Curry, red wine and the monkey butler

At the weekend we were in Cheltenham for a friends birthday. The evening meal was to be at Balti Walla, an Indian on Bath Road with bring your own drinks. Bring your own you say? Hurrah! Sounds like a great opportunity to pick a good bottle and pay shop, not restaurant prices. So along with exploring the city centre we went on a mission to find the perfect wine pairing for that evening!

K vaguely remembered a wine shop/bar in Montpellier from a previous visit to Cheltenham so off we marched. Alas, when we arrived at said shop, we found it closed for refurbishment! Pants. In the long run good, but that didn't help us tonight. We carried on up the street and to our joy found a little independent wine and spirit shop called Appellation Nation.

The friendly proprietor came to our aid amongst the vast choice of bottles and uttered those magical words 'Are you after anything specific?'

We explained we were after a nice red to go with a curry and would like his recommendation. After showing us a couple of options, we chose a Rioja Reserva, Palacio Del Camino Real 2011 to be precise (it was delicious and went very well with the curry), thanked him and went on our way.

Further down the street we stumbled across a small and fun-looking vintage shop and coffee bar, Pink Vintage. We're always on the lookout for unique pieces for the house, so stepped inside. It was like an interiors treasure cove, a Shakespeare bust, ceramic pineapples, butterfly domes, all topped off with some amazing looking cakes on display. After a little browse, we went to leave but then I spotted something out the corner of my eye...

A wine bottle holder, in the shape of a monkey. SOLD!

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