Wining and dining with Nine Elms

For anyone who read my blog post on completing dry January will know that I have given up drinking alcohol. I was motivated to keep my dry January pledge and I avoided situations/certain foods that would make me want to have a drink. Despite reaping in the benefits of giving up wine, I couldn't deny that I reaaaaalllly missed it on a Sunday.

Sundays are for slow cooking, hours spent pottering in the kitchen making a delicious roast, doing the crossword sitting by the fire and part of this ritual is to drink red wine. Not to be defeated, I started doing some research on zero alcohol wines. I had tried various supermarket brands and some are really good, I think the industry has come a long way from the overly sweet purple substitute.  

 

Taking my research to social media, I came across Nine Elms drinks. Nine Elms No. 18 is an award winning drink which is specifically designed to be enjoyed with food which is exactly what I was searching for! One of the joys of not drinking is the lack of calories, I was expecting them to be full of sugars to create the fruity taste but this is only 20 calories per 125ml glass which is 1/6th the amount found in wine.

I love the stylish box it came in which would be perfect as a gift for someone and they include a recipe sheet for cocktails if you prefer something different to a straight pour. Other than a pornstar martini I am not really a fan of cocktails (plus they get me too squiffy) so I didn't try the 'villanelle' or 'the spritz' but I thoroughly enjoyed it by itself.

I does have a strong scent which isn't like that of red wine but don't let that put you off, the taste is soft and light and went perfectly with my lasagne supper. The company describe it as 'Earthy and red fruit aromas come to the fore in the broad bowl of a pinot noir glass; while herbaceous and black fruit characters are more pronounced in the narrower shape of a cabernet glass.'

I love reading wine descriptions, I always think that must be a fun part of the job writing them using words like robust and full bodied!

Priced at £15.65 it is more expensive than some of the other wines that I have tried but I think as it is more versatile and the packaging looks so stylish it would be something that I would be happy to take to a friend's dinner party.

The best part is, that I can drink the whole thing, enjoy the great flavour and not suffer a horrendous hangover the next day! Less calories and no wine guilt is a yes from me.

This was a gift from Nine Elms but all of these opinions are my own and I would only write about something that I would have bought myself. Also, for anything that I receive as a gift I am donating money to Sands Charity as this is something that is close to my heart.

Thank you Nine Elms for sending this to me to try. x