RAISE A GLASS

Christmas time is a multi-flavoured extravaganza. And without further ado, here are some thoughts on white wine choices (there will be more) to flirt with your festive food choices.

If you’re after zesty palate wake-up calls then you can’t go far wrong with sauvignon blanc.

I sipped the latest vintage of Yealands Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2021 (RRP £12, Marks & Spencer, Waitrose) from the Awatere Valley in Marlborough, New Zealand.

It’s a tastebud temptation laden with pronounced passion fruit and citrus notes which linger on the palate long after you’ve taken a sip. It’s delicious.

Elsewhere, Aldi has Winemaster’s Lot Pouilly-Fumé 2020 (£14.99). This style of wine, also produced with the sauvignon blanc grape, is from the Loire Valley in France. Here this famous grape produces a more understated wine but by no means lacking

in elegant green-fruited personality. The word “fumé” on these wines reflects a slightly smoky, complex character.

Sauvignon blanc with its zesty, high acidity, is a good match for seafood starters; maybe scallops as a treat. It is also smashing with tomatoes if a tomato tart supper takes your fancy.

Tesco Finest Passerina (£7) from Italy is a go-to easy-sipper with white peach and citrus flavours. If you have any turkey left over (of course you will!) this wine will be perfect as a pleasurable pour with a sandwich before you start to make that obligatory turkey curry.

And then... Morrisons The

Best Pinot Gris (£8.95) could come alongside and donate its apple, pear and floral notes to the curry and wine combo. Pinot gris is a riper style of pinot grigio and is one of my shoo-in favourites. This one, from Alsace, has a fleck of ginger spice to add a gentle tickle to the spices in your curry.

Talking of curry: If you sip a wine with high alcohol content, it will have the sensation of making the chilli heat in your curry kick even harder. Be warned, if you prefer your curries on the milder side.

Finally, the grape varieties gros manseng, petit courbu and arrufiac have created a soft, peachy-feel wine with a zest of citrus in Saint-Mont, Les Vignes Retrouvées 2018 (£8.95, The Wine Society).

The wine is from Gascony in the south west of France and it would love to be sipped with seafood, a cheese platter or roast pork.

Jane is a member of the Circle of Wine Writers. Find her on social media and online as One Foot in the Grapes.