The Best Drinks to Pair with Christmas Dinner

We’ve covered the perfect sparkling wine for you Mimosas/Bucks Fizz and some tasty treats to indulge in as you cook but now it’s time for the main event, the festive meal. This is where we tend to eat far too much over a good few hours and to do this we will need various drinks to compliment the courses!

Let’s start with the first course. Canapes and the first course are usually lighter than the main meal and often involve fish, like smoked salmon, or terrine with various types of salad. White wines are usually best here, however, Champagne can be very good with food too, and there are some alternatives which also work really well.

White Wine

There are some white Burgundies which are lighter in style than others, and for a first course, these two lighter Burgundies would be very good. There are wines made in and around Macon which use much less oak in the maturation than most Burgundy wines, and in the north of Burgundy, Petit Chablis and Chablis are mostly fermented in steel rather than oak as well. These wines give lots of fresh fruit flavours and are not too heavy. My two favourites are Chablis by Nathalie and Gilles Fevre, and a Macon by Dominic Lafon.

Nathalie and Gilles Fevre Chablis

Size: 750ml
ABV: 12.5%
Find it Here: £20

Les Heritiers du Comte Lafon

Size: 750ml
ABV: 14%
Find it Here: £29

Beyond the heights of Burgundy, there are some very good fresh white wines for well under £10 that would be fine gracing any table for a Christmas meal. Sancerre is a great place to start if Sauvignon Blanc is your thing, or for a fruity Italian, this Gavi di Gavi is stunning.

Broglia Gavi di Gavi

A great Gavi di Gavi which is good value at £15.99 from Waitrose, but is now on Special offer. Selected by the talented wine buyer Victoria Mason, and from the Broglia family estate, this is fruity with a persistent finish and lots of texture created by aging the wine on lees.

Size: 750ml
ABV: 13.5%
Find it Here: £10

Lucien Crochet Sancerre 2020

A lovely and crisp Sancerre from the upper Loire Valley in France. It’s a floral and zesty refined wine with lots of fruity complexity and will go well with fish or poultry and will even stand up to a game terrine well. A good starter for Christmas dinner.

Size: 750ml
ABV: 14.5%
Find it Here: £20.95

Champagne and Sparkling wine

Veuve Monsigny by Philizot

Created by the Philizot family in the north of Champagne, this is made with all their own grapes and has some cellar aging giving further balance. Fruity without being too zesty, this is a fabulous value Champagne from a well-known maker in France. Their vintage Champagnes can be seen in Michelin restaurants in France, and this wine is a chip off that block.

Size: 750ml
ABV: 12%
Find it Here: £13.99

Veuve Clicquot

A well-known name in the world of Champagne and with good reason. It is rich and biscuity with plenty of fruit and a long finish. It’s one of the best grand mark non-vintage Champagnes to match with food. Well balanced with lots of finesse, this is a super Champagne for all occasions. It’s also easy to find in most supermarkets and online and worth looking out for deals on.

Size: 750ml
ABV: 12%
Find it Here: £45

Gusbourne 2013 Late Disgorgement

This wine has spent an impressive 90 months on lees making it super luxurious with great texture and depth of flavour. There are flavours of toasted oak, brioche, tart tartin and digestive biscuits. It is also very fruity at its core with apples and pears and some apple blossom with a touch of honey. On the finish, a little lemon and ginger comes through. It’s a thoroughly impressive wine which stands up to the great Champagnes and although it’s a little pricey, you still get a big bang for your buck.

Size: 750ml
ABV: 12%
Find it Here: £99

Alternatives to Wine

Not everyone likes to drink wine. And although I do like beer, the decadent beers which might go with the festive season often don’t mix so well with food. I’m thinking of big alcohol stouts here. There are alternatives to wine and regular beers though. And even some non-alcohol drinks which work well with food too. Many Sake rice wines go with food, especially young, non-aged Sake which is fresh. I have a favourite which I think most people will like. I’ve also got a couple of favourite, slightly decadent and definitely festive non-alcoholic alternatives.

Akashi-Tai Junmai Tokubetsu

This is quite a rich, full bodied Sake that will go well with food, you’ll find some tropical fruit flavours like pineapple and some fine honey notes too. Made with 100% Yamada nishiki rice grown in the Hyogo prefecture, it has a polish of 60%. It is refined and traditional and best served chilled as you would a white wine. 

