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Christmas is a time when we like to push the boat out a little further. This might be because we want to spoil ourselves or because we’re entertaining and want to serve a wine that is impressive. When deciding whether to serve wines from the Old or New World, that is, within Europe or not, the answer obviously depends on personal taste, but also on the strength of the food you’re serving. Some families, with smaller children, may be eating something similar to a normal Sunday roast with few scary herbs. Some may be diligently watching their weight and so will steer clear of rich and delicious accompaniments. In those cases, I would go for something white, which will be covered next week.
However, if you’ve been reading various Christmas supplements and leafing through your recipe books since October and you’re worried you may not have enough serving dishes and cutlery for the feast on your table, you’ll want something pretty rich and fabulous.
This doesn’t have to mean opting for the New World. Aldi’s La Closerie de Malescasse 2003 is £8.99 and is a very impressive wine. It smells of blackcurrant syrup, oak and herbs and has beautiful balance in the mouth. It finishes with herbs and liquorice. Chateau Caronne Ste Gemme 2001 is £10.99 from Majestic or £8.99 if you buy 2 or more, up to 5th February. It smells of prunes in red wine and is also deliciously oaky on the nose. It’s rich and fruity in the mouth and quite dry for drinking alone, but would be great with festive excess.
Moving into the New World, alcohol levels rise as does intensity of flavour. We split the wines into Cabernet/Merlot and others. Our favourite Cabernet was the Co-op’s Coonawarra Cellar Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, which is £9.99, but £5.99 until the end of Sunday. I would definitely suggest grabbing the car keys now and finishing off the article when you get back. The smell is spicy and herbal – very definitely Cabernet. It’s pretty dry in the mouth for an Australian wine but has a Ribena and plain chocolate after taste. At their recent press tasting it provoked a lot of positive grunting from wine writers. Veramonte (Chilean) Cabernet Sauvignon 2003, which is £6.99 in Somerfield, is reduced from £6.99 to £5.59 from 6th to 26th December. Be warned that when the bottle’s first opened there’s quite a whiff of silver polish, but this lifts to give blackcurrant and bonfires. It has a great liquorice taste and a savoury, complex finish.
We tried a few Shiraz wines and the best was Leasingham Magnus Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon 2003, which is £7.99 in Somerfield, reduced to £5.99 from 6th to 26th December.
If you don’t see anything you fancy above, why not visit www.QuaffersOffers.co.uk and look at previous articles to track down which wines we thought were best over the last few months?
We also tried M&S Mulled Red Wine, which is very sweet and delicious. You’re advised to add sugar, but that really would be excessive. It’s on offer at £3.99 until 31st December.