Good wines to go with Christmas dinner

[WazFlimFlam]

We are having dinner at ours this year, just us, and I am pretty confident about the food, but what about the wine?

Shall we just get what we like or are there types of wine that go better with traditional Christmas dinners than others?

To complicated matters we won't be sure what meat we are having until Christmas Eve, when we will be going to a meat auction, but will be aiming for beef or goose. Turkey if we don't get that!!

Get the wine that you like - nothing worse than trying something new and finding out you don’t like it!
Or try a few different ones between now and the big day and decide what’s best for you.

Get in a couple of reds and a couple of whites. We normally go up a notch from our day to day wine. Pinot Noir is really versatile and can always be drunk with cheese etc

Goose1964 thanks for reminding me about the cheese. Oh the cheese!

I thought Pinot Noir might be a good idea, and will see if I can try a few.

We really like Rioja's and wines with a lot of Tempranillo. Will that be suitable for Christmas dinner though? Or is it too full bodied?

I usually go into a decent off licence in September and buy 2 nice bottles to go with turkey (spending up to €20 per bottle, rather than our usual €5-10). I've gone for an Austrian white this year - (Riesling maybe?). But it's as much about talking to the experts when they have time about what we like and what it will be drunk with. (I go to that shop on occasion during the year, they have a sherry I like that's hard to get and for the odd treat bottle - but it's mad in December so they don't have the time to chat and make the suggestions they do earlier).

Is there a good independent off-licence near you? With a decent selection of wines? Go in and talk to them about your hopes in terms of meats, they may have something that suits either, or suggest a cheaper option for each so you could justify getting both.

Things to think about beforehand are:
Do you like red or white?
Do you like big bold flavours or more mellowness?
Do you like dry (acidic) or more sweet and fruity flavours?
What is your max budget, and how much wine are you looking for in that?

(I find that for Christmas in particular, we are happy to get 2 bottles in case we want to start the second later in the day - but we can keep it for another time instead. But if we get good wine that really matches the food well and is full of flavor, we often don't open the second bottle or go madly overindulging as it is worth sipping rather than slurping it, and really enjoying it).

We've had Rioja with turkey before (like a Faustino 5 or even a 1 with a crown for thanksgiving) and that has been really nice. And we've had the 5 with beef as well. I've never had goose so can't help with that.

We love a cremant with the pudding, which is a french champagne (prosecco) type wine with a gentle fizz, I hate champagne and this one is much nicer IMO. A big Waitrose or off licence will have some to choose from , you can get rose' too.

I remember trying out a new wine on new years eve and unfortunately we didn't like how it tasted. I'd say go for your kind of wine you love and if ever you want to try something new, have it tasted before the party comes and save the special occasion. :)