Close your eyes and go and do your wine shopping at your favourite retailer (I like The Wine Society, Majestic, Naked Wines, BBR and a few others including independent shops both bricks and clicks).  A few months later, simply remember that you have been paying some dosh to Virgin and go and look at your account.

I just did this and discovered that I had £300!  This comprised £220 of my money plus £80 that Virgin had kindly added as part of their Wine Bank programme.

Next, click on the Champagne pages and you will find very reasonably priced branded champagne.  The prices even compare favourably with the supermarkets and that is before you account for the implicit 25% discount from the Wine Bank “interest”.

I selected a 12 bottle mix of Mumm, Taittinger, Roederer and my personal favourite brand, Perrier-Jouet.  They are arguably not going to set the world on fire but it makes quite a pleasant drink at about £18 per bottle and will impress your friends no end.

For friends you are not so keen on, maybe you should stock up with Freixenet.

La Grande Année 1999 is deeper richer and smoother than NV Champagne in both appearance and taste.  It looks like a sample from a dehydrated bat (possibly one that has been shaken, not stirred) but fortunately the flavour is delicious lemon and butterscotch.  Pretty nice but worth 10 times the price of a Freixenet Cava?

Two bargains stand out from the crowd, one from Costco, one from the Wine Society.  One Champagne, the other red wine but from a relatively close starting point.

Mooching through Costco, picking up bog rolls, washing powder and other such staples in bulk, I spotted a glass cabinet in the wine section containing a few high end special offers.  I hate paying full price for anything, but I am prepared to invest in quality.

Bollinger Grande Année 1999 is £63.60 at Berry Bros & Rudd.  At Costco you can currently get a bottle for £57.49 (inc VAT).  You might think that is a reasonable offer in its own right but throw in 2 Riedel Champagne flutes that normally retail at about £15 each?  You guessed it!  I am now the proud owner of 4 Riedel flutes, and looking forward to trying them out.  In fact I was so shocked by this superb deal that I got to the checkout and found lurking in my trolley a 70cl bottle of Chateau de Laubade XO Armagnac for £34.49 which also included 2 free glasses (not Riedel).  This pack retails at £49.99 at Wine Dancer.  Another steal for a fine sup.

The second super-bargain was a mixed-up Burgundy case from the Wine Society.  £119 for six composty, yet fruity little Pinot Noirs from the Côte d’Or.

Naturally I checked out the prices of each wine and they ranged from £14.25 to £25.95 with one notable exception.  The star of the basket case was a 2004 Roumier Chambolle-Musigny, normal price £56.75 (already reduced from £65).

The total value of the wines then, £153.45 against a price of £119.  Even Del Boy would be proud of that.

I don’t think these deals will be around for much longer.  So, if your resistance-to-a-bargain level is lower than the BoE base rate,  hurry hurry hurry.

This afternoon I took my 10 year old god-daughter to see Man City.  The look of delight on her face when City beat Spurs 2-1 was matched only by my relief at the end of an awful run of games that had put us on a snake track slithering down the league table.

Kellie came over from Dublin for the weekend with her sisters, Rebecca and Chloe – all gorgeous girls, well behaved, entertaining, polite, model children.  Kellie is obviously my favourite and she is the footie fan, tomboy, fitness fanatic, make-up-rejecting bundle of energy.

And now they have all gone and I am alone in the flat.  It’s strange how lonely you can feel when sudden mayhem is suddenly replaced by a sudden quantum of solace.

So to cheer me up, apart from consoling myself that City are back on the ladder of success, I have dragged out my notes from a bottle of Shampoo I sampled last weekend.

The Sunday Times Wine Club had a dubious looking offer of three bottles of Champagne for £45.  You can imagine the sort of ropey sparkling wine you could get stiffed with by accepting such an offer.  I thought I came out if it rather well, with a bottle of Pol Roger, this René Jardin rosé, and another bottle I can’t remember and will look up when I get back home.

So let me say that rosé is not my favourite champagne.  After all the tinge of rouge is reminiscent of Trafford Wanderers who play at The Swamp.  And like Fergie, this wine was a little insipid.  Strawberries & cream and a touch of cassis.  A bit like a Kir Royale served to the prawn sandwich brigade.

