Why I’m not doing ‘Dry January’ – and you don’t have to either

While everybody else has vowed to give up alcohol next month, wine expert Rosamund Hall has a few tips on how you can change your drinking habits all year round for a happier, healthier 2024

Why not make a commitment to stop buying wine from the supermarket and support your local independent wine shop instead? (Getty/iStock)

I have never taken an extended break from alcohol for any reason other than being pregnant. The thought of not having a drink through the longest, coldest, darkest month fills me with a deep sense of misery – the sort that can only be fixed with a glass of champagne.

Now, it goes without saying that if you’re in recovery, a heavy drinker, or have encountered some trauma during the Christmas period, then a stretch of abstinence is a great opportunity to reconsider your relationship with alcohol. But if, like me, you’re a contented moderate drinker, then perhaps you should pause before signing up to something that might make you feel desolate. The world is a dark place at the moment. We don’t need to cast an even longer shadow on it.

The roots of Dry January actually date back to the Second World War, when the Finnish introduced something called “Ratis Januar” or “Sober January” – this was intended as a contribution to the war effort, to help conserve resources and promote good collective citizenship. Its more recent incarnation was introduced in 2013 by the organisation Alcohol Change UK, and research indicates that approximately 9 million people in the UK will attempt Dry January this year.

So what does my January look like? I’m certainly not undertaking a month of binge drinking – or, at the other extreme, abstinence. I have decided to opt for a damp –or light drizzle – January instead. I’ll be enjoying some delicious wines in keen moderation.

I actually believe it’s a harder challenge to consider consumption across the whole year instead of taking one month of “detox” and spending the next 11 believing you can “retox”. You are likely to get some short-term health improvements by taking a whole month off drinking, but these will swiftly be undone if you revert to old habits with a large session come the 1st of February.

The fevered pressure on us to drastically change our lives at the beginning of each calendar year can so often lead to a sense of failure if we’re anything other than monastic. We should all be weaving in good healthy habits around exercise, nutritious food and moderate drinking throughout the year, and not see these pursuits as being exclusive to one month.

Really taking time to think about why, how, and what you drink could actually have a much more long-term positive impact on your health. I have been in the camp of “mindful drinking” since long before it ever got its name. I try to stick to the “rule of three”, as summarised brilliantly by Rosamund Dean, which limits consumption to three drinks or less, no more than three times a week.

I often make sure I start the week with a long stretch without any alcohol – so generally speaking, I don’t drink from Monday to Thursday. Obviously I taste a lot of wine as part of my job, but that’s the joy of the spittoon – not that my friends can understand that! And then come the weekends, when I make sure I only drink with food and tend to avoid all spirits (except for the very occasional Martini).

I don’t drink anything I don’t like the taste of, and have become a master of turning down crappy wine at social functions. I don’t want to waste my booze allowance on something that will make me feel bad, and you shouldn’t either.

To aid a shift in the way that you drink, why not make a commitment to stop buying wine from the supermarket and support your local independent wine shop instead? Embrace my favourite mantra: “Drink less, and drink better.” Having worked in retail and hospitality for many years, I know that supporting your local wine shop or bar is vital in the hard opening months of the year. January can be a make-or-break time for small businesses, and you’ll find a warm and convivial welcome if you shop there during the more difficult period.

So before you jump on yet another bandwagon that could leave you feeling bruised when you fall off it, consider whether there’s a different way to approach your relationship with alcohol – one that lasts a lifetime, not just a month.

Rosamund Hall (DipWSET) is a wine consultant and writer