Leslie Williams: Six wines that cheer me up on dark days

January is a time to look ahead in hope and my main hope for 2018 is that independent, quality wine shops can stay in business. 

It may surprise you, but I am broadly in favour of the upcoming Public Health Alcohol Bill as I think it will help — the bill is due before the Dáil this month.

Yes the bill increases the price of the cheapest wines to around €7.50 and while this will anger some, it will have no effect on independent retailers or on this column. Similarly, beer set at €2 and spirits at €21 will not affect my Beer of the Week slot. I’d prefer a ban on below-cost selling as I view it as predatory pricing and unfair competition, but this will do for now.