Sunday lunch does not need a big wine

The instinct to reach for something heavy with roast meat is a habit, and quite a recent one.

Roast chicken is not a heavy dish. It is a mild one with crisp skin and a lot of fat, and fat wants acidity to cut through it rather than more weight sitting on top.

Which is why a light, fresh red beats a big one at most Sunday tables, and why an unfashionably sharp white often beats both. The wine that tastes impressive on its own at four in the afternoon is frequently the wrong wine at two with food in front of you.

Try the swap once. It is the cheapest improvement available to anybody reading this, and it costs nothing but the habit.

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