Three Wine Recommendations for Christmas

Choosing wines for Christmas can often be difficult, with so many choices and vintages, what will pair well with traditional dishes or which wines are good as gifts to give to friends?

Below are three wine recommendations that you may not have considered for the holiday season but all three are exceptional wines from great vintages. Choosing wines for Christmas can often be difficult, with so many varieties and vintages, what will pair well with traditional dishes or which wines are good as gifts to give to friends? Below are three wine recommendations that you may not have considered for the holiday season but all three are exceptional wines from great vintages.

Domaine Gadais et Fils Muscadet Vieille Vigne 2015, Loire Valley France.

Although Sauvignon Blanc dominates the Loire Valley, the Muscadet is an elegant alternative made from the Melon de Bourgogne grape.

Due to Domaine Gadais’s close proximity to the sea, the unique minerality produces a wine that is perfect for traditional Christmas seafood platters, oysters and smoked salmon starters.  It also pairs well with soft creamy cheese and blue cheese, perfect for Boxing Day brunch.

This Muscadet opens on a nose of honey with notes of white flowers and citrus fruits. The mouth is ample, fresh, complex, floral, with notes of stony mineral, and a fresh long finish.  

Bright and crisp, if you love Sauvignon Blanc, we recommend you try the Muscadet for the festive season.

Wine enthusiast 90 points

Peccavi Syrah 2015, Margaret River Western Australia.

Peccavi Estate is a sustainable vineyard located in Margaret River, WA and  produces award-winning wines mainly for high end resorts and retailers such as Harrods. 

Unlike a lot of Shiraz from south Australia the Peccavi Syrah is medium-bodied, and perfect for the Christmas table when serving alternatives to turkey such as beef, goose or duck.   The Syrah also has the intensity to handle rich wine based sauces such as jus. 

Very finely crafted and refined, the colour is a deep purple-red core and has a sweetly naked bouquet of berries, vanilla and chocolate.  It offers plenty of body, smooth with polished oak, finishing with lively acidity and notes of liquorice and redcurrant.  

Jeremy Oliver 94 points

Château Gigognan Clos du Roi Châteauneuf du Pape 2015, Rhône Valley France.

This certified organic wine is a classical Châteauneuf du Pape and has a beautiful purple red colour.  It is a powerful wine with generous and fine tannins, exhaling aromas of red fruit and underwood.

This wine will go perfectly with turkey, red meat, game and cheese platters with mature cheese.   It is also an ideal Christmas gift or bottle to take to friends over the festive season, matching well with Christmas Day lunch or Boxing Day Supper. 

Medal winner at Decanter World Wine Awards 2017