These are the best wines to buy for when friends and family visit at Christmas
For those entertaining family and friends at Christmas, there’s plenty of choice of wines to suit all occasions. Christine Austin picks out some of her favourite white and pink wines.
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How are your Christmas plans shaping up? Does everyone know who will be visiting, where and when, or do plans remain fluid until just a day or so before the main event and suddenly your shopping list changes from a small joint of beef to the largest turkey you can fit in your oven?
Wherever you plan to be, at home or away, here are a few suggestions of wines to have on standby, to suit whatever Christmas you have planned.
The family arrives
Whether they have flown across the Atlantic to spend the whole of Christmas with you or just called in for lunch on their way to a week’s skiing in France, you need to have a full fridge, a meal plan and enough wine to refresh your guests and yourself.
Specially Selected Gavi 2024 Piedmont, Italy, Aldi down from £7.69 to £5.75 until 24 December: Lively stone fruit flavours with green apple and apricot, edged with herbs and almonds.
Famille Perrin L’Oustalet Luberon 2024, France, Tesco, down from £10 to £8.50 with Clubcard until 1 December: Perfect as a welcome wine that can last through to a creamy pasta or fish pie supper. It is a lively unoaked blend of white Rhône grapes with ripe pears, peaches and honeysuckle flavours.
Wynns Coonawarra Chardonnay 2023, Australia, Booths down from £15.75 to £11.75 until 1 January: A ripe, rounded, elegant Chardonnay with white peach and citrus notes. Pour alongside a ham sandwich or a full roast chicken dinner.
Babysitting evenings
Being left in sole charge of the grandchildren can be a fun-filled, exhausting experience, and you never know when you might need to jump in the car for pizza, chips, or a visit to casualty so steer clear of alcohol. Luckily non-alcoholic wines have improved enormously, so head for the following.
Jukes 8 Sparkling Rosé, Waitrose £4 for a 250cl can: This isn’t wine at all, but it is very good. Based on apple cider vinegar it has a basketful of fruit ingredients, such as raspberry, rhubarb and cherry to give light, fresh flavours.
Oddbird Spumante Sparkling Wine, Italy, Ocado £11: Made from the same grape variety as Prosecco, and it looks and tastes pretty much like the real thing except that it is almost dry and is a touch more refreshing that most alcoholic versions.
Neighbours in for drinks
‘Drop-in for drinks’ is an easy way to entertain a circle of friends so long as you specify a start and end time. Everyone is far too busy to stay long at this time of year, but a quick glass of wine allows you to catch up with people you have meaning to see for ages.
Classics Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2024, New Zealand, Marks and Spencer £9: A refreshing, tastebud-wakening wine with citrus aromas, pink grapefruit and pineapple on the palate, laced with crushed blackcurrant leaves and lime. Hand round some filo-wrapped prawns to accompany the wine.
Leftfield Albariño 2024, Gisborne, New Zealand, Tesco down from £13.50 to £11 until 31 December: Everyone loves the peach and melon flavours of Albariño and this version from New Zealand is lively, dry and aromatic.
Domaine Begude ‘Le Paradis’ Viognier 2023, Limoux, France Majestic £13 on a mix six deal: In the breezy hills of Limoux, Viognier shines with honeysuckle and peach notes with a firm streak of citrus, underpinned by just a hint of oak. Perfect with nibbles or a cold buffet.
The Dinner Party
Inviting a few friends round for dinner is a great way to show off your latest cooking skills, so pour some interesting wines alongside. They don’t have to be expensive, but they need to be good.
La Grande Bleue by Gérard Bertrand, 2024, IGP Méditerranée, France, Majestic £11.50 on a mix six deal: The mix of grapes, including Rolle, Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Chardonnay and Sauvignon, all work together to give a deep, almost savoury style of wine with peach, pear and citrus. Team with chicken and fish.
E.H. Booth and Co. White Burgundy 2024 Booths, £12.85: With taste and elegance well above its price point, this has creamy, rounded peach and citrus flavours and enough weight to cope with salads and salmon.
Pomino Bianco 2024, Frescobaldi, Tuscany, Ocado £18: Italian Chardonnay from the beautiful Tuscan hills, with a splash of Pinot Bianco adding freshness and a hint of honeysuckle.
The Big Day
Will it be turkey, goose or a big piece of beef? Whatever you serve there is always someone who prefers white or pink wines. Here is what to pour.
Ch. Bonnet Rosé 2024, Bordeaux, France, Hoults (Huddersfield) down from £17 to £13 while stocks last: Christmas is perfect for rosé wines, and this has delicious, light red fruit flavours with a rounded texture that can cope with goose as well as turkey.
Joseph Pascal Cote d’Or Chardonnay 2022, Burgundy, France, Bon Coeur (Melsonby) £33.20 down to £25.50 on an unmixed six: Exceptionally stylish flavours for a humble Cote d’Or designation, but not surprising when some of the vines are located in Puligny Montrachet.
David and Nadia Aristargos 2023, Swartland, South Africa, Field and Fawcett (York) £25.85: Tasted in South Africa, with viticulturalist Nadia in September this year and this is a cracking wine to serve with a grand lunch or dinner. Mainly Chenin Blanc, with layers of flavour from Semillon, Roussanne and a bundle of other grapes it has stone fruit flavours, with herbal and nutty tones adding dimension.
Home Alone - At Last!
When the last of your guests have gone home it is time to claim back your favourite armchair and pour a glass of something special.
Castelnau de Suduiraut 2023, Sauternes, Majestic £14 on a mix six deal for 37.5cl: The second wine of Ch. Suduiraut, and it is a flavour bomb of honeyed fruit, orange zest and spice. Just a thimbleful of this heavenly wine relaxes and revives in equal measure.
Limoncello Liqueur, Ceramic bottle, Marks and Spencer £40 for 50cl: Ridiculously expensive and packaged in a hand-painted ceramic bottle, this is the only limoncello tasted this season that I really enjoyed. It tastes of sunshine-warmed zesty lemons. Drink it neat over ice or create your own cocktail.