There’s a certain amount of (self-imposed) pressure to get everything just-so as friends and family gather over the festive period. Whether you’re throwing a party, hosting the main event, or you’ve been invited to share in someone else’s celebrations, you want to make sure the drinks live up to expectations. Which wine should I pour with Christmas pud? What can I offer the designated driver? Do I need to let my red breathe before I serve it and what does that even mean? How can I stop my brother-in-law squirrelling away my expensive bottle and serving me plonk?
We’ve put your thorny wine questions to our panel of experts: Telegraph columnists Susy Atkins and Victoria Moore; and award-winning commentator and trained sommelier Hamish Anderson. They’ve tackled your drink-based conundrums so you can spend more time doing what really matters this Christmas. Like settling a decades-old score with your siblings. Bottoms up.
– VB
Victoria says: I’m happy to say that both of you are ‘right’. As you so succinctly say with the use of those inverted commas, there isn’t a right and a wrong in wine but there are norms and some wines rub along better with certain foods than others. As with roast chicken, you can very happily go white or red with turkey.
Undoubtedly, wine pairings largely rely on the accompanying dishes, which results in your emphasis on fruity stuffing, cranberry sauce, pigs in blankets and so forth, pushing the balance towards a hearty wine. There are both red and white choices to cater to this.
When considering whites, you might opt for a path through Burgundy. This would definitely complement those who pour creamy, nutmeg-infused bread sauce on their meals. White Rhône and Rhône-style (consider South Africa) blends comprising of marsanne, roussanne, viognier, white grenache and clairette are also adept at handling the Christmas dinner repertoire.
Moving on to reds, grenache-based blends will harmonise seamlessly with all the fruit and pork elements; Beaujolais or a young pinot noir will match the tangy brightness of cranberries; and a robust Bordeaux will keep everyone content.
Of course, it’s not merely about the pairings. The key is to choose a wine that sets the right ambiance. And one that you genuinely enjoy.
<p><em>– TG</em></p>
<p><strong>Hamish says</strong>: The practice of opening a wine and leaving it to breathe in the bottle does very little, as such a small amount of liquid is in contact with air. To substantially change the flavour quickly, you need to decant. For young wines, which are unlikely to have any sediment, this is as simple as pouring them into a clean vessel wide enough to expose a reasonable surface area to air – a decanter looks the part, but a glass jug works just as well. Older wines require a steady hand, and a light source to highlight sediment as you carefully decant at 45 degrees.</p>
<p>How long you leave them before serving varies from bottle to bottle. If you don’t know a wine, open it a couple of hours beforehand and give it a taste. If it is mute, one-dimensional, or overly tannic then a few hours properly exposed to air will open up the flavours and help it to soften. As a rough guide, many full-bodied, young wines (including some whites) benefit from a good stint exposed to air – three hours is usually my starting point. Richer styles or grape varieties need longer, while lighter styles require less time or none at all. So, while I might leave a young Australian Cabernet on the side for three or four hours to develop, I rarely decant Pinot Noir.</p>
<p><em>– DA</em></p>
Susy states: Previously, drivers and individuals who don’t consume alcohol had limited drink choices at special events. They could only choose between orange juice, elderflower pressé, or mocktails. These options are often sweet, which is not particularly attractive during extended periods of eating and drinking. Thankfully, nowadays there are numerous sophisticated non-alcoholic beverages available, including excellent no-alcohol beers and non-alcoholic aperitifs and spirits. However, these are generally quite expensive.
When it comes to wines, while I haven’t discovered a non-alcoholic red that I would exchange for a quality juice, I’ve found the non-alcoholic whites have significantly improved. For instance, there is no-alcohol riesling, which preserves its juicy tang. Some of the best adult non-alcoholic beverages I’ve tasted recently are the new range of sparkling teas from the Copenhagen Tea Company. Keeps in mind that some contain low, not zero, alcohol content. These were created in Denmark by a renowned sommelier, and they exhibit exceptional balance and richness. Expect dry varieties with delicate hints of spice, floral elements, and mild tannins. They should be chilled and served similarly to sparkling wine.
– JL
Victoria articulates: This appears to be two questions in one. The first part is how to stop your brother-in-law from being extraordinarily irritating. The truth is, you cannot. However, you can manage the problematic aspects that trigger you. So, this year don’t bring any wine. Instead, choose something else and explicitly specify that it’s a present for the hosts and it’s not for the event’s consumption.
If there is a silent contract that requires you to bring wine, then take it. However, don’t expect to consume it. Make sure it’s something you would be pleased to be offered if it is uncorked, and spend the amount of money that you think is an acceptable contribution to the day.
Now, let’s move on to the second question: how can you drink something of semi-decent quality on Christmas Day? Although I doubt you’re going to have a high-quality wine, you still have other options. You could take the hard alcohol path: ask for a Gamp;T or a vodka-martini. Propose to make it yourself because you’re picky. Carry the ingredients with you, don’t just hand them over, but feel free to offer to create a cocktail for others. Finally, anticipate the excellent glass of wine you’ll consume at home on Boxing Day.
