Burns, Baby. Burns.

Every year, on or around the 25th January, we do Burns Night. I'm married to a sort-of-Scot (my father-in-law was born and brought up in Edinburgh; the Husband's more of a Hampshire Highlander) so Burns is big in his family. One year, my sister-in-law and I took on the cooking with the help of Pippa Middleton. Or rather, using her recipe book that my sister-in-law had got for Christmas. We spent the evening asking 'what would Pippa do?' as we decorated the table, mashed the neeps and made the whisky sauce (basically loads of whisky, cream and grainy mustard). In hindsight, I don't think Pippa would have had quite as much pre-prandial whisky as we did. And she probably would have had food on the table before 10.30pm but it was great fun. This year, I'm just providing the wine. That, I can do.

Current white in the fridge: Waitrose Cederberg Chenin Blanc 2014, £8.99, Waitrose
Money from each bottle of this South African wine sold goes to the farm that produces it to support community projects as part of the work of the Waitrose Foundation. And as for the wine itself, it's brilliant. Ripe and juicy - just as young Chenin should be - and tastes of baked apples. I'm going back to get a bottle of this to go with the haggis for those who might want white rather than red wine on Saturday night. It'll cope with the flavours of a Burns supper, nae bother. 

Current red in the rack: Kutra Red 2013, £8.99, Tesco
Made from a blend of Argentina's calling card - Malbec - along with some Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah grapes. The amazing thing about this wine is that it comes from a region called Salta, in northwest Argentina, which boasts some of the highest vineyards in the world. With altitude comes cooler weather and, if done right, incredibly intense fruit flavours. This one's done right. It too should work with the gutsy (literally) flavours of haggis. 

Chin chin x

Ps - there will, of course, be whisky for Burns. I've been sent some Haig Club to try, David Beckham's new single grain whisky. I'll report back.

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