Obviously our answer to this would be ‘whatever you like, it’s Easter a time for celebration’ and really, as long as your wine has the right weight (body) for the dish, you can drink practically anything. Lamb that is ready at this time of year, particularly our own lamb and not the Southern Hemisphere variety, is typically only about 4 months old and is therefore the tenderest of meats. My perfect Easter Sunday lunch is slightly pink spring lamb roasted with tiny potatoes and peas with onions all in a big oven dish liberally sprinkled with garlic, rosemary and green, peppery olive oil. If I get it right this is insanely delicious, it is packed full of flavour but nothing dominates. Our gorgeous pink sparkling Lucciole would do it justice, maintaining the delicacy whilst delivering flavour and it’s such a pretty wine that it would lift my spirits just to see it on the table assuming I’ve got the vintage glasses and beautiful table linens. A light red would equally work, especially if you prefer your lamb less pink, and cooked for longer; there’s our Chianti Classico with its subtle flavours usually perfect for the pheasant and hare found on the vineyard estate, or our recently arrived Refosco from northern Italy/Austrian border ideal with its herby and dried fruit notes.
Peace and Pink Loveliness to you all!

​Today’s blog title strikes me as being a really good name for a website/shop/blog – you can just see it: all freshly baked and wrapped in brown paper (the bread) and beautifully scented lilac blooms in a small zinc pot (the hyacinths) epitomising the perfect country kitchen and lifestyle. Of course, we all know the reality and it is more cat sick and a draught under the door but such is the stuff of dreams.
 There is a Persian saying that I read somewhere years ago and it made an impression on me: “If you have 2 loaves of bread, sell one and buy a hyacinth for it will feed your soul”. I love that and it, perhaps wrongly, spurs me on when I am in the throes of doing something a little bit ridiculous and long-winded, like hand-writing when I could print; or even worse spending money on something that I don’t really need but makes me feel good about life, like a beautiful cup for my morning coffee or a new pen to handwrite the stuff I could print…
Ridiculous, I know. Hyacinth sandwich and glass of Perschers anyone?

So, if I had nothing to do one cold, rainy, wintry afternoon, I would cook the sweetest little (imported) tomatoes I could find with some squashed garlic and chilli, boil up a huge pan of spaghetti and eat it smothered in parmesan (the spaghetti, not me). Italian beauty, Sofia Loren made it all OK by once saying “Everything you see I owe to spaghetti”.
I would light the fire and I would eat it curled up on the sofa. I would drink Chianti Classico Riserva, swirling it around in a big glass to release the aromas (the acidity in the wine goes well with the acidity of the tomato sauce and brings out the fruitiness – tart redcurrant and cherry – and hint of spiced clove and fig in the wine…). I would put the bottle beside me on the table (just in case) and I would watch any Sofia Loren film.
I love Sofia Loren: so beautiful and ballsy and not afraid of eating and drinking. She even offered advice “Spaghetti can be eaten most successfully if you inhale it like a vacuum cleaner”. And, just like that, the reverie is broken and I am back at work…