Festive Wine

Christmas and New Year celebrations are often the ‘excuse’ to treat ourselves to that special bottle of wine that we have had our eye on all year. So if you are going to spend an extra bit of cash on that bottle what would you expect to get for your money?

Festive wine – a better quality wine?

If you usually go for Pinot Grigio you like your wine light in body, refreshing, with delicate flavours, so what are the alternatives? Of course you could spend that extra one or two pounds on a better quality bottle of Pinot Grigio, so what makes a wine better quality? The most straightforward way to think about this is how much attention to detail has the grape-grower and winemaker put into producing that bottle; the more care taken, especially in the vineyard, the more flavour character you will get in your wine. So that bottle of Pinot Grigio which may taste of rather neutral fruit flavours, with perhaps a bit of green apple and citrus, will now have more definite characteristics of apple, lemon, and perhaps some peach and floral notes too. So more flavour in your wine means, perhaps, you ponder over the glass a little longer and, therefore, have made the most of your extra spend.

Festive wine – an alternative choice?

If you are in the mood for moving out of your comfort zone of the Pinot Grigio, there are so many alternatives and often better value because they are not as ‘famous’, so the price is more about the quality in the bottle rather than the name (brand) Pinot Grigio.

So to keep things uncomplicated let us stay in Italy, where the majority of the Pinot Grigio we are buying at the moment is coming from―in particular the Veneto region in the North East. Italy has plenty of other white grapes that also produce dry, light bodied, refreshing, delicately flavoured wines. So here are a few to get you started:

Soave― look for the ones that are called Soave ‘Classico’, coming generally from the better vineyards so producing more tasty grapes and, therefore, wine.

Gavi―look for Gavi di Gavi for that extra depth of flavour and a more interesting drop.

Verdicchio―where the previous two suggestions name their wines after the place that they come from, this is a grape. So on the label you will see for example Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi and again if you opt for the less expensive versions you will get what you pay for, less expressive; spend around £7.99 (2014 prices) on this wine and you will get some lovely extra fruit flavours and potentially herbal and floral hints too.

Other festive wine alternatives

For oaky-Chardonnay lovers consider a barrel-fermented Chenin Blanc from South Africa; an oaked example of a Pessac-Leognan white wine from Bordeaux; or just explore other regions that specialise in this style of Chardonnay; Burgundy regions such as Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet; Los Carneros in California; Hawkes’ Bay in New Zealand; or Yarra Valley in Australia, to name but a few. Alternatives for Sauvignon Blanc lovers are as diverse as Bacchus mainly found in England; or Albarino found in North West Spain; further suggestions and explanation can be found in my blog from July 2013 – white wine with meat

Festive wine – an alternative red wine?

Many red wine lovers have already been exploring the Malbec grape which has recently become more prominent in the U.K., probably thanks to Argentina’s fabulous offerings; if you want to explore outside of Argentina then the region of Cahors in South West France is now shouting ‘Malbec’ on the label too, so easier to spot those ones as well.

For a lighter style of red there are plenty to choose from also: it is best to stick with the cooler regions of the world outside of Europe so look for Pinot Noir from Oregon in the United States and Central Otago in New Zealand, but the list is more extensive than that of course. The best way to really explore your favourite styles beyond what you usually pick is, in my opinion, by heading to your local independent wine merchant and have a chat with them, they will be more than happy, and knowledgeable, to do that.

Festive wine – wine pairing with the food

As explained in previous blogs on our website think about how flavoursome your dinner is and then upgrade the intensity of your wine to stand-up to the dish. Our blog on Thanksgiving wine pairing gives you a good overview of how to pair a roast turkey dinner (but this can apply to any roast dinner–chicken, beef, pork, lamb, nut-roast) to suit your palate. This provides you with suggestions (and why) of wines such as Vouvray, Alsace Pinot Gris, Syrah blends, and wines from Portugal, and so on.

Festive wine – Port and Sherry

This is a subject I could wax lyrical about for days on end and so I will try to keep it simple. I have found that over the years of teaching the WSET courses that Sherry is too much of a shock to most beginners for them to love it, or even like it, straightaway; but I do usually get at least a couple of people enjoying this new experience. Port is typically more of a winner, especially for those with a sweet tooth!

Port and Sherry are wines, so should be drunk like wine and more importantly not kept in the cupboard year after year! Sherry comes in many styles, far too many to explain here so I will talk about five of them, two dry and three sweet. The two main dry styles are Fino (Manzanilla) and Oloroso, the former being a fresh style which has wonderful aromas of fresh bread and almonds, Oloroso has been deliberately oxidized to give delicious balsamic, leather and walnut characters―very different, but both dry. Some prefer the sweeter styles so for a sweet version of a Fino look for Pale Cream, and an Oloroso for Cream Sherry. The sweetest of all is the PX Sherry which is deep brown, very sweet, and incredibly rich, with very strong flavours of figs, dates, and chocolate. So to conclude Sherry will potentially pair with just about any style of food―definitely a blog for another day.

Port on the other-hand is sweet, full bodied, high in alcohol, and strong in flavour. Again there are many styles but to take two for comparison, a Reserve ‘Ruby’ Port is full of ripe red and black fruit characters, whereas in contrast, Reserve ‘Tawny’ Port is of the oxidized style so tastes of walnuts, coffee, and caramel. These both work fabulously with strong flavoured food, but imagine your Christmas pudding and Stilton cheese with either style, oh what a treat!

Festive wine – fizz!

As with Sherry and Port, sparkling wines vary too, with the two main styles being the fruity and fizzy expression, or the fruity, fizzy and toasty examples.

So if you are a Champagne fan then at this time of year the special offers are rife on sparkling wine, in particular Champagne, but if you are going for that ‘special’ bottle what you are looking for may not be discounted. For Champagne perhaps your purse will stretch to a Vintage version, for my wedding anniversary my husband and I recently enjoyed a 2006 rosé, where you definitely get that extra quality for your buck. Outside of Champagne the French are making wonderful equivalents, look for the word ‘Crémant’ on the label, telling you it is made in the same mode. Outside of Europe the Champenoise have set up shop in places such as Argentina and Australia, but also the locals are making lovely wines, look for the term ‘Traditional Method’ on those labels, and never forget here in Hampshire and other English counties we make award-winning sparkling wines definitely worth searching out.

The fruity and fizzy ones are wines such as Prosecco and Asti. Prosecco is doing fabulously well at the moment but if you want a bit of sweetness in your wine (well quite a lot really) then look for Asti or Moscato d’Asti with the latter one being just slightly fizzy, with both being extremely fruity. We taste the frizzante (less sparkling) version on our WSET Level 2 courses and it goes down really well! How about it as an alternative to the glass of Bucks Fizz?!?

Whatever you are drinking do have a wonderful time exploring and discovering new wines, cheers!

Festive Wine by Erica Dent AIWS, Enjoy Discovering Wine