Tis the season to be jolly and drink lots of good wine

Christmas is rapidly approaching and so it might be appropriate to share my thoughts on wines at accompany the Christmas meal. Now lets face it, Christmas comes but once a year so if you can afford to splurge on booze, now is the time.

For starters, there is nothing that beats a good bottle of bubbles (even if its c-through) to start off Christmas festivities and as much as I hate to admit it, the French do make the best. Good Champagne can be found (on special) from about $40 a bottle and when you consider the increase in price in our better reds, these wines are starting to represent reasonably good value. If you are on a budget, just go with what ever is on special and the results should be pretty good. In reality none of the well-known brand name Champagne brands are bad, some are just better than others.

I do have three recommendations. If you like your Champagne steely dry with mineral characters, Bollinger is the way to go and it will cost you about $75 a bottle. If you prefer your Champagne to be slightly sweeter and have really good fruit characteristics my choice would be Billy Cart Salmon and it can be found for about $55 a bottle on special. This would be my personal choice in this price bracket. Veuve Clicquot NV is a perineal favourite of many people and a very high quality wine that can normally be found in the $55 to $70 price range. If you really wish to splurge on Champagne, then my person picks would be Dom Perignon but it’s not inexpensive at close to $200 a bottle.

If you are having the traditional “three ring circus” Christmas Dinner with Turkey then you can’t go past Sparkling Shiraz as a wine match, but remember don’t serve it to cold. Once again I have some recommendations for you.

At the less expensive end, the Fox Creek Vixen has improved and has much less sweetness than previous versions. The initial palate shows forward sweet raspberries that turned savoury with pepper underpinning the whole show. The dusty tannins also help cut through the sweetness. Rated as Recommended with *** for value at $24.

In the last couple of years the Scarpantoni Black Tempest has gone up from about $25 to $36 a bottle, but the quality has also gone up in proportion. This harmonious seamless wine is very different from the previous version. Its showing more complexity which has been achieved by the subtly and judiciously addition of a sweet fortified which has complement the savoury black cherry, plums and chocolate. It's now rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value and worth buying.

From here we go up in class with Primo Estate Joseph Sparkling Shiraz that is one of my all time favourites. It will cost you about $55 a bottle if you can find it. It’s a very luscious, rich and a full flavoured wine. In the same price bracket but more easily obtained is the 1991 Seppelts Sparkling Show Reserve Shiraz that is more delicate in style. This is also a very high quality wine of great distinction.

Now what to have with the Christmas Pud or Cake? The answer is Liquor Tokay or Muscat. There is a plethora of brands at the low end and most are reasonable so I wont make any recommendations at that level. However in the mid range you cant beat the Campbells Classic Rutherglen (Gold Top) Tokay or Muscat. Normal price is about $40-45 for 500ml, but it’s worth every cent paid. This is my favourite wine in this price category and its no coincidence this wine has been the finale at the recent Winestar Dinners. And from the top shelf, the ultimate wine of this sort, Buller Museum Release Rutherglen Rare Liqueur Tokay or Muscat which retails for about $65 for 375 ml and is the most decedent possible way to finish a Christmas meal. It might sound expensive for a half bottle, but you wont regret springing for a bottle as nothing will ever be this good again.

What ever you choose, have a safe and happy festive season and don’t drink and drive; we want you around next year so we can inflict the Journal upon your person. _J

This weeks link is to Sue Courtney’s excellent site and will interest all those who like NZ wine. If you want to know anything about Kiwi wine, this is the place to find it, NZ wine of the week Oh! And Murray hangs out there too, but don’t hold that against Sue.

Cheers