Abstinence

Abstinence definitely makes the heart grow fonder. As part of our 'New Year New Us' (fitter, slimmer, healthier) resolution Mr Q and Wine Goose decided to give up alcohol and caffeine for January. It's easy enough to begin with. Weeknights at home are usually very tame - a simple supper followed by TV then off to bed after the 9 o'clock news. Friday comes and instead of rewarding ourselves with a glass of wine for getting through another busy week Mr Q settles for a Becks non-alcoholic Beer and Wine Goose sips a glass of Amé. It's no substitute for the real thing so we set about filling the void with mountains of cheese. When that's all gone we raid the remnants of the children's selection boxes.

Watching the soaps on TV we have a more heightened awareness of the omnipresence of alcohol. These people spend all their time in the pub. Mind you their houses are so garish I'm not surprised. Don't the creators watch any design programmes? And when they do get home, usually to resolve a massive crisis in their lives, it's all done over a bottle of wine. Some time when I run out of other things to do I must calculate how many alcohol units the characters in Fair City consume during an average week.

11 days into the project and instead of losing weight and looking fabulous, we have piled on additional pounds and look miserable. Mr Q plans a nice dinner of veal with mushrooms and garlic served with creamy mashed potato and baby vegetables. He reasons that such a fine meal deserves a fine wine, and he cracks.

Not a man to do things by halves, he produces a fine Italian Amarone della Valpolicella - La Serra 2001. Amarone is one of the world's biggest, fleshiest red wines, made from semi-dried grapes in a Verona Hills tradition that dates back to the Byzantine Period. The traditional Valpolicella grape blend (Corvinone, Molinara and Rondinella), plus up to 15% of other local or international grapes authorised for the region, is used to create a truly powerful wine, with alcohol levels ranging from 14% to 16%. La Serra is rich and savoury, boasting a gamut of flavours reminiscent of Christmas - plum pudding, raisins and almonds with just a hint of cherry. €39.99.