With Christmas fast approaching we have put together this pairing guide to help you plan the perfect accompaniments to your Christmas dinner. With wines paired to each course or something spectacular to accompany the main course, our wine guide will help you find something to compliment and accentuate all that hard work in the kitchen.
To Start
Smoked salmon or prawn cocktail are classic options for opening the Christmas feast.
Try pairing your seafood starter with something saline and mineral to complement and enhance the taste of the sea.
Domaine of the Bee, Field of the Bee would be a great partner, dry and bright with mouthwatering fruit, refreshing acidity and mineral finish, a lovely match.
The Showstopping main
If you are going for the classic roast turkey with all the trimmings for your main course then a Burgundian white is a match made in heaven. Chateau de Beauregard Pouilly Fuisse is fresh and mineral with honey and grapefruit on the palate, rounded out with buttery toasted notes. Perfect with turkey or chicken.
For those that enjoy red wine with their turkey, you would want something subtle, savoury and complementary so the flavour of the turkey is not overwhelmed, a grape like pinot noir is perfect. Julicher 99 Rows Pinot Noir is spicy and sweet with fruit aromas of black cherry and plum. On the palate, it is rich, balanced and elegant with silky tannins, and a long lingering finish.
Roast ham is another classic main course for the Christmas dinner, generally paired with red wines but we think a rich, full Pinot Gris like Neudorf Tiritiri Pinot Gris would be a great match.
Whether you roast your ham in honey or marmalade, or use spices like cloves, this Pinot Gris will pair with it all. It’s got depth, viscosity, and richness while staying deliciously clean and deceptively moreish.
White pepper, fresh green herbs and ripe mango bound in a lasso of acidity to keep everything in check.
If your Christmas main is beef, be it Wellington or roast, Herdade do Sobroso Reserva Red would be a great accompaniment.
A smooth concentrated red, well structured in the mouth, and with balanced acidity, flavours of mature fruit and chocolate in a smooth and harmonious combination.
This full bodied red is perfect with rich beef dishes.
For those veggie mains like nut roast a robust Languedoc red such as Chateau de Lascaux Garrigue Rouge will work well with the savoury flavours on the table.
With aromas of dried fig, garrigue and liquorice on the nose.
The palate is peppery with laurel, thyme and velvety tannins and works beautifully with not only your nut roast but stuffed vegetables and tajines.
For Dessert
The trick with sweet wines is to pick a dessert wine that is sweeter than your dessert to avoid any bitter aftertaste.
Umani Ronchi Maximo is rich in the mouth, where the elegant acidity fluidifies the sweetness, soft and balanced with clean, refreshing persistence, and notes of candied fruit and honey continually running through it.
It expresses distinct scents of honey, apricot and peach, followed by aromas of ripe fig, candied fruit and citrus. Perfect partner for any Christmas dessert you throw at it, be it Christmas pudding, trifle, figgy pudding or a cheesecake.
For your Cheeseboard
Straight after dinner or later in the evening a cheeseboard is a great addition to the Christmas meal offerings. With so many cheeses to choose from and so many options for wine pairings we have chosen a few of our favourite pairings.
Horizons de La Jasse, a blend of Syrah and Grenache is fruit expressive and generous and would pair well with southern French Cheeses and Mediterranean cheeses. Smoked cheese or Stilon works well too.
Sybille Kuntz Riesling Kabinett is nutty on the nose and shows tropical floral notes with slight residual sugar, it pairs well with salty cheeses like, gorgonzola, gouda or feta.
Quinta De La Rosa Vintage Port shows initial aromas of rose petals, crushed grape skin and graphite belies this wine’s gripping and exciting wild side, though it is counter balanced by seductive sweeter aromas of red plums and ripe raspberries. Again, blue cheeses are a great match, so are red Leicester and mature cheddars.
