Before you lose count, just remember who's watching

It's been a huge year in wine. Good news, bad news, we've had it all. But nothing has stopped the roll-out of one excellent wine after another, to the point where it's been a race just to keep up with it all.
I've well and truly filled my boots, that's for sure - and we've still got Christmas to go.
It's a bit like that 20-something contestant on Australia's The Block who'd had a salami sandwich late in the afternoon and worried "that it'll totally ruin all the decrustacean courses at the restaurant tonight". Bless her.
But I've definitely still got room for the 2010 Marlborough sauvignon blancs; the 2008 syrahs from Waiheke and Hawke's Bay; the delicious Northland examples of chambourcin, dolcetto and pinotage; those tangy, lime-laden Waipara rieslings; Nelson's aromatics; pinots from Central Otago and the Wairarapa that make grown men weep; and swoon-inducing chardonnay from pretty much everywhere.
New Zealand is a tiny country producing a mere drop in the ocean of the world's total wine output but, hand-on-heart, looking back on this year, if we keep producing quality wines the way we do, we'll be a veritable superpower before we know it.
With only days to go until Christmas, the preparations are mad.
But during the crazy scramble to organise who's going to whip up the trifle, who will be in charge of buying strawberries, who's bringing the bubbly, who's dressing up as Santa and who's going to sort out the new potatoes, please have a think about those young, impressionable children and teenagers who will be watching your every move.
You might think that they're not the foggiest bit interested in what the uncool oldies are doing, but believe me they're taking in everything they're seeing and somewhere, somehow, down the line, whether they realise it or not, they will model their behaviour on you.
There's something about Christmas that loosens our grip on what constitutes moderate alcohol consumption.
Just because we're amongst family and we're all dressed in our best clothes and drinking nice wine from the family crystal, we tend to think that somehow excuses us from being labelled binge-drinkers.
You might think it's a hoot having that fourth glass of bubbles while opening presents with the kids that morning or that seventh beer while basting the ham on the barbecue - or that it's a laugh giving your 14-year-old nephew a sneaky glass of port when his parents aren't looking - but it's not funny and that's where our problems start.
When asked how he thought Kiwis could learn to change their mindsets about binge drinking, Mark Young, of wine distribution firm Vintners New Zealand, said in DrinksBiz Magazine: "I think it's part legislation, part alcohol education and part parental involvement in managing their kids' introduction to responsible consumption.
"I certainly have no problem with stigmatising those who do binge drink and making that behaviour uncool in the eyes of the next generation.
"Treat binge drinking like cigarettes - not cool."
Spade Oak well worth it
Grown mainly in Austria, the latest immigrant to our shores is named St Laurent because the flowering of the variety's vines coincides with St Laurent Day in Europe.
It's an early-flowering, late-ripening variety that the Voysey family of Gisborne-based Spade Oak Vineyard have chosen to have a crack at, along with marsanne, petit mansang, albarino and gruner veltliner.
"Heart of Gold" is the moniker given to Spade Oak's single-vineyard range, which is designed to profile little-known varieties from around the globe.
So if extending your palate is on your Christmas list, you could do worse than monitor the upcoming releases from this exciting new producer.
Guilt-free tipple tip
Founders Brewery in Nelson is the go if you're after a guilt-free tipple - it is New Zealand's first certified organic, vegan, kosher, GE-free brewery.
Founders has been awarded some of the highest achievements in brewing over the decade it has been in business.
It is the only New Zealand brewery to have been awarded the Champion Small Brewery trophy at the Australian International Beer Awards, and the company also received the inaugural Morton Coutts trophy for Brewing Innovation.
With five beers in its portfolio, ranging in style from golden lager, American pale ales, German black lager and hoppy brown ale, there is something for every palate.
Fans of boutique brews will also be happy to know that Invercargill Breweries, maker of the sensational Boysenbeery and Pitch Black Stout, now sells online at www.invercargillbrewery.co.nz