It Must Be Wine O'clock

Twelve wines for Christmas!

This past year I have particularly enjoyed exploring English and Welsh wines and it has been a delightful voyage of discovery. And so I have also included some choice wines from our fair isle in this list of Christmas wines for you to enjoy either with food, or simply when you are chilling out with your favourite film over the festive period. Merry Christmas!

Apéritifs

If sherry is your favourite pre-prandial tipple, the Don Gaspar Dry Amontillado Lustau has a pleasant nutty and dried fruit flavour, together with a hint of tanginess. It is perfect with cured meats, manchego and olives. Waitrose (£11.99)

If you’re looking for a refreshing sparkling wine to get your Christmas lunch off to a fine start, this Nyetimber Classic Cuvée MV is a treat. With flavours of honey, almond and brioche on the palate, this is a very fine and elegant sparkling wine. It is no wonder it is consistently judged top of its game. Grape Britannia (£32.99, also available as a half bottle).

Or why not try a fresh and light Greek white wine? The Moschofilero-Roditis 2020 from Marks & Spencer’s Found range brings together the floral attributes and zippy citrus flavours of the two grape varieties. The result is a dry white wine with Muscaty, honeyed tones and a minerally, lemon tang to create a well-balanced wine with a lengthy finish. Marks & Spencer (£8.50)

White wines

This Paco & Lola Albariño 2019, described by Decanter as ‘everything you want on the palate, and more’ is a fresh, lively wine with flavours of lime, lemon, peach and a touch of salinity. It is a very well-balanced wine that is a perfect match for white meat and fish dishes. Tesco, Sainsbury’s (£12- £14)

The Camel Valley Atlantic Dry 2020 is a delightful blend of Pinot Blanc and Bacchus grapes. It is a dry, medium-bodied wine with refreshing acidity and flavours of apple and peach. This is an ideal wine for a fish or seafood dish – you can almost feel the sea air and hear the waves of the Cornish coast as you drink it. Grape Britannia (£14.99)

Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Jurançon Sec is a dry wine made from a blend of Gros Manseng and Petit Manseng grapes from southwest France. With flavours of apple, pear and grapefruit, it has medium acidity and a medium finish. This is a wine that will handle the myriad flavours of a festive Christmas lunch very well if you prefer white wine with your main dish. Sainsbury’s (£9)

Red wines

The complex interplay of flavours associated with a traditional Christmas turkey lunch means that a wine with lower tannins will cope better. The Winbirri Signature 2017, made from Norfolk-grown Dornfelder grapes, has blackberry and cherry flavours, together with a hint of toastiness and spice. This is a well-structured wine with medium tannins and a long, smooth finish. It will be an excellent match for your turkey and trimmings. Grape Britannia (£14.99)

A Malbec from Cahors will go well with duck or pork and Le Grand Retour 2018 is a dry wine with medium acidity and medium tannins. It has flavours of blackberry and jamminess, with a hint of chocolate and liquorice, and is a well-balanced, medium-bodied wine. Majestic (£11.99, Mix Six £9.99)

For something bolder, this 1000 Stories Zinfandel 2018 from California is a very good full-bodied wine. It has intense black fruit flavours together with vanilla and caramel on the palate. It is a well-balanced wine with a lingering finish, and will cope well with roast beef or similar strong flavours. Tesco, Sainsbury’s (£15).

Dessert wines

Christmas is a time for indulgence. And what nicer indulgence than a glass of port? Taylor’s 10-year old Tawny Port has a fruity, nutty flavour to enjoy with cheese or dessert, or post-lunch while watching the Queen’s speech. Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Waitrose (£16-£22)

The Australian Campbell’s Rutherglen Muscat is another treat. This is a lusciously sweet wine made from a blend of vintages of Muscat à petit grains rouges (Rutherglen Brown Muscat). With flavours of fruitcake, dates and nuts, this is a smooth, wonderfully balanced wine. It is a perfect match for cheese or dessert. Majestic (£14.99, Mix Six £12.49)

Why not try a Welsh fortified wine? The White Castle Vineyard 1581 is a cracking way to finish your lunch. Or perhaps try it with a mince pie later in the day. Well, anytime really – it’s a delight. A soft, smooth wine with a long finish, it has rich blackberry and plum flavours on the palate. In a word, heavenly. Grape Britannia (£27.49).

Merry Christmas!

Look out for more wine suggestions from around the world in 2022.

Cheers!

