Wine to dine

Wine columnist Peter Ranscombe picks pukka plonk to pair with Jamie’s recipes

BLANC DE NOIRS CHAMPAGNE

Waitrose £23.99

Made from pinot noir grapes, this Champagne has all the freshness we need to swim alongside the upmarket prawn cocktail. It also has intense flavours of fresh raspberry, sweeter raspberry jam, grainy brown sugar, and crunchy wholemeal toast to balance its acidity. Great value, but it’s regularly on special offer too.

DOMAINE SERGE LALOUE LES POITEVINNES SANCERRE 2019

Wine Poole £24.49

The posher side of sauvignon blanc. Sancerre hails from Northern France’s Loire Valley, where its cooler climes produce fresh acidity to slice through the prawns and their sauce. This example was aged in concrete egg-shaped tanks, which helps to build-up the wine’s texture.

TE PA SIGNATURE SERIES PINOT NOIR 2019

Tesco £15

It wouldn’t be Christmas without pinot noir, and this year I’m opting for the new world. I’d normally pick Central Otago over Marlborough in the New Zealand pinot stakes, but this bottle really impressed me with its Burgundy wisps of wood smoke, wet earth, and red plum on the nose, and sweet raspberry and red cherry flavours.

MANOS NEGRAS RED SOIL PINOT NOIR 2017

Borders Wines £16.99

As well as being one of the classic tastes of Christmas, pinot is also the perfect pairing for the coriander, cumin and fennel in Jamie’s dukkah spice mix. The wee bit of age on this 2017 from Argentina brought density to the fresh raspberry and sweeter raspberry jam flavours and knitted its sandy tannins together.

10-YEAR-OLD TAWNY PORT

Marks & Spencer £17

Made for M&S by famous port house Taylor’s, this tawny port will make a classic match for the crème brûlée, and will pair nicely with the chocolate orange flavours too. Tawny ports age in contact with the air, so they develop brown sugar, caramel, and chocolate flavours that work well with this style of pudding.