STIRRING a dinner saucepan one evening about five years ago, I announced lifelong tonic abandonment of gin and so incredulous a response that I might as well have become a teetotaller rather than a mere deserter of G&T.
It was a simple matter of having had too much - whether too much the night before, or too much in the previous 10 years I am not altogether sure. Fashion's pendulum was swinging against spirits, anyway. The aperitif on the rise was a simple glass of white wine.
But now white wine is testing our boredom threshold, especially as it tends to be Chardonnay or Sauvignon - often the very thing we will be invited to keep on drinking with the first course. It is beginning to seem like a failure of imagination: predictable, safe, maybe even (let's come clean, as are supposed to do) deadly dull. More to the point, our most widely drunk white wines may not necessarily be best at performing that crucial dual function of setting the appetite in motion and breaking the social ice.
The drink that carries off this double act with the most impressive aplomb is, of course, champagne. Champagne and some of her humbler sparkling cousins, provided they aren't too tongue raspingly austere. But urging champagne at the tail end of February is akin to suggesting Mother Teresa brighten up her nurses' uniforms with diamonds. Instead, I propose we let seasonal restraint sharpen our resourcefulness. There are plenty of interesting aperitifs to try which will set conversation and gastric juices flowing without a hint of unseemly overspending.
Whether you choose bone dry or off dry will depend partly on your own preference and partly on whether you are serving accompanying nibbles. The likelier an aperitif is to be sipped on its own, the wiser it may be to edge towards an off dry style.
"Here is what happens," counsels one wine importer. "People arrive at a dinner party having given their teeth a good going over with the latest miracle working toothpaste. They need a drink to relax them, but if it's terribly dry it will just taste bitter in their freshly laundered mouth, and they won't feel like finishing it. A good aperitif has to be very well balanced." The mayor of Dijon must have known what he was doing when he poured white burgundy on to sweet blackcurrant cassis to invent Kir as a New Year's Day treat for his faithful citizens.
Here are a few suggestions to set you aperitif adventuring. Two brief words of warning, though, for maximum enjoyment. One: hangovers. The fortified wines in the list needs to be sipped, not swigged, out of respect for their strength and concomitant head splitting properties. Two: peanuts. I discovered only the other day, while reading Hugh Johnson's stern words on the subject, that while almonds, crisps and cheese straws are fine, peanuts have a killer effect on the flavours of wine.
A NEGLECTED CLASSIC: Ah, sherry. If any drink deserves a crusade, it is this sidelined old favourite. Few things prime the tastebuds better than a crisp, civilised glass of fino or manzanilla, the slightly saltier version from Sanlucar de Barrameda by the sea west of Jerez. Try Manzanilla Alegria (Deveneys, Molloys and some other outlets, £8-£9) which smells enticingly of toasted almonds but is bone dry in the mouth, with that characteristic saltiness. Almonds or olives would be just the thing to serve with it: dry sherries cry out for savoury nibbles. A well balanced beauty - and another of the unsung virtues of sherry is the price.
A NEW CLASSIC? Not totally new, perhaps. Dry white port first made its appearance as an aperitif back in the 1960s - a time when sherry was so dominant that aperitif port was pushed aside as a pallid impostor. Now there are modest signs of a return to favour. Dry white port does the appetite priming job every bit as efficiently as sherry, with a little more richness and about 2 per cent more tongue loosening alcohol. Try Ferreiraxtra Dry White Port (Molloys, Redmonds, about £8.50). See Bottle of the Week.
A CURIOSITY: Something entirely different - which should at least help to get conversation going. Floc de Gascogne is to Armagnac what Pineau des Charentes (another rather rarified aperitif) is to Cognac a strong, sweet wine made by adding young Armagnac to fermenting grape juice. Served well chilled, lit makes for an intriguing change with its fruity pear drop aromas, pear and grape flavours and tingling finish. Look out for Chateau du Tariquet Floc de Gascogne (outlets include Terroirs; Lord Mayor's, Swords; Kelly's, Artane; Bcams, Cadow; Wine Vault, Galway, £11.50-£12 approx).
THREE WHITE WINES FOR A CHANGE: 1) First a very dry, savoury white with a saltiness that makes it the table wine equivalent off Manzanilla. Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi, from the Marche coastal region of central Italy, has subtle scents of earth and sea and fresh citrus and almond flavours which make it perfect for sipping with a plate of olives or some piquant finger food. Mancini Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi 1994 (outlets include The Vintage, Rathmines and Blackrock; McCabes; Jus de Vine, Portmarnock, £6.50 approx) is one to try.
2) Next, the great neglected white wine treasure - so special that one of these weeks it will have a whole - column to itself. Riesling. In its dry or off dry form, Germany's most noble and most grievously under rated wine has the qualities that make it a perfect aperitif - a big, appetising aroma, a terrific zinginess on the palate and a terrifically crisp finish. Reintroduce yourself to its racy pleasures with reliable, well priced Deinhard Riesling Dry (Mitchells, £5.99).
3) And in the curiosity slot? A white Cabernet Sauvignon - not just because it sounds downright bizarre enough to fuel an instant argument, but because it strikes just the right balance. Such, at least, is the case with the Jacques et Francois Lurton Blanc de Noirs which is making its way into Irish off licences (if your wine merchant doesn't have it, spread the word that it is to be from Febvre & Co, retail price £6.50 approx). Fruitiness, on the one hand - delicate strawberries and raspberries with a hint of mint - and dryness on the other, to get the saliva going. A well made, interesting offering from Bordeaux's best know Young Turks.