A taste of Lisbon

Portugal has a wealth of indigenous grape varieties which distinguish its wine from other Mediterranean wine-producing countries and make it an interesting area to explore. This Porta 6 Reserva (2018) is a Regional Wine (Vinho Regional) from the Lisbon area and is a real treat for the taste buds.

Made from a blend of Tinta Roriz, Touriga Nacional and Castelão grapes, this is a rich, bold wine, with smooth tannins, medium acidity and a long finish.

It has aromas of bramble, blackberry, plum and warm spice on the nose, and flavours of black fruits, chocolate and spice on the palate. A very appealing wine which pairs very well with grilled or roast meat dishes.

Available from Majestic (£11.99, Mix Six £9.99)

Magical Lviv

With the ice-covered trees and city rooftops glittering in the cold, clear air, winter is a magical time to visit Lviv, Ukraine’s cultural capital. We marvelled at the city’s elegant architecture as we wandered through its narrow medieval streets, and enjoyed its cosy coffee shops and trendy restaurants. Wherever we went around the centre of the city, we found something of interest – a church, an architectural monument, a quirky shop, a small museum. Traces of the city’s chequered past can be seen all around the Old Town – the Armenian Quarter, the Latin Cathedral, the ruins of the old Jewish Quarter – so there was plenty to keep us occupied, and with over 700 coffee shops to choose from, we were never far from delicious coffee and cake for sustenance.

Western Australia – sun, sea and great wine …

The Margaret River region of Western Australia conjures up images of warm sunshine, stunning beaches and great surfing. And of course, a multitude of vineyards. Over 200 in fact, with plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Semillon, and Sauvignon Blanc the most common.

The two last varieties, Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc, are both widely planted in the region and are often blended together to create a delightful combination with the light, citrussy character of the Semillon complementing the aromatic and fruity nature of the Sauvignon Blanc. This pairing is now one of Margaret River’s signature styles of wine making.

Vasse Felix Classic Semillon Sauvignon 2020, Margaret River

This Vasse Felix blend is produced by one of Western Australia’s pioneering wineries. A dry wine with medium acidity, it has pronounced aromas of peach and nectarine on the nose, and crisp, refreshing flavours of lime, grapefruit and pineapple on the palate. A well-balanced wine with a medium finish, this pairs very well with seafood or chicken, and would also go well with a slightly spicy dish.

Available from Tesco (£12)

A taste of Crete

For a satisfying, well-balanced red wine, why not try a taste of Crete this weekend? Though perhaps not your immediate go-to choice, wine production in Crete has a long tradition going back more than two thousand years. There are plenty of interesting varieties to try, from Vidiano and Thrapsathiri white wines to the red wines made from Kotsifali, Liatiko and Mantilari grape varieties.

The Kotsifali Lyrarakis 2018 is a very good example of what wines from Crete can be like. It is made from Kotsifali, the classic Cretan black grape variety. This is a grape which typically produces wines which are lightly coloured, with relatively high alcohol, smooth tannins and soft acidity. They are often blended with Mandilaria to add tannin, deepen the colour and temper the alcohol but this wine is 100% Kotsifali.

This is a nicely balanced wine, with red cherries, blackberry and plum on the nose, and raspberry, cherry and warm, sweet spices on the palate. It is a medium bodied wine with medium tannins and medium acidity. A smooth, well-rounded wine which is fine to sit and relax with or enjoy with pasta, lamb or cheese.

Available from a number of stockists, including Cambridge Wine Merchants, Honest Grapes, Thorne Wines, The Whisky Exchange (£11.99-£12.99)

Trick or treat? This is definitely a treat …

If you’re looking for a little treat to help you while away this Halloween weekend, then this Somborne Estate Reserve Red 2014, a delightful Rondo wine from Somborne Valley Vineyard in Hampshire, ticks all the boxes.

Rondo is a hybrid grape variety, created in 1964 when Zarya Severa, a grape variety of Russian origin, was crossed with St Laurent from Austria. Given its hardiness and high resistance to winter frost, it generally fares well in Northern Europe and is widely cultivated in the UK. It typically produces rich, deeply-coloured wines with good fruit flavours. This one is no exception.

Deep ruby in colour, this is a rich, smooth, medium-bodied wine. It has blackberry, plum and black cherry aromas, with notes of cinnamon and vanilla, on the nose, and rich black fruit flavours with savoury notes on the palate. It is a wine with depth and complexity, and very well-balanced.

A wine to sit and relax with, or to enjoy with lamb chops, beef casserole or your favourite cheese.

