tastes like expensive unfermented grape juice. The best of them though, if you insist are American brand Ariel and Spain’s Torres Natureo, both with less than 0.5% abv.

Is there a half way house? Many wine producers seem to think so. After years of  alcohol levels creeping up a couple of degrees to today’s average13-14% abv there’s been a backlash. There’s a demand, apparently, for lower strength wines, in the 8-10% abv range. The Australians have been active here as has Marks and Spencer. The process can involve picking grapes earlier for lower sugar and therefore alcohol levels or mechanically removing a few degrees of alcohol.

M & S has a French range called Petit Froglet at 9.5% abv. At a press tasting I tried them without realizing that they’d been manipulated. Was I fooled? Sadly not, as they made me splutter and spit urgently followed by an expletive.

Lindemans with ‘Early Harvest’ and Jacobs Creek ‘Cool Harvest’ have introduced lower alcohol ranges with about 20-25% fewer calories. The whites are more convincing than the reds as they’re meant to be refreshingly acidic. Lindemans 8.5% abv Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc blend works well, as early picking just enhances the varieties’ slightly herbaceous character anyway while the pick of the Jacob’s Creek range is the citrussy and fresh gold medal winning Vermentino at 9.5% abv.

At this point fans of good German wine will be asking: why not simply buy a good Mosel Riesling Kabinett, which is delicious and naturally only 7.5-8.5% abv? Why not indeed? Wicklow Wine Company or Karwig Wines.ie or any good independent should be able to help with that.

Wines tasted on the Show

Jacob’s Creek Vermentino 2011, Tesco, €10.49 (for the moment)

M & S Petit Froglet Shiraz 2011, Vin de France, €9.49 (for the moment)

You can follow me on twitter via @winerepublic for comments about wine and life in general or @thegargleguru for comments restricted to drink.

Movies with Esther McCarthy

The Impossible (12A) ****

Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Holland.

Prepare to be swept away by this harrowing tale of unfathomable loss and human tragedy.

The Impossible is a story of resilience and unyielding love in the face of overwhelming odds. Superbly acted and terrifyingly realistic, this no-holds-barred disaster movie will leave audiences white knuckled and ashen faced, long after the first wave hammers its way onscreen.

Instead of floundering like so many other conventional disaster movies, The Impossible not only delivers horrifyingly realistic visual effects but an intense emotional payoff.

Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona ensures that the epic re-creation of the catastrophic event is as relentless as it as devastating, scarcely giving audiences’ time to breathe as it blindly batters its way through the 114 minute running time.

The real-life drama is based on the incredible true story of a Spanish Family who were separated by the 2004 tsunami that devastated Thailand, Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia, killing more than 230,000 people in its wake.

The film follows Henry (Ewan McGregor), his wife Maria ( Naomi Watts) and their three young sons who all travel to Thailand to celebrate the Christmas holiday.

But before the family have even settled in to their beachfront resort, their vacation is interrupted by one of the deadliest natural disasters in history. Separated and struggling to survive, they must defy all the odds and find their way home.

Naomi Watts and Ewan Mc Gregor deliver very strong performances, but it is newcomer Tom Holland who plays the family’s eldest son Lucas, who is a stand-out star, packing a huge emotional punch throughout the films tear-jerking scenes.

Despite the fine acting it is the ten minute tsunami sequence that makes this film a genuine must-see. Bayona’s tidal wave crushes and devastates everything in its path, shot without a moment’s respite with ferocious speed and force. 

Quartet (12A) – ***

Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay, Pauline Collins, Michael Gambon.

Nobody does put downs quite like Maggie Smith. The great British actress - enjoying a career revival at the tender age of 78 thanks to TV’s Downton Abbey - is easily the best thing about this comedy drama.

A lifelong diva and former opera star who moves into a retirement home is helpfully shown how to access the stairlift by a young staffer. “What do I do when I get to the top - ski down?” she asks witheringly.

The directorial debut at age 75 from acting great Dustin Hoffman is charming and likeable, though it falls frustratingly short in terms of dramatic tension at times.

Hoffman has chosen to make this slight but sweet tale for his first foray behind the camera, and has been canny enough to assemble a strong cast to paper over the movie’s cracks.

It’s also refreshing to see a movie that features a cast of older people in a film business increasingly obsessed with catering for teenage boys.

Set in a retirement home for opera singers and musicians, the movie centres on lifelong friends Reggie and Wilf (Courtenay and Connolly) who live in the home with former colleague Cissy (Collins).

Every year on the birthday of Guiseppe Verdi, the residents get together to host a concert to raise badly-needed funding for the home.

But their sense of calm is threatened when former opera great Jean Horton (Smith) is forced by circumstances to move into the home.

Not only is she hard work - she was also once married to Reggie, who was broken hearted when she cheated on him and has no desire to live under the same roof as her after all these years.

The old grudges of these strong minded characters threaten to cause mayhem as the date of the big concert approaches. By turns both funny and touching, Hoffman has done a decent job of getting the best out of his cast.

And while it’s lightly comedic, the movie should be commended for not shying away from the tougher elements of growing older. Still, you’re never really left in any great doubt about the outcome of this story.