Best Wines to Serve at Christmas

Okay, it's time to start thinking about Christmas drinks. We all put a lot of thought into Christmas day dinner, snacks and nibbles; so perhaps drinks are left to the last minute meaning we could end up picking up any wine as long as we have something. If you have guests coming serving good wine rather than cheap plonk can make a huge difference to the enjoyment of the meal for everyone.

For those like myself that like a nice glass of wine (or two) I'd usually pick wines from either Chile or South Africa. But having been asked to try a range of quality wines from New Zealand from Oyster Bay Wines plus a couple of red wines from the Barossa Valley Estate in Australia I'm now honestly sold on these two brands.

Shop Smart and Save:
First of all I was surprised by the price because if I'd have been asked to try them without knowing the price I would have assumed they were far too expensive for us. If you shop around you can pick up a bottle for around £9 but if you're smart you'll find a couple of well-known UK supermarkets offering 25% off when you buy 6 bottles which then works out at a proper billy bargain price of around £7 per bottle 😉

Please Note:
I'm certainly no wine connoisseur, these are the wines I've picked out of the selection I received to serve with Christmas day starter course, main and dessert.

You might also like to think about any guests you have coming that either don't drink or can't drink because they may be driving; therefore it's always good to have some alcohol free drinks to offer.

Wine to Serve with a Seafood or Salmon Starter:
This year I'm making Seared Scallops with Serrano Ham although as Christmas dinner tends to be huge I'll make smaller version of this delicious scallop starter. As for the wine I'll serve I'm going for the Oyster Bay Chardonnay. A clean fresh chardonnay is a great all-rounder with fish and seafood and is great with shellfish; having tried it that's a definite.

Image © Can Stock Photo / PurpleQueue

Wine to serve with Christmas Dinner:
Well that depends on what you're serving as not everyone goes for turkey but instead may have roast beef. If you're going for beef then I'd highly recommend Shiraz from Barossa Valley Estate. It's rich and deep so if you like a lighter red this is not for you.

However if you're having turkey as we are, then you can't go wrong with the rather nice Sparkling Cuvée Brut from Oyster Bay which is made from 100% Chardonnay grapes. These give the wine elegance, finesse and minerality they tell say; all I know is this is good stuff! I never normally drink sparkling wines but Christmas and New Year it's just nice to go a little bit mad and celebrate (providing of course, you don't go too mad with the drink)......hic!

Wine to serve with Dessert:
If unlike us you actually manage to eat a dessert after Christmas dinner then personally I say you can't go wrong with the lovely fruit flavours of Oyster Bay Rosé which pair well with many different desserts and would especially go down well with my Meringue Wreath with Berries and Chocolate I'm just saying 😊

Important bit:
Whatever you choose please drink responsibly.

Disclosure: I was sent a box of wines to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not required to write anything positive.