The Lemon Fool

Please tell me the wine you plan to serve with Christmas Dinner (and is it with turkey or something else...)

I know nothing about wine so thought I'd crowd source some ideas from folks who know better.

Thank you!

Hypster wrote:Please tell me the wine you plan to serve with Christmas Dinner (and is it with turkey or something else...)

I know nothing about wine so thought I'd crowd source some ideas from folks who know better.

Thank you!

Probably the wine I'm drinking tonight which is 19 Crimes. Normally £9 but currently on offer at £7.25 at Sainsburys. Christmas day probably deserves better but if I tried buying something fancy pants it would be a pin sticking exercise so I'm happy to stick to something reliably quaffable.

Christmas Day can be complicated - there's so much going on that although in theory it is the day for the grandest wines, in practice they can get overlooked a bit. Also the audience is not always the most appreciative of the fancy stuff, so it can work better to save the fancy stuff for smaller, quieter meals either side of the big day.

Turkey is so bland that you can let the accoutrements play more of a part in the wine choice. It's not wrong to have a big white like New World chardonnay, but given all the extras I would go for a light red like posh Beaujolais or a Loire red like Chinon. We have goose which needs something meatier from the Rhone or a New World rhone blend.

Personally I don't think trad dessert wine like Sauternes goes particularly well with Christmas pud - but fortified muscat, like Beaumes de Venise, goes brilliantly with it, particularly with some bottle age.

Dicky99 wrote:

Hypster wrote:Please tell me the wine you plan to serve with Christmas Dinner (and is it with turkey or something else...)

I know nothing about wine so thought I'd crowd source some ideas from folks who know better.

Thank you!

Probably the wine I'm drinking tonight which is 19 Crimes. Normally £9 but currently on offer at £7.25 at Sainsburys. Christmas day probably deserves better but if I tried buying something fancy pants it would be a pin sticking exercise so I'm happy to stick to something reliably quaffable.

Tried that once. Once was enough: drinkable, but not much more. Much rather drink many others, such as the Portuguese red I had with my gratinated mushrooms this evening.

Which just goes to show, tastes differ. If you have no confidence to make a selection, perhaps delegate the task to one of your guests who has (or at least professes) the relevant expertise?

One other possible tip (though on a longer timescale) to educate yourself: sample several of your local supermarket's labelled "best", "taste the difference", or whatever-they-call-it range (stick to the cheaper wines unless money's no object). If you find a supermarket where you usually like such wines, you can (tentatively) infer that your taste aligns with that supermarket's buying team. Now you have a source you can draw more on.

Hallucigenia wrote:Personally I don't think trad dessert wine like Sauternes goes particularly well with Christmas pud - but fortified muscat, like Beaumes de Venise, goes brilliantly with it, particularly with some bottle age.

For a highly indulgent midwinter sweet course, surely a port! Doubles up for a cheese course.

Can't speak for turkey. Never liked it, even before I gave up meat half a lifetime ago..

UncleEbenezer wrote:

Hallucigenia wrote:Personally I don't think trad dessert wine like Sauternes goes particularly well with Christmas pud - but fortified muscat, like Beaumes de Venise, goes brilliantly with it, particularly with some bottle age.

For a highly indulgent midwinter sweet course, surely a port! Doubles up for a cheese course.

Can't speak for turkey. Never liked it, even before I gave up meat half a lifetime ago..

Another vote for Port.

We never do turkey either. except for turducken. Goose is always good, and game if you can get it. I wanted to roast an entire salmon one year but that attracted a spousal veto.

We spend quite a few Christmases in the US and there it is ham, since turkey is for Thanksgiving AKA Gobble Day.

Catering for six.

Money no object it would be a couple of botles of Beaune, however I doubt I will pay the price, the one I looked at today was £37!!!. I instead picked up a bottle of Corbieres earlier today for £9.95, if we like it then a couple of those for the day if not maybe Malbec or St Emilion. Often, as long as opened early enough and up to room temp ,the label matters less if right temp.

Pre meal will be fizzy, likely Proseco, a glass each

I have a Chateu Neuf de Pap white lying about so a glass of that each with the starter (not sure what precisely but likely prawns, salmon and scallop based), the reds above with the main (turkey) plus a bottle or two of other white (no idea what but dryish) as daughter is not keen on red, whereas my wife and I generally prefer red. Quantities of each depends on who is drinking what, at end of the day what is opened but left makes Boxing day mellow.

We always have around port, sherry, liquers plus cognac, whisky etc, so likely company will descend on to these for dessert/cheese. (Though other half will maybe go for chilled aquavit and if I can get hold of some Swedish Flagpunsch she may have that instead) We have no drivers.