Size: 720ml
ABV: 15%
Find it Here: £27.48

Wild Idol 

A great alternative to sparkling wine. Both the white and rosé options are very good, and you can choose whichever, but I particularly like the white. There is tons of complexity with wild flowers, honey and zesty citrus. There is enough acidity to give the drink bite, so you don’t miss the alcohol. In fact, I wouldn’t treat this as an alternative to wine, I’d have it instead of wine. The best sparkling alternative out there.

Size: 700ml
ABV: 0%
Find it Here: £25.49

Æcorn Bitter

Now a stalwart of the non-alcoholic drinks world, Æcorn has been around for a while and is still the best and most versatile drink out there. It mixes so well with a great many mixers, with tonic or ginger ale being my favourite. With lots of deep dried fruit flavours and very well balanced bitters, this is a great choice for Christmas.

Size: 500ml
ABV: 0%
Find it Here: £17.95

Now that we’ve covered your canapes and starters, if you’re looking for that perfect bottle for your mains, make sure to check out our recommended bottles of red, white and sparkling wine guides.

Words by Colin Hampden-White

Great Wine and Spirits to Gift this Father's Day

Words by Colin Hampden-White

With so many choices of premium sparkling wine and Champagne on the market, I wanted to highlight two I’ve had recently. One traditional, and one non-alcoholic and from England. Both excellent. I have also found some amazing rum, cocktail pouches, a big, luscious, marvellous Malbec, and a couple of gins, one with sweet pineapple and ginger because dads like sweet things too!

Roger Daltray

I first tasted this on release before the pandemic. It was released for The Who on their 50th anniversary and having tasted it again a few days ago, I am pleased I thought so much of it in 2019, because I am still hugely impressed. Sometimes when a celebrity has a bottle made for them, it can go horribly wrong, and the juice in the bottle isn’t that good, but in this instance it is excellent. The design is also excellent giving the impression of a premium product yet not being overly showy. The design holds onto the brand identity of The Who well. The Champagne itself made by Charles Orban, has finesse and intensity. Made with 45% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Meunier, there is good complexity with lots of citrus notes and hints of vanilla and brioche. A percentage of the price of each bottle goes to Teen Cancer America too so should you find yourself with your hands on a bottle, you can sip knowing you are doing good.

Size: 700ml
ABV: 12.5%
Find here: £95

Wild Idol

A little while ago I tried and very much liked the Wild Idol Rosé, and the white takes off where that left off. There is the same elegance of fruit and balanced acidity giving a satisfying drink, not too acidic like a lot of sparkling wine and not too sweet. Lots of floral aromas and delicate fruit give elegance. This is the second time I’ve tried a non-alcoholic sparkling and thought it benefited from not having any alcohol and the first time was its pink sibling. Bravo Wild Idol!

Size: 700ml
ABV: 0.0%
Find here: £35

 

Santiago de Cuba 11 Years Old Extra Añejo

11 years old is old for a tropically aged rum. So when one comes along from one of the best Cuban brands one expects it to be very good, and this is certainly that. It’s rich with lots of fruity esters and brown sugar flavours which perfectly balance each other, there is huge complexity with pineapple, and spices including cinnamon and cumin. A little banana and caramel and a touch of black cracked pepper on the finish. A decadent rum perfect for decadent dads.

Size: 700ml
ABV: 40%
Find here: £39.83

Luigi Bosca | Malbec Selección de Vistalba 2020

This is a stonking wine for the price. Wines from Argentina are always good value as they are subsidised for the UK market but this wine punches way above its price mark. It’s a big rich wine with lots of red fruit and floral aromas and dark fruit flavours. There is some spice and liquorice too. It is drinking now but will certainly age for at least 5 years and is a perfect wine to serve up with a big steak or a hearty bean casserole. You might want to pick up two bottles though because once dad gets a taste we’re not sure he’ll want to share!

Size: 750ml
ABV: 14%
Find here: £16.99

MYXD Dad Box

A box full of cocktails! What’s not to like? Well, not a lot really. Finally, cocktail pouches are delivering very good cocktails akin to one you would receive from a good bartender, and in a lot of cases even better. I’ve been served some pretty dodgy cocktails in my time, and with these pouches not only do you get a good cocktail, but you also get them consistently. Super for sharing and easy to put together. Literally, chill add soda to some and pour. What could be easier?!

In the box:

Long Island Iced Tea where they have combined Flor de Caña 4 year old white rum with vodka, gin, tequila, triple sec, sugar syrup, organic citric acid, lemon bitters and cola reduction.

