Willing wine tasters raise a glass to fine festive fare

Dec 11 2009 by Helen Savage, The Journal

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An evening of wine tasting and food at The Northern counties club with Helen Savage

OVER the last couple of months, a stream of emails has dropped into my inbox from wine importers, agents and merchants.

“Hi Helen, I was wondering if you are going to be doing a Christmas feature in your column for the Newcastle Journal? If so, would I be able to recommend a few wines? …”

Believe me, on your behalf, I have done my best to keep up, taste my way through the samples, stay sober and focussed. It’s time to pass on my findings, but I’m confused. The tag, “they would make excellent Christmas lunch wines,” has been applied to almost anything you care to imagine. Bordeaux, Burgundy and Rioja have gone head to head with a Chile Christmas, sweeties from Australia, premium reds from California, almost anything from New Zealand, a world of fizz, and lots that I’ve missed out, or forgotten.

My problem is confounded by two other realities. The first is that I’ve no idea what you’ll want to eat on the great day: fish, red meat, poultry, game, veggie? And the second is that if like mine, your family insists on turkey with all the trimmings, the ‘traditional’ mix including the bird itself, bacon, sausages, cranberry sauce and sprouts provides an assault course for any wine.

So my normal advice is, ‘drink what you fancy and don’t worry too much’, and I’ll stick by it. Otherwise, go for something fruity but not too heavy, or enjoy lots of fizz, especially Champagne if you can run to it. Even so, I bet there’ll be someone around the table (it’s grandma, chez Savage) who will only countenance something sweet – with everything.

In a last ditch attempt to discover some of the best buys in a crowded, noisy, market, I put a generous selection of the recent arrivals that have impressed me most in front of a group of willing wine tasters, over dinner, after a wine class at the Northern Counties Club. And though we didn’t have turkey and all the trimmings, we managed to agree on a few wines that might cut the mustard over Christmas.