The Athénée Palace is an excellent hotel in a very central location and just a 15-minute walk from the Old Town. The rooms were recently renovated and are very comfortable. The staff are very helpful and efficient, the hotel restaurant Roberto’s serves excellent Italian food and the service is very attentive.
The historic English Bar in the hotel is a great place to wind down in a cosy atmosphere. Just around the corner from the hotel you can enjoy traditional Romanian food and wine in La Mama restaurant – very good service and very reasonably priced. And quite close by is a cosy wine bar, Wine Ambassador, where you can enjoy snacks and a choice of Romanian wines, as well as whisky from around the world.
All in all, a very comfortable hotel in a great location. Highly recommended.
We had a wonderful stay at the Athens Gate Hotel in the run-up to Christmas. The hotel is in a perfect location, right in the heart of Athens and close to the Plaka neighbourhood. The Temple of Zeus is opposite the hotel, the Acropolis and the Acropolis Museum are literally around the corner, and Syntagma Square with the Greek Parliament Building is a ten-minute walk away. The rooms are clean and comfortable – those facing the Acropolis are quieter – and the friendly and helpful staff gave us lots of useful advice about getting around the city to see the sights.
The restaurant on the 8th floor offers stunning views of the Temple of Zeus and the Acropolis at breakfast and dinner, and is not to be missed. The quality of the food is very good and the service is very attentive.
We will definitely stay here again on our next visit to Athens.
For traditional Greek food, try O Thanasis in Monastiraki Square, and Ta Karamanlidikka, near the Central Market. And for a wine bar offering a great choice of Greek wines, Wine O’clock, just a couple of streets away on Lempesi Street, is a little gem.
Grüner Veltliner, Von den Terrassen, Winzer Krems, Niederösterreich 2020 (Austria)
This Grüner Veltliner from Lower Austria is a perfect apéritif.
It is a fresh, elegant wine with pronounced aromas of blossom, apple and peach, and a touch of white pepper on the nose, leading to a delicious burst of apple, lemon, peach and nectarine on the palate. A tinge of effervescence adds a little sparkle to the mix and the mineral notes and refreshing acidity make for a very well-balanced wine. This is a dry wine with a lengthy finish which will get your Christmas lunch off to a fine start!
Grove Mill, Wairau Valley, Marlborough 2021 (New Zealand)
This aromatic Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand is a real treat. Pronounced aromas of elderflower, peach, lychee and guava on the nose herald flavours of lime, nectarine and passion fruit on the palate. The layers of fruit are well supported by the bright acidity and lasting finish, and a hint of minerality adds a further level. A delightful wine offering great value for money.
Available from Co-op (£9.50)
White wines
Paco & Lola Albariño 2021 (Spain)
Year after year, Paco & Lola come up trumps with their Albariño to create award-winning wines.
This is a fresh, crisp wine, high in acidity, with aromas of blossom, lemon and apple on the nose, and flavours of apple, peach and nectarine on the palate. It is a well-balanced, medium-bodied wine with a lengthy finish, which matches perfectly with white meat and fish dishes.
Available from Tesco, Sainsbury’s (£12- £14)
Vavasour Sauvignon Blanc 2021 Awatere Valley (New Zealand)
This elegant Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough’s smaller, cooler Awatere Valley is an ideal wine to go with seafood or white meat. An aromatic wine with notes of citrus and peach on the nose leading to stone fruit flavours and a refreshing minerality on the palate, it has a lively acidity, a creamy mouthfeel and a long finish.
Available from Co-op (£11)
Hazel End Vineyard Bacchus Dry 2014 (Hertfordshire)
This 2014 Bacchus Dry from Hazel End Vineyard in Hertfordshire is a real delight. With aromas of grapefruit, elderflower, lime and a touch of petrol on the nose, leading to a burst of lime and peach on the palate, this older Bacchus has a hint of Riesling about it. It is a smooth, refined wine with good acidity and a long finish, and goes well with a seafood or chicken dish.
This delightful red wine made from Rondo grapes grown in Hampshire is an ideal match for the complex blend of flavours associated with a traditional Christmas lunch. Deep ruby in colour, this is a rich, smooth, medium-bodied, well-balanced wine. With blackberry, plum and black cherry aromas, and notes of cinnamon and vanilla, on the nose, and rich black fruit flavours with savoury notes on the palate, it’s a wine with depth and complexity.
This is a Beaujolais from one of the region’s most experienced winemakers, Georges Duboeuf, and it is a very good wine. It has pronounced aromas of raspberry and strawberry, together with hints of cream and blossom on the nose, and intense red fruit flavours on the palate. A light, refreshing medium-bodied wine, with medium acidity and a long finish, it will go particularly well with cold meats, duck or a plant-based dish.
Available from Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Majestic(£11-£13)
Château Caronne Ste.Gemme Haut-Médoc, 2016
This is a well-balanced Bordeaux red from the Left Bank. A Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated blend, it has bramble, cooked fruit and blackberry aromas on the nose, together with hints of vanilla and spice, and black fruit flavours and a touch of earthiness on the palate. A full-bodied wine which will go well with roast meat or roasted vegetable dishes.
Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Pedro Ximénez (Spain)
Christmas is a time for indulgence. And this is pure indulgence! This Pedro Ximénez (PX) from Sainsbury’s is a full-bodied, lusciously sweet wine with sufficient acidity to balance the sweetness and create a long, velvety finish. With aromas of honey, raisin and toffee, reminiscent of a mince pie, on the nose, and coffee, caramel and toffee flavours on the palate, this is almost a dessert in its own right.
