Here are my go-to favourites — simple, sparkling and guaranteed to bring a little extra magic to your celebrations. 1. Poinsettia A bright, elegant classic with a wintery twist. You’ll need:• 25ml Triple Sec• 50ml cranberry juice• 75ml Aldi Veuve Monsigny Champagne Brut or Prosecco• 1 fresh bay leaf Method:Add Triple Sec and cranberry juice to a flute, top with chilled fizz and garnish with a fresh bay leaf.Festive, refreshing and impossibly pretty. 2. Negroni Sbagliato

These three whites are brilliant examples of quality without the cost: versatile, crowd-pleasing and beautifully made. Perfect for holiday lunches, cosy evenings with cheese, or simply keeping a chilled bottle ready in the fridge for guests. Let’s explore them in more detail.

Sainsbury’s really delivers this season, and I’m a big fan of their own-brand ‘Taste the Difference’ range. The quality has been consistently impressive, especially for the price, and whilst it’s hard to pick favourites, here are three bottles that stand out. From beautifully aged English sparkling to small-production Pinot Noir and a generous southern French white, these wines feel crafted and thoughtful without stretching the budget. Three very different wines, each d

Supermarket wines are stronger than ever this Christmas, with brilliant value across sparkling styles if you know where to look. Two bottles stand out immediately: Veuve Monsigny Champagne from Aldi offers exceptional quality for under £15, with a style that feels far more premium than its price tag. Contevedo Cava is another reliable sparkling, vibrant, savoury and refreshing, ideal for festive parties and seafood or cheese boards. These are the kinds of bottles that make

A thoughtful, sustainable, and elegant wine without ever feeling stuffy or expensive. Bijou Pinot Noir — my festive fave: Feels luxe, subtle oak, fine tannins, red cherry. Perfect with duck, lamb stew, or a festive cheese board. The story behind Sophie Valrose: The range is named after a real-life hero — a vineyard worker in the Languedoc in the late 19th/early 20th century. Sophie didn’t just tend the vines; she fought for the rights of women in the vineyards at a tim

My current favourites… and honestly, they’re world-class. My Favourite English Sparkling: Weyborne Oriana Golden Spur The latest release from the talented wine maker Ben Abric at Weyborne. You can enjoy this as an aperitif, its lifted citrus, orchard fruit full of energy makes it fun to drink with smoked salmon bellinis all afternoon. It would be equally at home with grilled seabass because of the subtle oxidative winemaking adds depth and complexity to this wine with a s

Weyborne’s new Oriana Golden Spur is all about precision, place, and a little bit of magic and it was a privilege to be at the launch at Clarette restaurant last week, hearing Ben Abric and William Sharpley lift the veil on how this wine is made. £45 · weyborne.com Also at Hawkins Bros, Wine & Earth, Farr Vintners and Bibendum. What makes Oriana Golden Spur stand out?• Highest point of the South Downs National Park – a 25-acre single estate, entirely grown and made on th

10am Champagne on a Monday isn’t my usual start to the week… but for Laurent-Perrier, I’ll make an exception. 🍾 The tasting at 67 Pall Mall reminded me why this house remains one of Champagne’s most respected names — prestige without pretence.Four wines, all under £90, all excellent quality and widely available, which really surprised me! Constance Delaire, Laurent-Perrier’s talented oenologist from Bordeaux, led the session with warmth and passion– bringing to life the p

They can trigger symptoms like headaches, flushing, or restless sleep — especially if your body struggles to break them down. During perimenopause and menopause, fluctuating oestrogen levels can reduce your ability to process histamines, which is why wine sensitivity can increase. Histamines form during fermentation and ageing — particularly malolactic fermentation, which softens acidity in reds. That’s why aged reds often contain more histamines than young whites, rosés

Taste - Clotted cream, orange blossom, almonds, white pepper. Very full, rounded and flavour lasts forever.Where is it from? Bâtard-Montrachet is a great white Grand Cru in Burgundy's Côte D'or, France. Its vineyards are located on the slope beneath Le Montrachet, in the Côte de Beaune. Bâtard-Montrachet's soils are heavier than those surrounding it, made up of brown limestone and gravel, which pave the way for rich, nutty, honeyed and heady wines with good structure. Have yo