Re malt post meal likely Jura (I currently have an opened rum cask bottle), or something with peat smoke from Islay(it will likely only be me on the whisky) .Christmas is the one day I can have a cigar in the house so post meal will retire upstairs to music room (all my vinyl) likely taking my brother in law, the whisky bottle , a jug of water and whatever he is drinking.

We maybe come across as drinking a tad much but Christmas is when I do have a drink, strangely for a Scot I tend to drink very little at New Year but do really enjoy wine with a meal.

UncleEbenezer wrote:

Hallucigenia wrote:Personally I don't think trad dessert wine like Sauternes goes particularly well with Christmas pud - but fortified muscat, like Beaumes de Venise, goes brilliantly with it, particularly with some bottle age.

For a highly indulgent midwinter sweet course, surely a port! Doubles up for a cheese course.

Nah - port (at least good port) doesn't go with Christmas pud nearly as well as fortified muscat does. The fruit in port just isn't quite right, whereas the muscat has those raisiny flavours that harmonise perfectly with the Christmas pud, it's one of the all-time great food/wine pairings.

Aussie ones tend to be a bit heavier and more intense which isn't really what I want so much as the French ones which are a bit lighter on their feet.

Port tends to be one of those things that gets opened the night before and mostly gets hit on Christmas evening, but we don't bother with at lunch (ditto cheese) as generally people have just had enough by then.

Lootman wrote:

UncleEbenezer wrote:For a highly indulgent midwinter sweet course, surely a port! Doubles up for a cheese course.

Can't speak for turkey. Never liked it, even before I gave up meat half a lifetime ago..

Another vote for Port.

We never do turkey either. except for turducken. Goose is always good, and game if you can get it. I wanted to roast an entire salmon one year but that attracted a spousal veto.

We spend quite a few Christmases in the US and there it is ham, since turkey is for Thanksgiving AKA Gobble Day.

Have a good recipe for salmon with cream cheese (Phillii plus lemon juice)in a pastry wreath, can be a bit heavy as a starter but eat cold so easier to shuffle cooking times. These days I tend to go lighter with say thin sliced brown bread, butter, smoked salmon, prawns and scallop ceviche with lime jelly cubes and lots of lemon juice and pepper.

As a kid Ham and Silverside was the customary choice for New Year, these days we tend not to bother.

Hallucigenia wrote:

UncleEbenezer wrote:For a highly indulgent midwinter sweet course, surely a port! Doubles up for a cheese course.

Nah - port (at least good port) doesn't go with Christmas pud nearly as well as fortified muscat does. The fruit in port just isn't quite right, whereas the muscat has those raisiny flavours that harmonise perfectly with the Christmas pud, it's one of the all-time great food/wine pairings.

Aussie ones tend to be a bit heavier and more intense which isn't really what I want so much as the French ones which are a bit lighter on their feet.

Port tends to be one of those things that gets opened the night before and mostly gets hit on Christmas evening, but we don't bother with at lunch (ditto cheese) as generally people have just had enough by then.

Who ever gets to the Christmas Pudding!!!! Also try white Port for a change, much lighter.

Hypster wrote:
Please tell me the wine you plan to serve with Christmas Dinner (and is it with turkey or something else...)

I know nothing about wine so thought I'd crowd source some ideas from folks who know better.

I'm a big Malbec fan, so if you're looking for a nice red that will go down well with a broad number of people then I don't think you'll go far wrong with a bottle or two of Trivento Reserve Malbec, which currently looks to be on offer at Tesco with a club-card price of just £7 a bottle -

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/278363743

A few years ago I took a couple of bottles to a leaving party/meal at a colleagues house, and it was the only bottle in the room that a number of people asked about, as they liked it so much.

We always have a bottle on the table for Christmas day, and another in the kitchen for later on.

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

Last week we went to a Majestic tsting event - lots of wines in the £20-£30 ragion, designed to tempt us into something nice for Xmas.

There was only 1 I would buy again (a Rioja Gran Reserva), of the rest one I might try at a tenner, and the others were just 'meh'. A Chablis, a Bordeaux, all 'good' wines but not to our taste.

So like many others, we stick with what we know. Which is fine, if you know what you like. You don't need to know anything about wine, just what wines you like. We like Robust reds and fairly crisp whites.

19 Crimes has been mentioned above - but for me it has to be the slightly more expensive "Uprising" oneaged in Oak whiskey barrels. Trivento is another we like, the black label one "Reserve" is slightly better than the whte, but the gold label £14 one isn't any better IMO. Mucho Mas has not Mucho about it.

