Hello my dear friends! It's almost Christmas and we all know that shopping the best wines to serve at your holiday feast can be a tricky task. Not only do you have to consider all of the flavors on your Christmas dinner menu, but you also have to take into account your guests' taste preferences. To help you choosing the best bottles to serve on Christmas, we created this easy guide of incredible wines, including white, red, and rosé options. There are also some classic sparkling wines because we can all agree that there's something about bubbly that's just right for the holidays right?
The party starters
For many, a glass or two of bubbles is the starting point for any celebration and is just the thing to kick off Christmas. From the fruity fizz of a pitch-perfect Prosecco to the golden depths of a fine Champagne, sparkling wine is ideal with canapés and starters, the freshness inherent in both making an excellent beginning. The creamy but dry crémant style is great value and comes from all over France. Here we recommend you Champagne Trudon Emblematis, it offers true gourmet pleasure. It's been designed to be tasted any time with trendy sweet and savoury dishes. We suggest you to drink it at a temperature of 7 to 9°C. L'Bella Brut from Anecoop Bodegas is also a great option. L'Bella is clean and bright with thin and persistant bubbles. It has a nice intensity and feels very refreshing, with elegant notes of white flowers. You can also go for L'Bella Rosé or Reymos on the softly sweet side.
Smoked salmon is a classic way to begin the feasting, perhaps simply served with brown bread and butter or with sour cream and blinis. Excellent drinking options are Sancerre or other refreshing Loire sauvignons, or an oldie but a goldie in the form of Chablis. Push the boat out a little further and Tara from Ventisquero comes into its own, steely, firm and delicious, a remarkable Chardonnay from Atacama dessert. Also brilliant with smoked salmon are Nicte Verdejo Ecológico by Avelino Vegas or Flor de Unx Rosé (Anecoop Bodegas). Other cracking matches come found in the form of the exhilaratingly fresh whites like albariño or godello from north-west Spain. Wines by Viña Almirante are the ones to go for in this case, bear in mind Mar Adentro and the incredible Vicius.
Cheese also has a happy place at the table at the start of the feast. Whether it’s a key part of a tart or grilled or crumbled with a salad, it is a wonderful friend of sauvignon blanc. Alma de Los Andes by Ventisquero or Lawn Chair (Anecoop Bodegas) go well with cheese. Mushrooms are another usual suspect when it comes to veggie Christmas staples, stirred into risottos or made into pâtés and terrines, stuffed or on toast or bruschetta are gorgeous with pinot noir such as Grey, from Ventisquero as well.
The actual dinner
Without a doubt, turkey is one of the dishes that we most associate with good Christmas memories. So when being part of celebrations, surely wine must be paired carefully, so that neither one nor the other overshadows each other.
Like many other pairings, choosing wines to pair with turkey is a matter of personal preference, but certain pairings will enhance the flavor profiles of both the wine and the turkey. Here we give you some recommendations. If the turkey is prepared with a sweet stuffing and cranberry sauce, a young, fruity red will work; for example, a syrah, a merlot or, even better, a blend that includes both. And when it comes to blends you need to look into the unique wines from Monte Quieto such as Enlace or Alegre. These wines are also delicious with roasted or smoked turkey or dark meat. Riojas will also work well. Our pick would obviously be Señorío de Líbano's Digma or Castillo de Sajazarra, absolute stunners!
Perhaps the easiest advice of all to follow comes from wine writer Victoria Moore: ‘the first duty of the wine is not actually to go with the food but to go with your mood: it must be festive and celebratory'. The best advice is therefore to drink the wine you quite fancy at the time. Who is going to blame you for opening the impecable Avelino Vegas 100 Anniversary, the awarded Korta's Family Reserve (Chile) or a bottle of Desquiciado Salvaje Cabernet Franc (Argentina)? Exactly, no one! These are not just great picks but elegant wines that will add flavor, true pleasure and glam to any occasion!
And that's a wrap for today. Have a happy rest of the week! Let's meet again here next Wednesday! Until then... Santé!
Commentaires