South Africa is still a best kept secret in wine.  Some of the most exciting bottles on the shelves come from the Cape and they offer serious value. Two things make the region special for producers - diverse soils and the unique climate which shaped by two oceans, the cool Atlantic and the warm Indian which brings dry heat, fresh air, and intense sunlight. Samantha O’Keefe is a South African winemaker whose story is just remarkable. Sam was raised in San Francisco, where

My summary around No and Low is that it's a really exciting movement that’s here to stay. We all want to drink in moderation, especially as we move into the festive season, and now, finally, there are options that make that easy. It’s completely normal to order a non-alcoholic drink in a bar. No awkwardness, no side-eye. And the best part? The quality is catching up fast. I spent October tasting across the No & Low spectrum — from alcohol-liberated wines to mid-strength blend

Last week was a milestone moment for Elizabeth & Wine. I hosted a Wine Safari on the rooftop of BNY Mellon for 80 guests — and for the first time, I wasn’t leading solo. I was joined by two incredible women in wine: Corinne Seely – winemaker at Exton Park, once Bordeaux’s youngest female winemaker Kirsty Woodgate – fellow wine expert and long-time industry friend Together we delivered my most ambitious tasting yet: 13 wines celebrating trailblazing female winemakers fro

Lobster rolls and Negronis in Soho. Moi is high-energy, stylish restaurant restaurant with a cool vibe. Upstairs, an open kitchen and wood-fired grill set the scene. Downstairs, the Listening Room shifts the mood with low light and music-led energy (soon to open). The food is knockout: Sicilian prawns, lobster rolls, melt-in-your-mouth pork. Japanese precision meets the best of British produce, every plate built on quality and flavour. The cocktail list is playful, t

The talk of the town… Angelina on Dalston Lane where Italian flavours meet Japanese precision, led by Head Chef Daniele Cotugno. Order the smoked Negroni, then enjoy Sicilian prawns, tomato salad, fried courgettes, a whole fish for two (£34) and the best tortellini in London. The wine list leans confidently Italian, which I love and enjoy Pinot Bianco from Alto Adige. Service is spot on — I’ve never had a menu explained so clearly, right down to how many dishes to order.

For €550pp, would you EAT MOULD? 2 Michelin stars… but you’re eating with your BODY PARTS?! Yup. Fine dining, but definitely not as you know it. This is Mugaritz — where finger food takes on a whole new meaning and body parts might just be part of the cutlery. This is not your candlelit, foie-gras-and-fine-silver affair. Mugaritz is deliberately disorienting. It’s part performance, part philosophy, part “wait… did I just eat mould?” Expect dishes that ask questions, not jus

The very FIRST EVER Wing Woman Wine Club! We had our first Wing Woman Wine Club last week and the vibes were electric. Sunshine, stripey tops, glasses in hand. Everyone logged on right on time. Everyone had their cameras on. Blue and white seemed to be the unspoken dress code, and I loved every minute of it. There were 20 people signed up, and 9 brilliant women on the call, which, for a first outing, felt like the perfect number. Intimate, fun, high energy. Someone

You don’t just walk in and take charge like it’s your personal dining room. No, no. You follow the host. Always. Handbags? Not on the table, darling. Ideally next to you and even better if you handbag is given it’s on seat. Napkin? Straight to the lap, neatly folded — never crumpled. NEVER. Bathroom break? Drape your napkin on the chair. It’s all in the art of elegance — and yes, your napkin speaks volumes. Elizabeth x

Don’t just pop the cork back in and hope for the best… My TOP TIP: pour the wine into a small jar once you’re halfway through the bottle — Remember, when it comes to wine, oxygen is the enemy!Less oxygen = fresher wine.This way, it’ll keep for up to a week in the fridge. Elizabeth x

The Parakeet is an open-fire fuelled beauty of a pub in Kentish Town with ex-Brat chef Ben Allen at the coals. Kentish Town is food critic Giles Coren’s local ‘hood, so you need to be on your game to succeed here. The Parakeet opened a couple of years ago and it became something of an instant classic. The building is split into two very distinct sections - the pub for drinks and the dining room for food. I loved the art in the dining room and the use of greens and moody