You can always rely on dads to be a fountain of knowledge when it comes to certain things. Mine enjoys telling me about his recent new finds whether it’s a type of food, gin or wine.
As Christmas is coming up I thought we should get our heads together with a glass of wine or two and prepare a post for all my readers to help you prepare your wine collection for the festive season. It helps to be organised.
We have looked at the main meats served at Christmas with the aim to find the right wine to pair with it to make your meal that bit more special. The right wine can help bring out the flavour of the food and make it so much more enjoyable.
We all put a lot of effort into making Christmas Dinner and it’s only right we pair it with appropriate beverage options. The right wine can make a good meal taste so much better and help create a wonderful memorable meal.
Turkey
Turkey is the classic choice for Christmas Dinner nowadays, but you may have noticed Turkey doesn’t always have a lot of flavour! Luckily, the accompanying side dishes can help. Think brussels sprouts with bacon, pigs in blankets and cranberry sauce, yum!
Such a mix of flavours works best if you choose a lightly oaked dry white wine with a bit of body. The Australian Semillon blend, Barton Jones Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon 2016 Geographe, Australia works well. It’s versatile with a good amount of citrus fruit.
When it comes to choosing the best red wine for turkey, you can’t beat the classic Pinot Noir grape. Albert Bichot Savigny-les Beaune 1er Cru Aux Gravains’ 2012, France is a great quality vegan wine. This has gorgeous aromas of Morello cherries and blackcurrants, yet is easy to drink without high acidity and features lovely light vanilla overtones.
Goose and Duck
Goose has far more flavour and is juicer than turkey. It needs a wine with good acidity to cut through the fattier meat. A good Chablis will work well here. I’m hoping to get a Domaine Long-Depaquit Chablis 1er Cru Les Vaillons 2015 as it works exceptionally well with either goose or duck.
Italian reds tend to have high acidity so are also a great option should you prefer a red wine. A Barolo with its full-bodied flavour is ideal. Fratelli Ponte Barolo 2012 is just what is needed. It’s aged for two years in oak barrels to produce a richly fruited wine, with benchmark Barolo aromas of roses and sweet tobacco.
Beaujolais or New Zealand Pinot Noir are great red wines to serve with duck due to their acidity.
Beef
Full-bodied reds with plenty of tannins are a perfect match for high protein meats like beef. The tannins help to break down the protein in the meat and the protein in the meat makes any tannin taste silky-smooth. Argentinian Malbec has recently become a favourite of my husbands since one of his friends introduced him to it. We discovered it is perfect with beef as it has plenty of fruit that can stand up well to any flavours in the sauce or jus served with your beef. Altos Las Hormigas Malbec Reserve 2014, Uco Valley, Mendoza (£32.50) will set any beef dish off nicely. Alternatively a classic Claret Château Citran 2005, Haut-Médoc (£24.95) is superb quality at an affordable price. Spoil yourself with this Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot blend which is full of blackcurrant flavours, smooth and rounded with a toasty spiciness.
Pork
Unlike red meats, pork requires a red that isn’t too tannic. As it’s Christmas, Burgundy is the go-to region for decadent wines. Silky smooth with a slight savoury kick. If pork is on our menu this year it’s pretty likely to be paired with Albert Bichot Santenay 1er Cru Clos Rousseau 2015 (which is on offer at £26.90!). It’s a nice light bodied wine that will let you enjoy the full flavour of the pork.
If you are glazing the pork with a sweet glaze such as Cola, aromatic whites with a touch of sweetness are a tried and tested match. I first tied Riesling at The Ideal Home exhibition a few years back when my dad and I visited and loved it. It was so good we ordered a case. Riesling has a great balance of sweetness and acidity and Allram Riesling Gaisberg is a great example with it’s powerful, juicy palate.
So now you have a lovely selection of wines to pair with different meats at your Christmas table to help you enjoy it to the fullest. Which wine do you think you would like the most from the selection mentioned?
Other Posts You Might Like:
Artisan Cheese and Wine Hamper
Merlot Wine Tasting Evening with Friends
Lentil Bolognese Recipe & Wines for Veganuary
Gift Ideas For Wine & Gin Lovers
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Written by Melanie Edjourian.
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I wouldn’t have a clue as to what wine goes with what meat!
I hope this gave you some useful tips.
We always have Bucks Fizz with breakfast and a bottle of Bordeaux with christmas dinner
That sounds like a good plan for the day. I avoid anything in the morning or there might not be any Christmas dinner lol
useful post for guests, as I would love to try some of these.