Available from Grape Britannia (£15.99)

A fresh, vibrant New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc to brighten up your day …

Mud House Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough (2020)

Given the fact that nowadays Sauvignon Blanc is New Zealand’s flagship grape variety, it is difficult to imagine that it wasn’t until the 1970s that the wine was commercially produced in the country. Now, New Zealand is synonymous with this punchy, zesty, aromatic white wine and its flavours of elderflower, gooseberry, and passionfruit.

Marlborough on New Zealand’s South Island is the country’s main centre for grape growing, with Sauvignon Blanc accounting for most of the grape planting in this region. Most of Marlborough’s vineyards are located in the Wairu and Awatere valleys.

Although the two valleys are adjacent, the climate in the Wairu Valley is known for its long sunny days, whereas Awatere Valley is drier, cooler and windier. Typically a Sauvignon Blanc from the latter has higher acidity and a more pronounced herbaceous character than a wine from Wairu. It will also generally lack the tropical fruit flavours often associated with a Sauvignon Blanc from the Wairu Valley.

The Mud House Sauvignon Blanc 2020 gives the best of both worlds: a careful blend of grapes grown in the upper Wairau Valley along with grapes from well-established growers in the Awatere Valley. The result: a dry, light-bodied wine of medium (+) acidity with aromas of apple, peach and grass on the nose, leading to melon, grapefruit and passionfruit flavours on the palate.

A great match for seafood or something slightly spicy, it can also be enjoyed by itself.

Widely available (£9/£10)

Another happy ending …

Hot on the heels of the Californian Bourbon barrel-aged Zinfandel I recently reviewed, I simply had to try the winery’s similarly aged Chardonnay.

1000 Stories Chardonnay 2019 (USA)

‘Years ago, when I was just starting out as a winemaker, it was almost unheard of to get French oak wine barrels and American oak barrels were for whisky, not wine. But we still needed barrels to age our wine, so we purchased new and used Bourbon barrels. Today American and French oak wine barrels are commonplace, so the inspiration for 1000 Stories is a nod to the way things were.’ – Winemaker Bob Blue

This is a delightful wine. Dry with medium acidity and a lingering finish, it has aromas of vanilla, peach and pear, and a pleasant smokiness on the nose, leading to flavours of baked apple, melon and caramel on the palate. It is a smooth, velvety, well-balanced wine, with a lovely creaminess to it. The wine is aged in traditional French and American oak, with part of it also aged in bourbon barrels to give it just that bit of extra character and complexity.

We had it with grilled salmon and it went down a treat.

Available from Tesco and Sainsbury’s (£15)

Autumn is clearly in the air … time for some warming red wine!

Autumn is clearly in the air: as the nights draw in and the temperature begins to drop, it won’t be long now before the leaves start turning colour and it’s time to put on a warmer coat. As we head towards Halloween and Bonfire Night, here are a couple of comforting reds to tempt your palate:

Piccini Memoro Red (Italy)

This is an interesting blend of four grape varieties – Primitivo, Montepulciano, Nero d’Avola, and Merlot from the Puglia, Abruzzo, Sicily, and Vento regions of Italy, respectively. The intention was to create a wine that brings together these distinct grape varieties to represent the country as a whole. It has worked very well; so well in fact that it was awarded a Decanter Gold Award in 2019.

The wine has medium tannin, medium acidity and a long finish. It’s a smooth, refined wine with aromas of plum, fig and blackcurrant, and intense flavours of black fruit, and a hint of coffee and spice.

A great match for an Italian meat dish or a rich pasta, and a steal at £8. Available from Tesco and Sainsbury’s.

1000 Stories Zinfandel 2018 (USA)

If you are looking for a rich, bold wine (14.5%) to accompany your steak, try this. This is a Zinfandel from California, made from grapes grown in Mendocino County, Lodi and Paso Robles vineyards. It’s a wine with a story, and I love a wine with a story …

As the winemaker, Bob Blue, himself says, “Years ago, when I was just starting out as a winemaker, it was almost unheard of to get French oak wine barrels, and American oak barrels were for whisky, not wine. But we still needed barrels to age our wine, so we purchased new and used Bourbon barrels. Today American and French oak wine barrels are commonplace, so the inspiration for 1000 Stories is a nod to the way things were.”

I was intrigued … and very impressed with this wine.

This is a well-balanced, full-bodied wine with medium tannin, medium acid and a lingering finish. It has aromas of plum, blackberry and black cherry, and a hint of smokiness on the nose, and flavours of black fruits, vanilla and caramel on the palate. A perfect match for steak.

Available from Tesco and Sainsbury’s (£15)