A perfect match for Christmas pudding or other rich dessert, and mature cheese, it can also simply be drizzled over vanilla ice cream for another-worldly experience!
Available from Sainsbury’s (£8)
Campbell’s Rutherglen Muscat (Australia)
The lusciously sweet Campbell’s Rutherglen Muscat is another treat. Made from a blend of vintages of Muscat à petit grains rouges (Rutherglen Brown Muscat), it has flavours of fruitcake, dates and nuts, and is a smooth, wonderfully balanced wine. It is a perfect match for cheese or dessert.
Available from Waitrose (£10.49)
Merry Christmas!
Look out for more wine suggestions from around the world in 2023.
Vavasour Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Awatere Valley (New Zealand)
If you enjoyed the Grove Mill Sauvignon Blanc 2021 I recently reviewed, you might like to try this Vavasour Sauvignon Blanc 2021. Although part of Foley Wines, the same group as Grove Mill, the Vavasour Sauvignon Blanc comes from the Awatere Valley in Marlborough, a smaller, cooler, windier and drier valley than the region’s main winegrowing valley, Wairau Valley.
The Sauvignon Blanc wines from the Awatere Valley tend to have higher acidity, with more herbaceous characteristics, and lack the tropical fruit flavours which are often found in wines from the Wairau Valley.
This Vavasour Sauvignon Blanc 2021 is an elegant, refreshing wine with notes of citrus and peach on the nose leading to stone fruit flavours and a pleasant minerality on the palate. It is a wine with alively acidity, a creamy mouthfeel and a long finish, which is perfect as an aperitif, or with a seafood or white meat dish. It also goes well with goat cheese.
Agricola Fuster ‘Dardell’ Organic Red 2020, Terra Alta (Catalonia)
This Dardell organic red wine is a delightful blend of old vine Garnacha Tinta (Grenache) and Syrah from the Terra Alta region of southern Catalonia. Produced from grapes grown on the rolling hills near Tarragona, this is a smooth, refined wine with medium acidity, medium tannins and a lengthy finish.
With aromas of vanilla, blackcurrant and cherry on the nose leading to flavours of ripe red and black fruits on the palate, and a hint of spice and smokiness on the finish.
This can be enjoyed by itself or with grilled meats, roasted vegetables, or cheese.
This Vinho Regional Alentejano is a very good value wine from south-eastern Portugal. A blend of Trincadeira, Aragonês (Tempranillo) and Syrah grapes, it is a full-bodied, elegant wine with medium tannins and a lengthy finish.
Pronounced aromas of ripe black fruits and a delicate spiciness on the nose lead to intense blackberry, blackcurrant and plum flavours, with hints of vanilla and smokiness, on the palate.
Winner of the International Wine Challenge (IWC) Bronze Medal in 2021 for this 2019 vintage, this is a very well-balanced wine which can be enjoyed by itself or with a meat, pasta or roasted vegetable dish.
Now this is an interesting wine! Produced by Renegade Urban Winery, an innovative winery in central London that loves to experiment, it’s a dry-hopped English sparkling wine, made from Pinot Noir grapes grown in Herefordshire. After the first fermentation, the base wine is dry hopped with Sabro, Citra and Mosaic hop flowers. Umm.
The result is a cloudy, hoppy wine that smells like beer with a hint of citrussy cider about it, but the refreshing bubbles give the game away! While the wine may not be to everyone’s taste, it is certainly an interesting drink and if you like to try something different, give it a go. You’ll probably be surprised at first but it does grow on you!
With unique hoppy aromas together with apple and lychee on the nose, leading to apple and citrus flavours on the palate, this unusual mix of grapes and hops is a great experiment, and works really well.
Abbotts & Delaunay Viognier Les Fleurs Sauvages 2020 (France)
Stretching along the Mediterranean coast from Italy to Spain, the vineyards of southern France offer a huge diversity of wine styles, both red and white. Many of the wines of the Languedoc-Roussillon area of this region of France have the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) designation Pays d’Oc, as in the case of this Viognier 2020.
Though Viognier is best-known as a grape variety in the Northern Rhône, where the Condrieu wines are the celebrated appellation, there are significant plantations in Languedoc and this 2020 vintage from Abbotts & Delaunay won Silver in the International Wine Challenge (IWC) Awards in 2022. And deservedly so.
With pronounced aromas of peach, apricot, nectarine and blossom on the nose, and ripe stone fruit flavours and a hint of honey and almond on the palate, this is a fresh, lively wine with balanced acidity. An elegant wine with a creamy mouthfeel and a lengthy finish, this is perfect as an aperitif, and will go well with fish, or a vegetable dish.
Although less well-known as a wine-producing country than its neighbours Chile and Argentina, Uruguay is starting to make a name for itself, particularly for its signature red grape, Tannat. Originating in south-west France, Tannat is known for its dark, full-bodied, lush wines, not unlike Malbec from Argentina. And this Tannat from Finca Traversa, blended with Merlot, is a very good introduction to the grape.
This is a smooth, velvety wine with medium tannins, medium acidity and a lengthy finish. Aromas of raspberry, redcurrant and cherry on the nose lead to a burst of forest fruit flavours on the palate, with hints of vanilla, chocolate and coffee.
An ideal match for a hearty meat dish, or roasted vegetables.
