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You are here: Home Leisure Dining & Cuisine Christmas wine and food

18/12/2008Christmas wine and food

With the Christmas countdown clock steadily ticking away, wine expert Mike Croall checks out the Expatica wine cellar as he explains which wines to drink during the feasting.

How do you choose the right wine?

With the Christmas countdown clock steadily ticking away, most people start having some serious doubts as to whether everything that needs doing in December is actually going to get done. 

The journey to work is taken over with thoughts of last-minute shopping, changes to the travel plans you’ve had in place since October, the deadlines at work that keep bringing you out in a cold sweat and the four parties you've got to attend in the three days before Christmas. 

Perhaps you even find time to think about the Christmas menu for the in-laws' visit. If it's a long journey, and you're especially uptight, you might squeeze in a thought or two about which wines you'll open during Christmas dinner.  But maybe not.  So to save you some time and effort, I’ve put together a few examples of which wines to drink with Christmas dinner.  Here goes:

Starters

Pâtés – Pâtés are crammed full of the most exotic of ingredients. Often too exotic to be identified. Nevertheless, they almost all have one thing in common: they taste better with white wine. Especially a sweeter white.  There are a variety of good, robust whites around which fall on the sweet side: try a Riesling from Germany or Australia, a Chenin Blanc from South Africa or, if you can track one down, a Gewürztraminer. For stronger flavoured pâtés you can even give a dessert wine a go (I kid you not). Try a Sauterne or a botrytised Riesling from the New World.

Smoked Salmon – Oily and strong—smoked salmon needs a strong, rich white wine to bring out the complex smokey flavours. Try a dry Riesling, a New World Viognier or, as we're on starters and you might still be on Champagnes or sparkling wines, if you're drinking a yeasty, heavier bubbly keep on going as they’re a perfect match.

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