Smoked Banana Colada combining coconut rum, single cream, banana syrup, coconut syrup and smoky Scotch whisky.

Pinapple & Jalapeno Mai Tai where Flor de Caña 7 Gran Reserva Rum is the star of the show, accompanied by triple sec, jalapeno syrup, orgeat, organic citric acid and pineapple juice.

Popcorn Old Fashioned mixing Benchmark 8-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon, popcorn syrup and fragrant Angostura bitters.

Penicillin combining Benchmark 8-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon with Smokehead peated single malt whisky, ginger and honey syrups, organic citric acid and lemon bitters.

If you wanted to you could add garnishes like orange for the Old Fashioned or Pineapple leaves for the Colada, they make them look pretty, but if you can’t be bothered, they are still going to taste great.

Size: 100ml - 150ml
ABV: 13.7% - 26.5%
Find here: £28.95

 

Bullards Pineapple, Ginger and Lime Gin

Pineapple is a flavour I would normally associate with rum rather than gin, but in this case, it works beautifully giving tropical sweetness to balance the lime and the ginger that comes through to give a little heat and spice. The gin is very smooth and makes a very good G&T, but where it shines for me is with ginger ale. Again, something I’d normally mix with rum or whisky, but with this gin, it makes a great spicy long drink and remains fresh which is perfect for this time of year.

Size: 700ml
ABV: 40%
Find here: £40

Lind and Lime Gin

A gin with a very nautical feel. This is the first spirit to come from the Port of Leith distillery in Edinburgh and is inspired by Dr James Lind who came from Edinburgh. He noticed that patients who had scurvy and were eating citrus fruits were showing good signs, which explains the lime in the gin, and how we know how to cure scurvy today. Not that I think there is enough lime in the gin to cure scurvy! But it certainly tastes good. The cap label says there are flavours of lime, pink peppercorn and juniper, and that’s the perfect tasting note for this gin. It literally “does what it says on the tin”, and with 44% abv, those flavours are delivered effortlessly. My gin of the moment, and a perfect dad day present for a gin loving dad.

Size: 700ml
ABV: 44%
Find here: £34.95

If you still don’t feel like you’ve found the perfect present, have a browse through our wine and spirits pages as they’re packed full of delicious drinks to try!

Two Stunning Pink Drinks

Words by Colin Hampden-White

It’s the beginning of April, the sun is in the sky longer for us in the northern hemisphere, and whilst the temperatures aren’t quite pushing the mercury very high I am starting to think of summer and those long lazy days with a glass of something cool to hand. Recently I have discovered two drinks which I think will become firm favourites in the months to come. One very much an alcoholic drink, although the way it can be drunk can bring the abv down considerably, and another which is alcohol free.

Kyrö Pink Gin

Firstly I want to introduce you to Kyrö Pink Gin. This gin was born from the team in Finland trying to make a pink gin which would please everyone. Now the saying goes that “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time” but this time I think the poet John Lydgate might have got it wrong. This gin has well balanced flavours of strawberry and creamy vanilla with a tang of raspberry in the background. The juniper is very present but not intrusive and there is a little coriander and pepper on the finish too. This is a rye-based gin giving those peppery notes, and all the red fruits come from infused strawberries, lingonberries and rhubarb, which are all foraged. It makes a wonderful gin and tonic and is complex enough for high balls. All in all a great summer drink.

Size: 700ml
ABV: 38.2%
Price: £25.95

Wild Idol

My second pink of choice would be Wild Idol. I have tried many low or no alcohol wines, and none of them really work, so I was sceptical about this as I popped the cork, on what is a gorgeous bottle. It looks exactly like a bottle of premium sparkling wine and is priced as such as well. Firstly, as it pours into the glass, it looks like sparkling rosé, with the requisite mousse and fine bubbles and a bright pink which is not too vibrant to look synthetic, and that’s because it isn’t. Made from several grape varieties and made without the need for removing alcohol the process is pure and gives a lively drink with lots of red fruit flavours balanced with a racy acidity, much like a sparkling wine. It is vegan and gluten-free. Thankfully this is where everything changes from a sparkling wine. I realised that the drink in itself is good and satisfying, giving no need for alcohol or the feeling that I’d like alcohol in it. If I wanted alcohol, I would have poured an alcoholic sparkling wine. This a something which looks and feels special, and anyone not drinking alcohol and served this at any event where others were, would feel no less special.

Size: 750ml
ABV: 0%
Price: £35