Help! Someone kidnapped my tastebuds! The ducks are out there quacking, the stags are on the roar, mushrooms are mushrooming in the paddocks and the figs are ripe for foraging.
Daylight savings is done and dusted, a serious dent has already formed in the firewood pile and my slow cooker is operating on overtime.
I love winter because it gives me an excuse to wear woolly tights, shapeless jumpers and knitted scarves coiled all the way up to my earlobes. I can let my leg hair get spiky and my shins and elbows can grow as scaly as I please, because, thanks to the freezy season, I don't have to exfoliate to "maintain a smooth, sun-kissed glow" anymore - hurrah!
No more guilt about eating anything covered in gravy because National Sunday Roast Day is fast approaching and I'm showing my ongoing support; and I can consume as much garlic as I want because a) I'm "warding off winter chills" and b) my husband has taken to sleeping in the spare room because of my prickly legs and distinct lack of glow.
Winter for me is all about comfort, however there's nothing surer to inject a bit of sensuality into the season than discovering a seriously sexy red wine.
The $55 price tag might make you suck the air in through your teeth for a second, but believe me, the minute you wrap your lips around a glass of Kidnapper Cliffs Ariki you'll be seduced.
Created by painstakingly combining premium merlot, cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon from Kidnapper Cliffs Gimblett Gravels vineyard in Hawke's Bay, the Ariki is designed to represent the epitome of what they can achieve with Bordeaux-style red blends.
The brand is a relative newcomer to the New Zealand winescape, but Kidnapper Cliffs is actually a partnership between two of the nations most well-known and established wineries, Martinborough's Dry River and Gimblett Gravels-based Te Awa in Hawke's Bay.
Three vintages have now been released and they're shaping up beautifully.
ARIKI, 2009 VINTAGE
Glossy, dark crimson in the glass and perfumed with fresh berry and black cherry notes alongside sweet, smoky oak. In the mouth it is dense, muscular and tightly coiled with tones of graphite, ripe berries, black olive and long, liquorice-laden length of flavour.
ARIKI, 2008 VINTAGE
1/2Intensely aromatic with rosemary, black fruits and hints of espresso and cocoa. This wine's promise lies in its texture - solid, elastic tannins, gorgeous fresh acidity and with pepper and anise rounding out the velvety warm finish.
ARIKI, 2007 VINTAGE
My favourite of all the versions of Ariki is the debut from 2007. Different in that it omits malbec, it is impenetrably inky-black and ever-so-sexy to look at in the glass.
Proof is in the sipping however, and at 5 years old this wine is only just starting to unveil its talents.
Taking on a classic leathery, meaty dimension to the still-youthful fruit, a smorgasbord of dried herbs give an incredibly aromatic layer to this wine and the smoky, sensual oak adds some extra elegance and saucy magic.