At home on the farm, we are lucky enough to have had a rather large arrival of pink-footed geese. Each morning when I ride the horses in the ever dimming light, I can hear the gaggle nattering away as they discuss winter settlement plans. They’re ever so busy, noisy and when flying in formation, beautiful. People ask me how I get up so early, but it’s truly my favourite part of the day and if I do have a lie in, I get a serious case of FOMO. I either ride or muck out depending on whether it’s a hair washing day, but especially at this time of year, the sky treats you to all manner of pinks first thing, hardly anyone else is about, it’s solitary bliss.

This morning was slightly different; no pink sky, one lonely goose flew ahead, an abundance of magpies hopped about and Rosie was aloof on our hack mainly because she saw a muntjac early on and used it as an excuse to misbehave for the rest of the ride. I was then greeted by Dad upon our hasty march back down the drive who exclaimed, “The world has gone mad, there’s a shooting in Vegas, Barcelona are rioting, stabbing in France,” he may have said it slightly less PC than this, but you get the idea. I got onto Twitter (the most reliable and fastest news source) and indeed saw pure destruction and devastation everywhere.

The awful scenes in Vegas are heartbreaking, but equally what’s happening in Spain conjures up images of The Hunger Games, how anyone can beat an innocent old man and his dog just because he wants to vote is quite frankly, beyond me. And so we have to remind ourselves how lucky we are to have our health, our families, peace, friends and our freedom.

If all this news makes you want to reach for the wine, here are two exceptional bottles I’ve had from Waitrose over the last few days.

Georges Duboeuf, Chiroubles, France 2014, 13% you can buy from Waitrose for £11.69

I bought this on the way to see my old housemate Matt, a lovely chap who has bought his own home in Stamford now. It’s surprising Matt and I are still friends, I practically banned him from cooking fish at one point when he lived with me and don’t even get me started on his bicycle. Alas, we are and just as well because he cooks up some delicious food! We had plans to go for a run before supper but luckily it started raining so we drank wine and ate lots instead.

I went for Chiroubles because it sort of sounds like troubles and obviously the Georges (I’m called Georgie) and I was in a state of panic at the time, this is how much of a wine connoisseur I am. I AM SO GLAD I HAVE FOUND THIS. It’s delicious, I want to buy it again and again.

I’ve stolen this review off of the Waitrose website because it’s perfect, so thank you Wilbo, you have great taste:

“This is a great example of a Chiroubles at a bargain price and thank you Waitrose for regularly discounting, it is what I call a feminine wine…..no rough edges, silky and elegant. A hint of violet on the nose and then a mellow, smooth taste which is wonderful as an aperitif wine or with most foods that are not too strong. Dubouef is a great Beaujolais producer of consistently good quality and good value wines and one feels confident every time one buys. Only criticism is that the bottle is soon emptied.”

Chateau Souverain, Chardonnay, California 2014, 13.9% you can buy from Waitrose for £8.79

You may remember that it was at my friend’s wedding in California that I rediscovered white wine. Well, those lovely friends came over for supper on Sunday so I sought out a well-oaked chardonnay, of course from California, in the hope that it might have at least a hint of Rombauer about it. Luckily it did! This wine is soft and creamy with a slight hint of lemon curd too, loved it.