It’s amazing how well certain wines go with specific meats x
I’m really not a wine drinker, so I leave all the decisions to my partner!
I really love my wine at Christmas, but must admit I always just drink the wine I like and ignore the correct pairings etc. Some good tips here!
Thanks Latoyah for your comment. I think man stick to what they know. A chance can be great too and who knows you might discover a few more wines that you love.
Great post this! I honestly never have a clue when it comes which wines go well with which meats so it’s great to read an article like this!
I hope this gave you some ideas for Christmas Jon. Thanks for visiting.
This is a great post with some lovely sounding wines. I want to try the Chablis, that sounds nice.
Chablis is a great choice, I do love that one myself.
I am utterly clueless about wine so this is so helpful! We will be having turkey and beef and lamb on Christmas Day…does this mean we get to drink all the wine? Haha!
Ha, that could be fun. As with the food a little of each I would say so why not 🙂
This is such an informative post, I will be saving this for Christmas as we are serving turkey, duck and lamb on separate days and I need to know which wine to serve with the meal
I never think to match my wine to my meet. I just go with what I love!
You would be surprised at how well certain food go with particular wines. Something to try in the future x
I have Pinot Grigio with everything haha, I’m not a great wine drinker
That’s nice too. It’s always good to broaden your sampling as you never know what you might discover.
Highlight for me: a lovely dessert wine after dinner! My annual treat!
Oo this is really interesting! I’ve recently started getting into wine a bit more and have to say that my favourite is the muscato grape – it’s so sweet 🙂
That’s a nice one. I like sweet wines too 🙂
As I no longer drink and was never clued up on wine I always struggle to know what wine to serve to guests at Christmas so this post is really helpful, thank you.
No problem. It does help to have an idea of what to serve guests.
I must admit, wine pairings pass me over every time and never know what wine goes with what meals, this was insightful
Thanks Anosa. It can be interesting when you get to try this for yourself x
This is such a super handy stuff to know – I had no idea there were certain wines to go with certain foods!
It’s interesting how they help bring out flavours when combined. I found the High coffee here made full use of this https://melaniesfabfinds.co.uk/restaurants/high-coffee-at-the-intercontinental-park-lane/
I am a big wine fan, I normally stick to Sauvignon Blanc. What would you recommend for someone who is going to be eating vegetables and potatoes only? I’m a vegeterian!
Sauvignon Blanc goes very well with vegetables.
I love picking out wine to go with our dinner, especially Christmas dinner 🙂
It can be fun if you know what you like and what to look for x
What a great idea to match the drink to the food for Christmas – we usually just have Prosecco for most of the day, but I might give this a go this year x
Prosecco is nice but pairing for with specific wines can work incredibly well x
This is really useful, as I can never remember which wine I’m meant to put with different dishes!
It can help to have a ready written list of suggestions. It’s amazing how much it can enhance flavours when combined correctly.
Very helpful as I never know which wines go with what!
It does help to get a few tips x
I definitely need help matching wines to food. This would be great.
I am hopeless with meats and complementary wines.
Now you know what to try 🙂
im not any good at pairing wine and food together so this is interesting
My go to wine is always a Sauvignon from New Zealand, I’m wary of trying new ones as I’d hate to waste money, but I’m going to make a resolution to pick something from your post to pair with next weeks sunday roast. Thanks it was a really interesting read
I love to see posts recommending wines – wine doesn’t tend to agree with me, much as I love white wine. Therefore, I am not very good at knowing which wines to pair with food. Also, just have to say that these photos of the food look amazing xx
I never think about complementing food and wine, it’s usually just what wine I have already. I definitely will think about it more in the future.
You would be surprised to see how much of a difference it makes to select specific wines for your meals.
Christmas seems like a lifetime away now ? and is it wrong that I actually would love a proper big Christmas dinner again next weekend
I have a turkey in the freezer I won after we already had ours all sorted so tempted to defrost and cook next week
Ha, I’d say go for it. It doesn’t have to be eaten just at Christmas – just make sure you check my post for wine pairings 🙂
I don’t drink alcohol anymore for health reasons and haven’t for many years. I like a cheeky soft drink by Green Bottle called Elderflower & Pomegranate. It’s delicious with no hangover. It’s usually the others that choose their wines. I would love to see some nice soft drinks blogs for special occasions too please.
interesting! I never developed a taste for wine, it all tastes awful to me, so this is useful to know for when I serve it to guests 🙂
Great guide I admit to knowing v little about wine so this is useful.
A very interesting read. Lovely to have the knowledge as to what wines pair so well with certain foods 🙂 x