Fabulous Christmas Food & Wine Parings

Christmas simply isn’t Christmas without enjoying your favourite festive meal washed down with a delicious wine or a cold beer. For those of you that wish to take the art of pairing your wines with your lunch or dinner a little more seriously, I have developed a quick reference guide that not only suggests my ideal pairings for a variety of dishes but also recommends the optimal serving temperature for each of the wine suggestions.

On behalf of the team at Grand Cru Wine Fridges, have a very Merry Christmas.

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Seafood

Shellfish

Simply Dressed - Balance the foods’ richness with ripe, aromatic wines which have a good degree of acidity.

Pairing - Riesling or Marsanne, served cold between 6°C to 10°C

Complex with Sauce - Try a lightly oaked Chardonnay if combining with a seafood sauce.

Pairing – Chardonnay, served cool between 10°C to 14°C

Fish

A firm fleshy white fish demands an elegant stylish white that will pair the fish’s weight and complement its flavours. With salmon, you might choose to serve a lighter red, like a Pinot Noir, but only if there’s no buttery sauce accompanying the fish.

Pairing - Semillon Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Gris or Pinot Noir, serve the whites cold between 6°C to 10°C and the Pinot cooled between 12°C to 16°C

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Poultry

Turkey

Match its weight with a full-bodied white or a medium-full red wine, but the lack of fat means the wine must not have too much tannin (tannins react with fatty protein molecules and will seem very harsh in the absence of fat).

Suggested Pairing - Riesling or Pinot Noir, serve the Riesling cold between 6°C to 10°C and the Pinot cooled between 12°C to 16°C

Chicken

Drink with something that’s got some complexity, texture and structure to bring the best out of chicken dishes.

Pairing - Pinot Gris or Chardonnay, serve the Pinot Gris cold between 6°C to 10°C and the Chardonnay cool between 11°C to 14°C

Duck

Match the weight with lighter red wines, balance the oiliness of the meat with high acid, and complement the flavours with wines that taste of raspberries and cherries.

Pairing – Pinot Noir, served cooled between 12°C to 16°C

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Pork

Roast

Match with either a fruit driven lighter style red, or be adventurous and choose a fresh and acidic white wine showing notes of green apples and pears.

Pairing - Chenin Blanc or Pinot Noir, serve the Chenin Blanc cold between 6°C to 10°C and the Pinot cool between 12°C to 16°C

Glazed Ham

Providing your glaze isn’t too sweet try a Grenache or Grenache blend, otherwise go for rich lush Barossa Valley Semillon

Pairing - Semillon or Grenache, serve the Semillon cool between 10°C to 14°C and the Grenache cooled between 12°C to 16°C

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Dessert

Pudding

Christmas Pudding and Mince Pies are delicious with the similarly flavoured aged Tawny Ports, Muscats and rich Madeiras; all these wines go very well with rich chocolate desserts too. 

Pairing - Fortified Muscat or Madeira, served at room temperature between 16°C to 18°C

Other Desserts

High acidity and intense sweetness desserts are a perfect match to a top-quality dessert wine.

Pairing - Late Harvest Riesling, served cold between 6°C to 10°C

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Cheese

Soft

Wines that have good acidity to cut through the high fat content of these wines would work well.

Pairing - Champagne or Chardonnay, serve the Champagne ice cold between 4°C to 6°C, and the Chardonnay cool between 10°C to 14°C

Hard

In order to stand up to the nutty flavours in many hard cheeses you need a tannic, full bodied well-structured wine.

Pairing - Cabernet Merlot or Sangiovese, served at room temperature between 16°C to 18°C

Blue

Port’s sweetness and thick body are the perfect foil for pungent, crumbly blue cheese.

Pairing - Tawny Port or Sauternes/Dessert Wine, serve the Port at room temperature 16°C to 18°C and the Sauternes cold between 6°C to 10°C

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