With Christmas festivities here, it's time to enjoy the best of the season with mouthwatering food and lovely wine. If you're hosting, finding the perfect pairings needn't be complicated. Here, Laura Rhys, Master Sommelier, offers her expert advice on failsafe food-and-wine matches which will delight your guests.
Plus, don't forget, we're offering complimentary delivery on all our wines this Christmas.
"A perfect aperitif and wonderful with canapés"
Gusbourne Brut Reserve 2021 is a perfect aperitif and wonderful with canapés. I like to serve Brut Reserve with treats such as smoked salmon. The wine is elegant and fruit-driven, with a roundness in the mouth and freshness on the finish, which makes it a perfect match. For a nice twist on the classic blini, I use mini potato rosti, with some crème fresh and smoked salmon on top and just a squeeze of lemon juice.
"The main centrepiece of Christmas"
I love to open something very special for the main centrepiece of Christmas – and Fifty One Degrees North 2016 would be a wonderful wine to match with Christmas day lunch, especially something like roast goose. The wine has a beautiful richness and weight, layered with bright fruit, toasted nuts and pastry notes, matching well with the darker, sweeter meat of a goose, alongside an elegance and freshness on the finish.
"Try Blanc de Blancs with seafood"
If you're focusing your feast on a seafood dish, then the perfect match will be Gusbourne's Blanc de Blancs 2019. The wine is driven by an elegant, bright citrus fruit character with lots of saline, mineral notes and a long finish, making it the perfect glass to accompany oysters, but also crab, scallops or langoustines.
"The wine to take you through the cheeseboard"
I love our Blanc de Noirs 2019 with a cheese board. There are lots of red apple and red fruit notes in the glass, with some subtle spice and a rich weight and texture which can match with a whole array of cheeses. I’m a great fan of fizz with cheese, because the combination of richness and freshness in the wine can be a perfect foil for cheese's richness and creaminess. Try anything from a hard, salty, aged cheddar, or a soft, creamy or rind-washed cheese – and even a baked cheese with lots of warm bread to dip.
"Alongside roasted ham"
Our sparkling rosé can work with lots of different foods over the festive period, but I really love it with a roasted ham – especially using a marmalade glaze. It works beautifully to highlight the orange citrus notes in the wine whilst the Pinot Noir in the blend adds a touch of weight and a savoury note which matches the flavour and texture of the ham.
"Still Chardonnay is sublime with a salmon en croute... or leftovers!"
I really like to match our still Chardonnay with a salmon en croute - always an extra special dish. The wine is elegant and bold, with lots of bright orchard fruit and honeyed citrus, nutty notes, which marry really well with the buttery pastry and help to cut through the richness of the dish.
It’s not Christmas in our house without both a turkey and a ham that are far too big for the amount of people we have for Christmas lunch and we always have way too much left over! So, I love to make a turkey and ham pie. While you could look at something from Burgundy, like a rich, generous St Aubin or from Victoria in Australia, with riper, elegant fruit. I'd also recommend trying something more local such as Gusbourne's Chardonnay Guinevere 2022. This would have enough weight of fruit with a touch of richer, toasted oak to match the meat and pastry, but with a lovely, bright citrus freshness.
With still, sparkling and sweet wines in our range, you can furnish your Christmas feast with Gusbourne's wines. You can enjoy free UK delivery on any order placed at gusbourne.com
