Wine Club: ridiculously pleasurable picks from Swig

So that’s it, a month on the wagon almost done and dusted. Hurrah! You might recall that owing to a spat over some liqueur chocolates, Mrs Ray declared that I was in clear breach of the Dry January code and promptly zapped me with a one-week penalty, now almost spent.

Allies of mine – Dave and Tony down the pub – voiced serious concerns about how the investigation was carried out and question just how independent Mrs R’s independent ethics adviser is, given that she’s her sister (who gave me the chocs in the first place). I plan to appeal.

Meanwhile, I’m free to taste wine so long as I don’t swallow (as if!) and positively basked in the bottles that Robin Davis and the gang at Swig sent me. As you’ll see, I failed to narrow the selection down to six but refuse to apologise.

2021 Laurence de Veyrac Viognier (1) from the limestone hills behind the Bassin de Thau in south-west France is extremely genial.