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Slideshow
What are the the drinks business quaffing this Christmas?
Sherry, Champers, Hot-Toddies and Port. We at db give our drinks serious thought…
Forget your everyday Chardonnay or bog-standard Beaujolais – Christmas is the time to push the boat out when it comes to drinking. Whether that’s a fine wine, obscure novelty or newly discovered single malt, it’s a time to mix things up and spoil friends and family.
Pinot Noir has been tipped as the tipple of the season this year, according to wine expert Victoria Moore, but we love experimenting with new flavours and pairings on the big day.
We like our grog here at the drinks business, and our editorial team have put a lot of thought into what we’ll be serving up this Christmas.
So if you’re still stuck for ideas, let us inspire you with our tales of day-drinking and wine-pairings galore.
Lauren Eads, Deputy Editor
What is Christmas morning without a glass of Champagne? In my household, we open the fizz before the presents. This year I will be cracking open a bottle of Champagne Drappier alongside a Deutz. An English sparkling wine is also likely to feature, with Nyetimber and Wiston both family favourites.
A glass of Sherry is customary around 1pm, preferably something from the palo cortado or Amontillado family. Gonzalez Byass’ Quatros Palmas is a favourite if I can get my hands on a bottle. Needless to say that by this point the whole family is in the festive spirit.
Next comes the main event. Wines likely to make an appearance at the dinner table this year include a Chardonnay from South Africa’s Journey’s End, and a 2015 bottle of Rosie’s Block Chardonnay from New Zealand’s Neudorf. On the red side, a bottle of Vina Pomal Selection 500 2014, and a Pinot Noir from Central Otago’s Prophet’s Rock are also highly likely to take centre stage.
If we get around to spirits, which we invariably do, gin will most likely be at the forefront. Discoveries made this year include Swedish distillery Herno’s juniper-cask aged gin, and the carefully balanced Pink Pepper – both unique twists on their own traditional juniper-based recipe.
The evening always rounds off with a platter of cheese and a good Port. This year a bottle of 2000 Quinta do Noval Colheita awaits. Salude!
Edith Hancock, Staff Writer
Living with my old university friends in London means I get to celebrate Christmas twice this year. My family keeps our drinks list a closely guarded secret until the big day, but a bottle of Fortnum and Mason’s Blanc de Blancs Brut N.V, Hostomme usually makes an appearance.
For my Friendmas lunch, I’m whipping up some Hot Toddies while we open our stockings. I usually keep it simple with a Bourbon like Jack Daniels, but this year I’m trying out The Pogues’ Irish whiskey for a more intense, maltier, grown-up taste. I make these festive by swapping out lemon juice for orange, replace honey with pure maple syrup, add some cloves, and stir it all together with a cinnamon stick. I may stick a few chunks of stem ginger in there to give it some welly. Alternatively, I find a small amount of dried chilli keeps people on their toes…
Next up, it’s the Champers. Luckily I got to review fine wine courier service Finest Bubble earlier this month. They may not have managed to bring me their bubbles in the two-hour window promised, but we now have a lovely Tattinger Prestige Rosé NV rolling around in the kitchen. It has a subtle hint of red berries which I’m hoping will go well with the cranberry sauce on our baked camembert starter.
Now, onto the main. We’re roasting a gammon this year. It’s a tricky thing to pair with wine, but a white Rioja — which has been making eyes at me on our wine rack since I joined db back in October — should suffice. Alternatively, a few cans of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale should stand up to the sweet glaze and balance out the brine.
If we have enough room for dessert, I’m planning to whip up some Corettas — an Italian digestif made by simply adding Grappa to espresso. Buon Natale!
Lucy Shaw, Managing Editor
Self-restraint should go out the window on Christmas Day. Every day should begin with Champagne, especially Christmas morning. I’ve dusted off a bottle of Pommery’s top drop, Cuvée Louise, which I’m excited about trying for the first time having been told it’s a cracker.
For the main event, I’ll be venturing to the New World with the 2011 vintage of Glenelly Estate Reserve from the stunning Stellenbosch estate run by Pichon Lalande’s formidable former owner May Eliane de Lencquesaing. The Shiraz / Cabernet / Petit Verdot blend is all plums and spice, so should be suitably festive.
With a French chef in our household, turkey rarely makes it to the table, though one year we were treated to three birds in one in a feast fit for Henry VIII.
After such indulgence, a post prandial nap will be in order, but to perk us up in the evening, a cheeky half bottle of Sauternes will be on hand to sip while nibbling segments of Terry’s Chocolate Orange and watching The Crown.
If money were no object, I’d splash out on a case of Krug 1996, an exquisite marriage of power and finesse, with notes of honey, truffle, roasted almonds and lemon sherbet, but I’m sure the Cuvée Louise won’t disappoint.
Phoebe French, Web and Social Media Editor
Gusbourne’s Blanc de Blancs 2007
English sparkling is a firm family favourite and I’m sure that at some point over the festive period, we shall be tucking into three Kentish sparklers: Gusbourne’s Blanc de Blancs from Appledore, Squerryes Brut from Westerham and Hush Heath Rosé from Staplehurst.
As is tradition, to begin Christmas Day, I make smoked salmon, scrambled eggs and lashings of lemony hollandaise, accompanied by a glass of fizz. This year it will be Bollinger Rosé NV courtesy of Mentzendorff’s Ed Hiscocks who very kindly hand-delivered a bottle to the office last week. As for the main meal, I’m opting for a Pinot Noir, though am yet to decide whether it will hail from New Zealand, France or America.
I shall be spending part of my break in North Wales, and it would be rude not to sample the local brew, Porthmadog’s Purple Moose Snowdonia Ale, and the local gins, Merywen and Dyfi’s Pollination. Sipsmith, Chase and Brecon may just find their way into my G&T too.
Rupert Millar, Fine Wine Editor
We’re off to my uncle’s this year so the wine is largely out of my hands – not that I have to worry as I believe he’s done a hit and run on The Wine Society.
Known quantities include 2004 Alfred Gratien, a Pouilly Fumé and white Burgundy which will either be a Montagny or a Meursault – probably the former we shall see.
He’s also polishing off a case of Angludet the vintage of which I now can’t remember but it’s either 2000 or 2010 and just to raise the stakes he’s challenged me to a ‘wine-off’ which will involve me getting Pinot in some form and, frankly, I haven’t bought them yet and can’t decide if it’s going to be all Burgundy, no Burgundy or a mix – it all depends what catches my desperate eye when out shopping on Saturday. Maybe I’ll buy some ‘natural’ wine just for the shock value.
I also have some buckshee bottles knocking around I’m contemplating bringing including a bottle of Tokaji. Port is being provided.
The chief concern is quantity as we’re going to be a party of 11, largely composed of those famously abstemious professions – the armed forces, law and journalism – and students.
Patrick Schmitt, editor-in-chief
I’m probably going to disappoint readers who might expect me to be enjoying something pricy and rarified, because my cellar is almost empty – advent this year has already exhausted the Schmitt supplies.
Having said that I’m hoping to enjoy some Malescot St. Exupéry 2004 – such a lovely vintage from a great Margaux property that I’m much happier mentioning in print than having to pronounce in public.
I hope to follow that with some Colheita port from my birth year, which I won’t reveal, and some first-rate rum, although most of that has gone into the Christmas pudding production line that my wife operates at this time of year.
Oh yes, and of course there will be some Champagne. Probably Pol Roger – the delicious 2008 I would imagine, which is even better now than on first release this time last year.