Richard Ehrlich: My Round

The leaves may be falling, but classic cocktails such as the Manhattan are enough to lift the spirits

In the New York suburb where I'm writing, the weather was T-shirts and open windows two days ago. Yesterday it turned cold, leading the trees to shed their leaves so rapidly it seemed they were impatient to get on with the job. Autumn didn't creep in, it charged. And extrapolating from this rapid turn, I feel confident in predicting that things will be truly wintry by the time these words appear in print.

Though not as fixed on the putative seasonal suitability of one drink over another, I do see the point of adjusting cocktail habits as the weather changes. Martinis and Bloody Marys are year-round stuff because they create their own environment around the contented consumer. But some are just summery drinks: Cosmopolitans, for instance, and anything with a fruit content high enough to deliver more than 10 per cent of the recommended daily vitamin C intake. Other drinks are cold-weather drinks, and among them I count the Manhattan.

Manhattan – the name itself conjures up a whole universe of cocktail nous. Partly because it refers to the undisputed cocktail capital of the world, and partly because it harks back to the city's first golden age of its gift for living the good life. No one is sure when or where they were first made, but the widely accepted story dates the birth to the 1880s in the Manhattan Club – possibly during a banquet, with Winston Churchill's American-born mother as one of the first recipients. Whatever the true facts, the cocktail lent its name to a 1928 movie called Manhattan Cocktail and quickly established itself as one of the classics.

One of the things I like most about Manhattans is that they are very easy to make. Ingredients: bourbon or (classically) rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters. Mix equal parts of whiskey and wine in a glass filled with ice and shake in a few drops of bitters. Stir well, then strain into a fresh glass with fresh ice. It's that easy. You can mess around with it, but the only great variation is using half sweet vermouth and half dry; this makes the drink a Perfect Manhattan, which I like better than the standard issue. I would also love to try it with the incredibly wonderful Vya vermouth made by Andrew Quady in California, available for around £13. Ring Hallgarten, the importers, on 01582 722 538 for stockist information.

Naturally, some people will be looking to wine rather than spirits for their cold-weather nutriment, and they too are well served as the autumn wine lists roll out in preparation for Christmas. Scanning the purple-smeared tasting notes, I see no end of tasty choices. I see, from M&S, two Spanish items: Marisa Tempranillo 2000 (£4.99), a lively, pure, unoaked expression of this versatile grape; and Flor de Maig 1999, Tarragona (£6.49) from the forward-looking Cellers de Capçanes winery, rich black fruits, light oak, real complexity. I see a decent low-priced Merlot from Romania: La Cetate Merlot 1999 Vanju Mare Orievita (Waitrose, £4.99), with a bit of tannic bite, a bit of oak, and good acidity cutting through its warm, ripe fruit.

And most of all I see a pair of Piemontese stars from Oddbins, commanding higher prices but deserving every penny. The first is Icardi "Samir" 2000 (£8.99), from a producer in the Langhe DOC which I think rarely sets a foot wrong. Delicious flavours of cherries and berries, very full in the mouth with soft tannins and a nice lingering finish. The second is Pelissero "Piani" 1999, Barbera d'Alba (£9.99). This one really bites you in the gums with its toothy tannins, but apologises with fruit qualities that are succulent and complex at the same time. Guaranteed to turn shivers into smiles any chilly day of the week. *