When Zero isn't Zero

As you may be aware, I never drink alcohol if I am expecting to be driving afterwards.  My mother only drinks alcohol on special occasions. I don't usually drink alcohol at lunchtime. And sometimes a non alcoholic drink is preferable.

I really enjoy the range of non alcoholic spirits and mixed drinks which are available but I have long thought that non alcoholic wines were a waste of money, being too sweet for my taste and not carrying any weight or depth. If I wanted to drink grape juice (which I don't) I would buy grape juice - at a fraction of the cost of non alcoholic "wine". However, recent advances in the production of non alcoholic and de-alcoholised wines has improved them hugely and I am enjoying sampling them.

I am also easily swayed by a pretty, interesting or quirky wine label, provided it is on a bottle of an appropriate wine.

So I have a selection of non alcoholic wines at home, ready for occasions when wine is appropriate but alcohol is not. Such as a light Sunday lunch on a care visit to mother.

We were eating seafood pies which I got from Shop 29. via the mushroom farm. I thought a light  sauvignon blanc would be pleasant on the side. Jim had a glass of proper wine. Stella and I decided to have a second glass of our 0 alcohol wine. 

I was packing up, ready to return home when I decided to take a photo of the wine bottle for future reference, for it was a rather nice drop. It was called The Hero of Zero, made in Australia

This is why I assumed it was a non alcoholic wine.
Plus, I picked it up with a selection of other
zero alcohol wines

And this is what I noticed when I took a photo of the label
Not zero alcohol at all.
Zero preservatives - about which I could not possibly care less

It is, indeed, a nice wine.  But it is not a zero alcohol wine. And I had had two (small) glasses so clearly couldn't launch myself out into the Sunday afternoon traffic. No real harm was done. I noticed before I got in the car and just waited for a couple of hours before we finally left. But I do think it is a bit misleading. My guess would be that most people who see a 0 on a bottle of wine will assume alcohol content and not preservatives. I had noticed that it was preservative free but I hadn't read the circle with the actual alcohol content. I hadn't thought I needed to (also, I hadn't noticed it!)

Anyway, the car was packed and ready to go, so we had a cup of tea and settled in for a couple of hours. Nice and peaceful. Then Jim and I drove home on lovely, quiet, locked down roads.

It was only when we got home and I was unpacking the car that I realised that I had left the bag with my books, reading glasses, iPad, laptop and various other things on a lounge chair at Stella's place because, of course, it hadn't been packed in the car ready for us to leave. We were using some of the things in it while we waited for the alcohol to leave my system and I simply forgot to pick it up as we finally said our goodbyes and took off.

It's not a major catastrophe, more an inconvenience. I have another laptop at home, although it is set up for work rather than specifically for me. We also have a spare iPad, which wasn't set up for me but which is getting that way now. But I will eventually need the books, being library books which the library might eventually want back. And I am missing my reading glasses more than I expected to. I had planned to go on Thursday but someone is now coming to clear the gutters, which I would rather like to be done. Grass growing in the gutters is not a good look! I'll fit it in at some point.

We have had some lovely spring weather recently. Today, alas, is damp, gloomy, misty and a bit on the chilly side. I am hopeful that it will clear up just a bit so I can carry on with the intermittent clearing, tidying and organising of my springtime backyard. Otherwise, who knows when it will get done.  Much like the rescuing of my bag of tricks which is holidaying by the beach.