— CD
Victoria comments: As you most likely know, châteauneuf-du-pape is a denomination in the southern rhône. Red châteauneuf is very expressive, full in taste and high in alcohol content. Moreover, it is composed of a mixture. Grenache, supplemented with mourvèdre and syrah, is the leading variety among the eighteen allowed in red châteauneuf.
You don’t need to look too far away to discover something similar; there are several other names in the southern Rhône region that produce red wines with similar notes of sweetly fragrant red berries and garrigue herbs. You might want to sample from gigondas, cairanne, vinsobres or rasteau. By all means, give a côtes du rhône a try. Or perhaps a lirac, which hails from similar soil composition on the opposite side of Rhône river, albeit its often more laden with dark fruits compared to châteauneuf.
But don’t feel restricted to Rhône. Explore a GSM (grenache-syrah-mourvèdre) from other regions. There are very impressive versions found in the Languedoc, or you could cast your net towards South Africa or Australia. These wines complement Christmas dinner exceptionally well as they carry enough weight for all the fruit-filled, porcine flavors present in the stuffings and sauces.
– DA
Susy speaks: There are a good number of opportunities throughout the festive season that warrant a glass of port. Ruby ports, generally known for their relaxed nature, brimming with juicy red cherries and a hint of pepper, are a perfect pairing with mince pies and Christmas cake, or even stollen or gingerbread. These are the types of port wines you’d want to splash into your mulled wine or add to a beef or venison casserole for that extra depth of flavor.
Late bottled vintage (LBVs) and vintage ports are my preferred choices for enjoying alongside a festive cheese board, perfect for festive occasions like Christmas Eve or Boxing Day. To truly savor the ports, decant them to improve their aroma and remove any sediment. Dress up your cheese board with an assortment of crackers, fresh and dried fruits, and certainly, include the classic Stilton cheese.
However, if I were to single out my top-most pairing, it would undoubtedly be tawny port with chocolate. It has been a custom in our household to chill a bottle of this delightful port over Christmas, serving it with a box of exquisite dark chocolates. Not only does it pair well with chocolate desserts, but it also enhances the flavors of nutty and toffee puddings. The unique blend of mellow, creamy, caramel, and orange peel undertones in a tawny port goes famously well with grand desserts like profiteroles.
– WF
Hamish points out: The mere act of uncorking a bottle of wine and pouring a glass introduces oxygen into the liquid, initiating its degradation. The aroma and flavor of a wine left uncorked for too long tend to decay, resulting in a less fruity and vibrant taste — it’s not necessarily undrinkable, but nowhere near as favorful. If left for even longer, one can detect oxidative notes: with whites you’ll get a nutty flavor akin to some sherries, whereas in reds, the fresh fruit tones transform into a dried character, resembling prunes or raisins.
While there are plenty of preservation systems out there, they cannot undo what has already happened – at best they buy you an extra day or two by stopping more contact with air. If you have a vacuum pump, a device that sucks air out of an open bottle via a plastic stopper, use it. Failing that, close the bottle with its original seal.
If you have had a party and are left with multiple open bottles of the same wine, decant them into each other so you end up with full bottles, reducing the amount of wine in contact with air. Aim to use them up within a couple of days. Light-bodied or older wines don’t last as long as young or full-bodied ones so drink those first. Port will keep in good condition for around five days, since the extra sugar and alcohol act as preservatives.
It is worth investing in inexpensive sparkling wine stoppers to use on open bottles of fizz. They won’t stop the wine oxidising but will help to maintain bubbles for a few days, longer if the bottle is nearly full. A teaspoon inserted into the neck of an open bottle, silver or not, does nothing. Two systems I would recommend are Coravin (from £129.99), which ingeniously extracts wine from a bottle without letting air in and will preserve the contents for weeks, months or even years. The other is Eto (from £129), an elegant decanter that does a fine job of stopping further contact with air and should help your wine to last for about a week; use it as soon as you open a bottle for best effect.
– JS
Susy says: It’s a tall order for one wine to be the perfect match for three desserts which are so very different in flavours and textures. The clementine trifle would, ideally, be paired with a tangy, golden dessert wine such as Bordeaux’s sauternes, while the Christmas pudding and Yule log can take a richer, more sticky wine like tawny port, Australian liqueur muscat or Hungary’s sublime tokaji.
But you are looking for a more versatile sweet wine and I’ve got two styles to suggest. First, the vins doux naturels made from muscat in southern France, such as those from Rivesaltes or Beaumes-de-Venise. These are lightly fortified so although they taste fresh, they can have deliciously concentrated flavours of apricot and crystallised citrus fruit that match a range of sweet treats. Chill them lightly and pour 75 millilitres into white wine glasses.
My other suggestion is Sicily’s marsala, a lovely fortified wine made from local grapes and aged for up to ten years. It pairs well with with mince pies and Christmas pudding as well as chocolate desserts. It can take on a trifle too and I love it with a slice of fruit-studded panettone.
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