I CAN'T ever remember a year when so many people have decided to go away for Easter merits a few minutes of sober reflection by all the wine drinkers left behind: if we're saving hundreds of pounds by forgoing Morocco or the Canaries, mightn't we splurge a modest piggybank's contents on a few treat bottles?
Maybe I don't mix with the right sort of people, but it would seem the tradition of Easter feasting as a celebratory conclusion to Lent has rather buckled at the knees. Abstinence appears to be having a thin time of it. "Our experience is that wine drinkers make a much more serious effort to cut back in November than they do during Lent," one Dublin wine merchant said the other day. "We haven't noticed any dip in sales over the past few months. Quite the contrary."
Still, we cling to the tradition of a special meal on Easter Sunday, often shared with relatives or family friends. That provides the perfect excuse for savouring some great traditional wines the sort of thing we might imagine our grandparents having enjoyed on Easter Day.
This is the week to stock up with special bottles to suit the feast day: a delicious tongue tingling sherry, perhaps; a glorious honeyed white wine from utterly traditional Alsace; a meaty claret for the first spring lamb; and a dessert wine so exceptional that you can get away with serving it - all on its own.
If all this seems as extravagant as a Faberge egg, keep reading to the end of this week's list. The three recent discoveries in the second half aren't outrageously expensive, but are certainly good enough to pour without a shaking hand at any Easter meal.
Blame it on a wine drinker's optimism if you like, but even the year's first picnic is catered for.