For your First Course

Smoked salmon seems to be one of the favourites of The Wine Buff shops, you’ll need to match the smoked fish flavour and the oily texture with good acidity. Choose our Colbois Chablis (€23.99) which has good acidity to cleanse the palate. If you’re having a salty starter then try matching it with our organic french rose from Chateau Beaubois (€14.99), the salt will add to the sensation of body and fullness to it. If asparagus is being served, then a perfect match is the Ocean Bay New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. (€16.99)

And as always Champagne is a great pairing for most if not all starters.

The Main Feast

For most of us Christmas dinner isn’t dinner without turkey. It’s a dish with a low fat content so avoid tannic wines as they will make the meet seem harsh and dry. Also, cranberry is sweet, and this also needs a young fruity low in tannin wine. A good red option would be a wine from Apollonio (€19.99) in Italy and for white choose a full bodied Chardonnay such as Chateau Vitalis Pouilly Fuisse 2019 (€29.99).

For Goose or Duck match the oily meat with Domaine Maratray Dubreuil Pinot Noir a Red Burgundy which has well balanced tannin, red cherry on the palate and a long finish.

If you are opting for a nut roast pair with a fruity red to balance with the flavour, the Chronus a wine from the Dao region of Portugal would be a great match.

Sumptous with Deserts

Traditional Christmas cake is a must at the end of a festive dinner and is delicious with a Ruby port. A general rule of thumb with desserts is to have a wine sweeter than the dessert itself. For an apple pie match the acidity and the sweetness of the sugar with a sweet white such as a Loupiac from Bordeaux. With traditional Sherry Trifle serve with a Pedro Ximenez and with lemon tart or cheesecake try a Tokaji wine, it has plenty of sweetness and a zesty orange finish to compliment the acidic desert.

Crackers about Cheese

This is my favourite course and having the right wine enhances the character of the cheese. For hard cheeses such as cheddar or Manchego a medium bodied red like our Ontanon Rioja Crianza (€16.99) is a perfect pairing. For blue cheeses such as Stilton, Cashel Blue, Rocquefort and Gorgonzola the classic pairing tends to be sweet wines, for example Tokaij with Rocquefort or Stilton and Cashel Blue with Port. These wines are very concentrated and cut through the pungent saltiness of the creamy blue cheese.