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

Christmas Wine Preparation

If you’re starting to put together a to-do list in the run up to Christmas then make sure you include your wine plans too!  The more advance planning and purchasing you can achieve now the more you will save in the final days & weeks before Dec 25th. 

First off, decide what you are buying wine for.  Do you need to purcase for any or all of the following events:

• Pre-Christmas entertaining -
  • people calling around, supers and parties? 
  • How about Christmas Day itself? 
  • Wine/Christmas gifts? 
  • New Years Eve? etc etc

If so then make a list, including any other events/occasions.  Decide what is your budget for all of these purchases?  Whitin this budget how much do you plan to spend on your Christmas day wines?  For most people this will see the highest average spend per bottle.  And why not!  If you’re going to go all out and prepare one of the tastiest and most anticipated meals of the year then surely you deserve to treat yourself with the wine you choose to accompany it?  Adding up all the occasions and events you may need to purchase for might result in a frightening total, but remember that some of those who call round to an event or to visit may also bring wine as a gift too.  Now that you have a list prepared - stick to it!!

Sourcing your wine in advance and buying it in bulk (multiples of 12 bottles) will entitle you to greater offersand discounts at your local wine retailer.  Most will offer 12 bottles + 1 free of charge or 10% discount on these bulk buys.  Don’t let this oportunity pass you by.  Many shops will have complimentary wine tasting events underway for Christmas or maybe a few bottles oopen at the weekends to let you try before you buy.  Similarly online retailers have special packages prepared for any events that may arise during Christmas.  Many ‘branded’ wines will be available on special offer pre-Christmas. With the year that’s in it we are most likely to see some of the best offers in a long time!  Before the usual Christmas week traffic chaos arrives, plan in advance and get out there to pick up your bottles or have them delivered from the internet - many will offer free delivery.  If you can do it now it might even free up your December budget for other seasonal purchases?  Remember these wines are for Christmas - resist the temptation to dip in too early! 

Now that you have the wines home/delivered put them aside and sort them according to their occasion.  Other items worth doing a quick check on include wine glasses - do you have enough?  Keep an eye out in supermarkets for special offer eight and twelve packs - ideal for parties and large groups, especially when there might be breakages.  If you want to get the most from your wine it is worthinvesting in some good glasses.  These glasses will be lighter and have a better balance and feel than the more inexpensive options at the supermarkets.  Avoid ‘designer’ glasses withetchings, frosting, gold trims etc - these look attractive on the shelf but can often be clumsy, while distorting the appearance and flavour of the wine.  Simple glass/crystal with a narrow rim are best.  The narrow rim makes the glass feel far more comfortable as it touches your lips for a sip.  These glasses can be a treat or special Christmas present to yourself?  Look out for Riedel & Speigelau among other brands,  expect to pay about €20 per stem. 

Final checklist should include a good quality wine-opener.  Try to avoid the cheaper ones in supermarkets, these have a nasty habit of splitting and breaking up corks in the neck of the bottle. 

 Instead opt for openers with a wide bore.  These are known as ‘waiters-friends’ and are a simple yet very effective way to open even the most stubborn of corks.  On average these will cost about €12 and will be available from a local wine shop.

Check back soon for the next Christmas update, including wines for Christmas and a review of some good seasonal bargains!

Tags: bottle opener, Christmas, gift, riedel, shopping checklist, speigelau, waiters friend