Want a rich white for with smoked salmon or prawn sauce - try a Viognier, supermarket own label posh range, or a White Rioja, want crisp and dry then a Sauvignon Blanc like Squealing Pig, Villa Maria, Waimara, etc (not the 19 Crimes Sauv, for some reason it doesn't 'grab' us). Want an old school 1980s Oaked Chardonnay then 19 Crimes Chard or the Italian (not that you'd guess) The Wanted (white label, Gold writing, in Asda for £8 at the moment.

Really rich and fruity? - The Wanderer Malbec. Black bottle, gold writing, gone up to about £12.50 but generally on offer for a tenner.

Alternatively try Majestic - there are usually 8 open to taste, and their "Definition" range is usually pretty good. But if you do go make sure you get a bottle of The Governer Spanish red

Paul

Hypster wrote:Please tell me the wine you plan to serve with Christmas Dinner (and is it with turkey or something else...)

I know nothing about wine so thought I'd crowd source some ideas from folks who know better.

Thank you!

Personally, I would drink whatever your favourite wine is. Trying to pair wine with a traditional Christmas dinner is pretty pointless, so stick to drinking wine you enjoy would be my advice. However, generally a light red wine works better with turkey and trimmings. Hal mentioned Chinon, which is a decent shout.

Me and the better half are on our own this Christmas Day which means only the finest wines will be drunk because less is more for us these days i.e.drink less, spend more. By the end of Boxing Day, the wine rack will be lighter a Bollinger Grand Annee from the mid 90’s, a bottle of Morey Saint Denis’s finest, and a bottle of Chassagne-Montrachet only just coming into its drinking window. No idea what we’re eating yet, probably local wild Venison.

If it's a turkey dinner, I like a sparkling wine. One that I can enjoy a pre lunch glass and drink with the Christmas Dinner. Presently I favour Jansz Premium NV. A traditional method sparkler from Tasmania. Usually around £15 a bottle. I look out for it and buy a few if I see it on offer somewhere.

BullDog wrote:If it's a turkey dinner, I like a sparkling wine. One that I can enjoy a pre lunch glass and drink with the Christmas Dinner. Presently I favour Jansz Premium NV. A traditional method sparkler from Tasmania. Usually around £15 a bottle. I look out for it and buy a few if I see it on offer somewhere.

I visited the Jansz winery when I was travelling around Tasmania 10 years ago. All of their range is excellent quality for the price. More generally, Tasmania is a great place to grow Chardonnay.

When invited to dinner parties (and once a neighbours' Christmas dinner) I sometimes take a bottle with all the labels taken off, and invite fellow guests to pass judgment - having spun a yarn about the cellar I found it in years beforehand admitting I'm not sure what it is myself for just such a fine occasion. The greater wine snobbery on display, the lesser the ability to spot an unmarked Tesco Vin de Table, I have noticed. I'll often take an unmarked Cremant, to be asked "Ooh that's nice Champagne..".

Well, cremant is typically as good as Champagne.

Dicky99 wrote:

Hypster wrote:Please tell me the wine you plan to serve with Christmas Dinner (and is it with turkey or something else...)

I know nothing about wine so thought I'd crowd source some ideas from folks who know better.

Thank you!

Probably the wine I'm drinking tonight which is 19 Crimes. Normally £9 but currently on offer at £7.25 at Sainsburys. Christmas day probably deserves better but if I tried buying something fancy pants it would be a pin sticking exercise so I'm happy to stick to something reliably quaffable.

19 crimes is quite quaffable..one if you wife'sfavourites. However the coffee tinged version is truly disgusting.

monabri wrote:

Dicky99 wrote:
Probably the wine I'm drinking tonight which is 19 Crimes. Normally £9 but currently on offer at £7.25 at Sainsburys. Christmas day probably deserves better but if I tried buying something fancy pants it would be a pin sticking exercise so I'm happy to stick to something reliably quaffable.

19 crimes is quite quaffable..one if you wife'sfavourites. However the coffee tinged version is truly disgusting.

I've just this evening enjoyed a glass (or two) of 19 Crimes for the first time, and found it most enjoyable. Very good value at the Tesco price less 25% and shall look out for it again.

Watis

Watis wrote:

monabri wrote:
19 crimes is quite quaffable..one if you wife'sfavourites. However the coffee tinged version is truly disgusting.

I've just this evening enjoyed a glass (or two) of 19 Crimes for the first time, and found it most enjoyable. Very good value at the Tesco price less 25% and shall look out for it again.

Watis

Reading my earlier post it looks like I've been imbibing! I meant " a favourite of my wife's! "