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Food and wine pairings for holiday dinners

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What is the best wine to serve with your Christmas turkey and cranberry sauce this festive season?

Food and wine pairings for holiday dinners

Christmas dinner almost always has a turkey as the centerpiece. Originally brought to Europe from Mexico in the fifteen hundreds, the legend is that King Henry VIII feasted on turkey for his Christmas dinner.

During Victorian times, turkeys gained the top spot as Christmas fare and have remained there ever since. So, what wines should you serve with the festive bird?

Pinot Noir has the qualities to make an excellent pairing with turkey. Pinot Noir is characterised by subdued tannins and a delicately balanced acidity that creates a delicious partnership with the rich cherry, strawberry, and raspberry fruits.

The cool climate of Burgundy makes it the ideal area for Pinot Noir. The cool influence of the Pacific Ocean on the vineyards of California has made this area ideal for Pinot Noir. The cool climate of central Otago in New Zealand has also produced some exceptional wines.

Craggy Range Martinborough Pinot Noir 2019

From the south end of North Island, the wine is an elegant combination of fruit and gentle tannins with enough acidity to blend tastefully with the Christmas turkey.

The rich, attractive red colour introduces the delicious black cherry and strawberry fruits with a ripe and fleshy feel matched by the smooth tannins suggesting a hint of spice. The finish is lingering and intensely satisfying.

It is a wine to savor with the Christmas turkey. Sit back and take a moment to enjoy a perfect match.

Domaine Charles Audoin Marsannay Cuvee Marie Ragonneau 2019

Made by the fifth generation of the Audoin family, this wine is all-natural. The Burgundy vineyards are managed organically, and the wine is bottled unfiltered.

The 13% alcohol content is perfectly matched by the rich fruit content from grapes specially selected from each vintage. The hints of herbs and an earthy spiciness enjoy a harmonious relationship with the well-rounded tannins.

There is nothing to say that Pinot Noir cannot be replaced with a different wine, and a Tempranillo wine would make just as good an accompaniment to a Christmas meal. The ‘fruit-first’ characteristic of the wine, together with the spicy undertones, perfectly matches the turkey.

There are so many great Tempranillo wines from the Rioja and Ribera del Duero regions of Spain that it is hard not to choose a great accompaniment to the Christmas feast.

La Rioja Alta Vina Ardanza Reserva 2015

Soft tannins and rich fruit are the hallmarks of this Tempranillo wine which has benefitted from over one hundred years of experience since five local growers took up the challenge in 1890 to improve the quality of the local wines.

A small amount of Garnacha is blended with the Tempranillo. The grapes are hand harvested and enjoy a separated maturation in oak barrels. The Tempranillo is allowed to mature for 36 months, while the Garnacha spends 30 months maturing.

The lengthy maturation time provides time for the wine to develop subtle red fruit flavors and the influence of the oak enthuses the wine with hints of spice and vanilla.

Turkey combined with cranberries provides the opportunity to extend the range of wine pairings and lighten the overall complexity of the meal. Turkey prepared with cranberries suggests a white wine like a Riesling or German Auslese to pair with the meal.

Schuster Riesling Diebstein 2020

The Schuster family go way back into the 1700s making wine. The grapes are hand harvested and placed in temperature-control stainless steel tanks after a 12-hour maceration process. On the nose, the invitation of soft citrus and ripe peaches and apricots invites the appreciation of soft stone fruit. The freshness of the acid makes it a great companion to the richness of the turkey.

Some wines are better with dark turkey meat, and where darker meat is selected, the options open up to Pinot Grigio, Shiraz, or even a Sauvignon Blanc.

Thorn Clarke Shotfire Shiraz 2018

From the Barossa Valley of Australia, this exceptionally dark Shiraz is the perfect companion to the darker meat parts of the turkey and the fat of the skin. The savory flavors of the turkey are an excellent complement to the spiciness of the Shiraz.

The grapes are fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks after being destemmed, and then 40 % of the wine is matured in new barrels and the remainder in second and third passage barrels.

The rich fruit flavors developed are balanced beautifully by the tannins that introduce a subtle spiciness and vanilla texture.

Let us not forget our non-meat-eating friends, as vegetarians also deserve to enjoy a festive treat of great food and wine.

Here we will have to forsake turkey, but pasta dishes like lasagne and risotto make a rich and tasty substitute. Dishes rich in cheese and winter vegetables with bold spice and herb flavors are happy companions to Cabernet Franc or Cabernet Sauvignon, while pasta dishes rich in cream can be happily matched with a mellow Chardonnay.

Xanadu DJL Chardonnay 2019

This Australian Chardonnay has a rich fruit first flavor due to the pressings in small oak barrels and subsequent ageing on the lees for nine months. The creamy texture, together with the stone fruit and citrus, has the added attraction of subtle minerality to make a perfect match both for rich pasta dishes and will be just as at home with turkey. This may be the ideal wine to serve if you have guests with broad menu preferences.

Conclusion

Although turkey is the traditional Christmas dish, there are so many ways to prepare the bird that the scope for introducing alternative wine pairings is broad. It is a time of sharing, so why not offer a range of wines and allow your guests to find their own perfect pairing?