Choosing Wine for Christmas

There are so many different occasions that take place over Christmas and each one necessitates its own particular style of wine(s). 

Christmas is the ultimate party season.  At times it may seem daunting when faced with the challenge of deciding what wine to buy for groups of people, particularly with so many different styles of wine & your guests differing palates for wine, consider also the style of party food that you will be serving during the party. Some simple tips when choosing wine for parties would include: 

• Pay attention to grape variety of the wine and where it comes from.  Look out for fruity but easy drinking whites and reds (avoiding too much tannin in the latter). 
• Use wine that will compliment whatever food you plan to serve at the party.  Fresh whites such as Sauvignon Blanc with loads of juicy and tropical fruit flavour work well with party food, rich sauces and spicy flavours.  For red try soft easy drinking examples such as ripe Merlot or fruity Shiraz. 
• Look out for bargains - At Christmas many great wines will be on promotion and represent very good value for money.  Your sales assistant in the wine store should be able to guide you here. 
• Error on the side of caution with exceptionally special offers unless they are brands you recognise, know and trust.

When buying wine as a gift, talk to the sales assistant in the store.  They should be knowledgeable about all the different wines they have on their shelves.  Some wines will have colourful promotions but before you are lured in by these give the sales assistant some information about the person(s) you are buying the wine for.  Do you know what style they like to drink?  Do they have a grape or country of preference?  If you’re unsure - why not choose something that you like or sounds good to you.  Have the advisor in the shop tell you something about it and its background, that way you’ll have a story to tell when you hand over the wine as a gift, the person who receives it will certainly be delighted that you put that extra thought into your choice.  Most shops should offer a Christmas packaging service where they will gift wrap your purchase or maybe have a nice wooden box to hand.

Christmas Dinner and Wine pairing can be tricky.  Quiet often people will put such hard work into preparing a wonderful three course meal and at the final hurdle fall short with the wine.  The wine you choose for your Christmas should compliment the food, when paring them there should be a harmony between both.  Important things to remember here is that it’s not just the turkey that needs to be paired with a wine but also all of the trimmings, sage or chestnut stuffing, cranberry sauce, crispy roast potatoes etc.  Remember the spicy flavours as well as the bland.  Try to find a wine to compliment all these characteristics. 

If you enjoy white wine try a bottle of Chablis Premier Cru.  This wine is packed full of fresh apple and gentle pear flavour typically complimented further by subtle use of well integrated oak.  For a more substantial white with greater body try a Californian Napa Valley Chardonnay. 

If you prefer red wine go for a wine with juicy berry fruit characteristics - this will work well when up against turkey meat which can tend to be a bit dry.  Nice ones to choose would be a Cotes du Rhône from France, Rioja Reserva from Spain or Reserve (>€14) Merlot from Chile.

One purchase you should make this Christmas is Champagne.  Try some wonderful, quality Champagne with a fresh crisp fruit style and the lovely biscuit-yeastiness typical of all great Champagnes.  Ask in your wine shop or off licence for some recommendations.  Use this to get a party started, for Christmas morning festivities and above all to ring in 2010.

If you’re still stuck for some Christmas gift ideas why not pick up the gift of a Wine Course for your friend or loved one?  We have wine courses scheduled for throughout 2010.  If you not sure that you want to commit to a particular date then you can simply choose to purchase one of our gift vouchers.  These are packed in seasonal cards and will arrive to your address discreetly in discreet plain envelopes so as not to alert any of the intended recipients.  Click here to browse our course dates.

Happy Wine Shopping!

Tags: advice, Christmas, course, dinner, gift, turkey, voucher