And like the atmosphere at Old Trafford it did not inspire my team.  Nicely shaped bubbles but lank wine.  Left me feeling a bit flat, like seeing United beat City.  Fortunately Man City are the only club to take 6 points from wine expert, Alex Ferguson, this season.  He must be feeling as sick as a parrot.  But not as sick as if he had drunk a couple of bottles of René Jardin rosé…..or just said goodbye to Kellie.

Scottish shortbread, grapefruit notes and possibly a little lime.  I find this a little too acidic to be truly memorable.

I have to admit that I know very little about champagne.  I enjoy drinking it but I need to learn more about what makes one better than another.  So whilst I did not get on greatly with Waitrose Vintage, this should not put you off trying it for yourself.

Have to dash – off to eat and yes, I am taking my notebook.

As for my birthday wish?  It won’t be for another bottle Waitrose Vintage Champagne.

Nonetheless, this afternoon at a board meeting I had a large black coffee, and I would have eaten some chocolate biscuits had they been on offer.  For lunch I had a fat filled chicken mayonnaise sandwich.  Tonight, I felt I ought to complete a hat trick of poisons.  I felt obliged to sack my temporary tee-totalism.

I was ill over Xmas so didn’t drink much anyway.  However, on NY eve I got totally mullered on champagne and that is the last alcoholic drink that passed my lips.  So, to celebrate the end to my New Year dry period, I thought I might start again where I left off, and open some bubbly.

Every year after drinking myself stupid on New Year’s Eve, I vow to take a two week detoxification.  Some think I am trying to prove I am not an alcoholic.  Others say I have run out of money.  I say, it is simply a good idea to purge one’s body occasionally.  As well as abstaining from Bacchanalia, I also eat healthily and exercise more.  I am realistic enough to know that I won’t stick to this regime for more than a couple of weeks, and I also have the most earnest of devotions to my readers - I have only managed to keep this blog going during early January because I had some old notes to write up.

So I had placed this bottle of Freixenet (I think it is pronounced Fresher (as in college) – net (as in curtains)) Vintage Cava 2005 in the fridge about two millennia ago in anticipation of this evening.  But I ummed and ahhed before opening it.  I diced with sobriety, before, after due consideration, I capitulated to the memory of how many nights I have spent enjoying wine.

So the cork was popped and the aroma was very lemony – too much so.  It did mellow over time but I still found it a little sharp and acidic.  It was also not as fizzy as champagne, and I don’t think that my glass was dirty.

In summary I expected butter but I got margarine, albeit decent quality margarine.  It left me wondering whether this vintage cava was any better than the ordinary Freixenet which I enjoy very much for the price.

Having said all the above, I found this wine at Tesco for less than £10 per bottle which makes it so much cheaper than average quality champagne and probably much better VFM as a result.  Freixenet, or Freixenet Vintage?  I am not sure – maybe a re-taste is required.

Firstly let me clear up the fact that I am about to review a wine that claims it is from Spain but many would say it is made in Catalunia.  Without getting into Iberian politics perhaps I’ll move on to this rather nice Cava (pronounced more like cava in cavalier than “carver” as most people seem to say).  But that’s not the only pronunciation problem here since the Cava is named Freixenet and as best as I can establish that is pronounced like Fresher-net.

Still, I didn’t expect the Spanish Inquisition when I asked for the wine at my local Co-op supermarket.

Unlike champagne, Cava is cheap.  But in my experience a good Cava is far far superior to average champagne.

At 11.5% Freixenet Cava is not heavy at all.  It has a biscuity taste (like champagne) but with a bit more fresh zing.   Imagine a digestive biscuit with a slice of granny smith apple and some soft cheese.  Not quite as bubbly as champagne but in many ways all the better for that.

It is available at many off-licences, wine shops and supermarkets at about £7 to £10 a bottle.  To me this is so much better value than a £20 bottle of shampers.

Like the Spanish Cavaliers, this wine is very Moorish - I apologise for the fact that my jokes are of the same quality as Steve McClaren’s coaching skills.