Top 10s Top 10 Christmas wines

Date Published:

08/12/2008

Christmas may not be quite the splurge it normally is this year, though that may be no bad thing (remember last January’s credit card bill). We’re not stinting on quality at 4Food, though, as wine expert, Stuart Walton, offers a range of wine suggestions that are (nearly) all under a tenner, providing smart drinking options for all your dining needs

Aperitif

There is only one quality you want in an appetite-whetter on Christmas Day, and that’s oodles of fizz. Don’t spend yards of money on big-name bubbly. There are some good offers on lesser-known brands out there. André Carpentier Brut is on half-price discount at Tesco (down from £21.98 to £11.98) until January 4th. Buy early, and what you’ll get is a mouthful of fresh, vivacious, creamy fizz that will make a fine party-starter on the day. Alternatively, Griffith Park Rosé is a sizzling-pink, strawberry-scented sparkler from Australia, and a great bargain (Asda, £5).

Smoked salmon

Everyone’s favourite festive starter is a surprisingly tough customer when it comes to wine. Its saltiness and smokiness need a very grown-up, big white (it’ll stomp on that champagne, by the way, so make sure you’ve finished it beforehand). Goats do Roam in Villages White 2006 (the name is someone’s idea of a skit on French labelling – don’t worry about it for now) is an exotically perfumed, headily powerful South African white. It’s available from www.sawinesonline.co.uk at a very reasonable £7.79.

Cune Rioja Crianza

Chicken

Spend a bit extra and get a free-range, golden-fleshed, corn-fed chicken if you’re in the market for good poultry. It will happily rub along with either a rich, oak-tinged white or a soft-textured red. For a white, try the buttery but balanced Extra Special Adelaide Hills Chardonnay 2006 (Asda, £7.12) from Australia. In the red corner, Cune Rioja Crianza 2005 (Majestic, £7.49) is a satin-soft Spanish red with plenty of discreet oak.

Goose

If you’re going for the Christmas show-stopper (crunch schmunch!), you’ll need a big, but gentle-hearted wine. Some strange folks like something white and light with goose, but what works best for me is a soft, velvety red. McGuigan Grey Label Merlot 2007 (Sainsbury, £6.99) from Australia offers a typically generous barrelful of luscious damsony fruit.

Turkey

Despite rumours of its demise in the fashion stakes, sales of turkey continue to remain level from one Yule to the next. It’s a richer meat than chicken of course, and needs a wine with a bit more oomph, but it can still be red or white, as you fancy. A good red would be Côtes du Rhône Réserve, Nathalie Estribeau 2007 (Co-op, down from £9.99 to £5.99 for Christmas), a strapping, spice-dusted, southern French charmer, while Taste the Difference Alsace Gewurztraminer 2006 (Sainsbury, £6.99) is my favourite Alsace wine on the high street, brim-full of musky aromatic piquancy.

Schroeder Estate Patagonia Merlot

Beef

Wheel out your biggest and hunkiest guys with roast beef (I’m still talking wine here). The dense texture and big flavour of British beef needs a correspondingly muscular red. Schroeder Estate Patagonia Merlot 2006 (www.laithwaites.co.uk, £9.99) from Argentina answers the call with supple tannin, mouth-filling weight and lashings of ripe black-plum fruit.

Duck

A duck makes a nice roast for two to share, if you’re thinking of getting schmoozy this Christmas. It needs a bright, fruity red wine with a certain amount of keen but controlled acidity. Bouchard Ainé et Fils Pinot Noir 2007 (Sainsbury, £5.99) is a top-value red freom the Burgundy region. For one so young, it’s remarkably well-behaved, with rounded, yielding texture, gentle oak and inviting red-cherry fruit.

Nut roast

A vividly seasoned, sharply flavoured veggie roast can be fully as rich as what the carnivores all around you are eating, so don’t compromise on richness in the wine. From Puglia, the heel of Italy, comes Canaletto Primitivo 2006 (Waitrose, £5.99). Ignore the slightly cheesy, touristy label and rejoice in its layers of rich purple fruit – and yes, rest assured veggies, there is nothing beastly used in its production.

Canaletto Primitivo

Christmas pudding

By the time the pud makes its entrance, flaming in brandy and ready to add another few hundred calories to the feast (hey, so what, it’s Christmas), you will want something just a touch gentler and lighter to drink with it. Literally nothing works better than a glass of properly chilled Asti. Canti Asti (Morrisons, £4.99), all frothy, grapey freshness, is just the ticket.

Cheeses and nuts

If you can bear the thought of anything more to eat, it’s time to pass the port. Remember the crunch with a bottle of rich, cherry-ripe Taylor’s First Estate (widely available, around £8.99), or else go nuts with the same shipper’s 10-Year-Old Tawny (around £17.99 from Majestic and others, or £12.98 for a 50cl bottle at Asda). It’s a doozy with freshly shelled walnuts, aged Stilton, and the big Christmas movie.

Find recipes for all your Christmas favourites in the 4Food Christmas section.

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