Festive wines!
Champagne: a sure bet
If there's one time of year when people drink champagne, it's Christmas and New Year's Eve. Champagne offers a number of advantages: you can simply enjoy it as an aperitif to tantalize your taste buds without weighing them down. It can then be served with oysters, lobster, salmon or caviar. You can vary the pleasures by starting with a blanc de blanc, then a blanc de noir and finishing with a rosé champagne.
The Crémant alternative
While champagne remains a classic, there are also delicious crémants. Like champagne, there are crémants of varying degrees of dryness. A crémant extra brut or zéro is ideal for aperitifs and seafood. A crémant with some residual sugar will enhance your Christmas log, especially if it's a fruit log, whether iced or not.
The white wine palette
White wines are the perfect accompaniment to any meal. Dry, crisp, lively white wines are the perfect starters, whether as aperitifs or with seafood. In this category, consider a Muscadet sur lie, a Sancerre or a Chablis. Characterful, aromatic white wines are the perfect accompaniment to lobster, while denser, richer whites go well with poultry. In the first category, a white Graves or Riesling; in the second, a white Meursault or Hermitage. Foie gras, an essential dish, is best served with a demi-sec rather than a moelleux, so as not to tire your taste buds early in the evening. For example, you could opt for a Vouvray or a Montlouis.
Red wines and vins doux naturels
For those who prefer red wines with poultry, choose wines that are low in tannin, fresh and easy-drinking. The Jura region offers a fine range of wines, as do Burgundy and the Loire. Think Trousseau, Côte de Beaune or Chinon. If your menu includes a game dish such as roast hind, you'll want to consider full-bodied, slightly tannic wines such as Crozes-Hermitage or Côte-Rôtie. Finally, if you wish to finish with a chocolate dessert, natural sweet red wines such as Banyuls or Porto will counterbalance the bitterness of the chocolate.
Want to find out more about wine and food pairing with Christmas buche? Read our article here!