I have just returned from an early morning shopping trip to the excellent Charlotte's Butchers in Gosforth and although it wasn't on my list I came away with a beautiful duck for Sunday lunch. The next question will be which wine to drink with it?
This is a question I get asked a lot at this time of year as we all start planning for Christmas dinner and all that goes with it. Whilst turkey is still the firm favourite for the big day, lots of us ring the changes with perhaps goose or beef and many (myself included) like to have some ham to have hot on Christmas Eve and then maybe cold on Boxing Day. Lots of different flavours, lots of different wine options!
I’ve listed below some of the more popular food choices together with some ideas for accompanying wines:
Salmon is always a good choice for an impressive starter or perhaps main course and with so much good farmed fish available it can offer excellent value. I like to go with a crisp white from northern Spain (both Albariño from Galicia and Verdejo from Rueda work well) and the lighter reds of North Eastern Italy (Valpolicella or Bardolino) are perfect for the red.
Turkey, like the salmon, is a dish that can suit both white and red wines. For the white I would definitely go with a Burgundy of some sort – try a good village Macon or a Chablis – and for the red something a bit heftier such as a Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot work very well.
Goose or duck always presents an interesting dilema. The richness of the food can go well with an equally full red (think Australian Shiraz?) but I always prefer to go with the elegance of a good Pinot Noir – here the more searching fruit and freshness of the wine acts as the perfect foil to the rich meat. A top red Burgundy is the obvious choice, maybe a Gevrey-Chambertin, but don’t forget the New World; Pinot Noirs from New Zealand are really great and do a terrific job. For the adventurous why not experiment with a white with the duck – something very dry and with excellent balancing acidity like a dry Riesling works well by again cutting through the richness of the duck.
Beef really does need a good red and a top Rhône would be ideal. The warming and spicy character of a Gigondas, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, or perhaps SaintJoseph would do an excellent job – masses of flavour but at the same time exuding finesse.
Again both white and red wines can go well with baked ham (either hot or cold). The whites don’t need to be too big, an unoaked Chardonnay or Viognier are a good match or again a lighter red – Pinot Noir or New World Grenache go well.
Christmas pudding is a huge flavour and texture challenge; with so much going on in the pudding the wine needs to be equally robust and an intensely sweet and rich sherry made from the Pedro Ximénez grape is wonderful – imagine a bag of raisins put into a liquidiser and you will get an idea of what PX is all about. For those who find Christmas pudding too much then don’t worry, PX is equally at home drizzled over good vanilla ice cream!
Whatever you choose, the most important factor when selecting your wines is to go for something you and your guests will enjoy; although certain food and wine combinations, like the ones above, work very well, if they’re not the styles you like then choose something else.
Oh, and by the way I was still unsure about what to have with my duck so I did the only sensible thing and had a glass of dry Riesling from Alsace and then a lovely Pinot Noir from New Zealand. Happy Christmas!!
