RAISE A GLASS
I APOLOGISE in advance for my first use of the C-word this year. Yes, that’s right, Christmas.
It normally peeps from my keyboard in mid-November and I know we’re only edging towards the end of October, but I celebrated Christmas a few weeks ago. I shared dinner with a lovely bunch of wine people, complete with Christmas hats and crackers. I guess it is a bit crackers to celebrate the C-word in the autumn but it was fun and gave me lots of wine ideas.
I believe there’s no point holding back on the wine love if you can a) keep these ideas for future festive reference or b) ignore the C-word and pour a glass or two with Sunday dinner any time soon.
Here are a couple of delicious
whites and two very tasty reds which you can tuck away for December or seek out now.
In our C-word event we sipped Wakefield Estate Riesling
2016 (RRP £12.99, ampswinemerchants.co.uk, 12.5% abv) with prawn cocktail, but you won’t go wrong with Thai food, fish or salads. The Clare Valley in Australia is its home and it has gorgeous lemon and lime characters and shows some age in classic riesling
notes of petrol. Trust me. It may sound odd but it’s amazing. The wine is clean, refreshing, vibrant and has “pezzang” (a word one of my fellow diners used, and I’ve pinched because it’s a perfect description).
I love, love this next wine. Louis Latour Grand Ardèche
Chardonnay (RRP £13.99, farehamwinecellar.co.uk, Majestic, winedirect.co.uk, 12.5% abv) has the buttery nuances of an oaked chardonnay and is created in the Ardèche region of France, where Louis Latour were the pioneers of this Burgundian style.
I think you can guess we sipped it with turkey, but any roast would be a treat. This wine would sit comfortably poured
throughout a meal. It just fits the bill, with creamy, buttery notes of vanilla, slices of apple and dashes of citrus.
Ooohs and aahs accompanied the sipping of Banfi La Lus Albarossa 2015 (RRP £18.99, weaverswines.com, 13.5% abv) Now here’s a grape I’d not heard of before – albarossa. Its parents are barbera and nebbiolo and it grows in the Piedmont region of Italy.
It has an inky-black colour and a fresh, fruity, lightness of touch. Cherry and plum fruits, and notes of liquorice and vanilla, combine with great structure and acidity to make for a perfect roast dinner wine. (In C-word terms, it even managed to win the complicated stand-off with cranberries).
Finally, Henry Fessy Fleurie Le Pavillon 2014 (RRP £13.49, Waitrose, 13.5% abv) is another wine ideally created to see you through all your roast dinner (and Christmas) wishes.
It has a nose of red fruits, slashes of spice, pepper, and a good acidity. Sprouts, I said. Not in a derogatory way, aimed at anyone in particular, but because it would be a great match to their savoury woodiness. When you roll out the cheese board this wine will also tilt its head to one side and say, ‘bring it on, I’m made for this’.
■ Jane is a member of the Circle of Wine Writers. Find her on social media and online as One Foot in the Grapes.