Winding Up Wine can now be found at http://windingupwine.blog where it's easy to follow. Thanks for your support ..read more

OopsI counted up the number of bottle that Henry and I have been getting through in a year: 8 in the average week and as many as 28 a week when on holiday. That's 6 weeks a year. So, (46 x 8) + (28 x 46) = 536. That's a staggering number of empties we've taken to recycling. And 536 empty bottles amounts to about 268 kg of glass. Or a quarter of a tonne. Counting the calories is just as toe-curling. The average bottle of wine has a calorie equivalent of around 635. Our year's worth of wine therefore adds up to 340,360 calories. Because 3,500 calories equals about 1 pound (0.45 kg) of fat, we w ..read more

When I received the ELF test result, I phoned my GP's surgery with the intention of arranging an appointment as soon as possible. I say, "my GP", but I don't have the luxury of a designated GP, so I hoped to see a doctor that Henry had recommended. Sadly, the modern NHS doesn't work quite like that. Despotic receptionists have been replaced by equally authoritarian automated systems with recorded messages assuring the caller that, "Your call is very important to us" and, inevitably, "You are number .. in the queue and the estimated waiting time is .. minutes." Eventually, I did get to speak ..read more

It's exactly four weeks since I last consumed even a millilitre of wine, and that includes on a flight to Cape Town where Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle, at £120 a bottle, was flowing freeing in First. Those who know me might pause for reflection, with a soupcon of disbelief. 30-plus years of drinking tends to shackle you to certain trains of thought from your nearest and dearest. A nicely chilled Sauvignon Blanc or a berry-rich 15% Shiraz are engrained against my name. Plus LPGS, of course, when reward flights come up trumps. But societal attitudes change. So does the notion of what constitut ..read more

Life back home in the Ellis household in Linton, Cambridgeshire, in the 60s, never revolved around wine. There were occasions when a bottle of Mateus Rose was opened, but that was reserved for dinner parties and very special occasions. My sister, Vivien, reminds me that it tasted vile. I didn't even drink much when I went up to Oxford. It wasn't served in Hall and I don't recall having a bottle of anything alcoholic routinely in my room. If someone wanted a drink, the choices were limited to Nescafe or water from the cracked and stained basin in the bedroom. Parties and May Balls happened and ..read more

Hello, my name is David Ellis. I'm a retired NHS consultant psychiatrist living in Kent with my husband Henry. We both used to enjoy wine, but, I'm afraid, rather too much of it. So, on with my blog, 'Winding Up Wine ..read more