Classic pictures of wines on Christmas lunch tables almost invariably involve red ones.
Rightly so for many situations – but not all of them.
Both turkey without rich trimmings and fish as the centrepiece for the meal would work better with white, rather than red, wine.
First courses with shellfish or other seafood components are also obvious candidates for one or other of the vast range of white wines.
Other reasons for bringing a classy white to the table include needing acidity as a palate cleanser, providing a contrast to yuletide richness and accommodating guests who dislike red wine.
Having made the case for Christmas white wines, our task now is choosing one.
Fear not, gentle reader, Santa’s Super Six turns its attention today to answering that very question.
Read on for some inspiring answers.
As is normal here, pictures are provided where possible to guide you straight to the right wine on shelf or web page but, today, there are no hyperlinks.
Starting with tradition.
2023 No.1 Chablis (£14.99 – instead of £18.99 until 2 January – at Waitrose and 13% abv):
Chablis has a long standing association with French – and, especially, Burgundian – celebrations while its versatility with lighter foods (yet ability to match creamy sauces) has boosted its broad popularity.
Here is an excellent example that ably illustrates the strengths it can offer.
Beautifully clear and bright, it has rounded red apple, pear and peach flavours coupled with gentle grapefruit acidity, soft and classy lees richness combined with traces of vanilla pod on the finish.
Staying thereabouts.
2022 Famille Descombe “Pierres Dorées” Beaujolais Blanc (from £17.55 at Wickhams and 12.5%)
Nervous wallets tell me to avoid mainstream white Burgundies although they would be brilliant adornments to most Christmas lunch tables.
Instead I have gone “next door” and picked up a seriously neglected source of quality chardonnay – Beaujolais – and a lovely example from organically worked vineyards.
Opening with stone fruit aromas, it quickly develops soft quince, melon and ripe pear flavours ably supported by firm lemon acidity.
To provide intricacy, there are also suggestions of mint built into a sophisticated background that also displays toffee influences and a savoury twist.
Avoid overchilling this wines, though, like many chardonnays, it needs half an hour out of the fridge to open up fully.
Now to a different part of France
2022 Taste the Difference Gaillac Loin de L’Oeil (£14 – but dropping by a couple of pounds next week – with a Nectar card at Sainsbury’s and 13%):
Here a little known grape from Southwest France takes on a starring role and produces a lovely result that will impress.
Loin de L’Oeil (aka Loin de l’El) is a bit prone to disease and can also be short on acidity but a dash or three of sauvignon blanc give this version a helping hand.
Fragrant and textured, it delivers intense apricot and pineapple flavours with citrus acidity.
All of that is rounded out and counterbalanced by attractive pebble and saline influences.
Next on to Italy.
2023 M&S Collection Gavi del Comune di Gavi (£13 in M&S stores and at Ocado with 12.5% abv):
Gavi di Gavi is not tautology but gives notice that this is from a central area where tighter regulations are in force and which, coupled with lower yields and the area’s unique geology, usually make wine from the commune a tad better.
That long standing reputation for extra quality also tends to spur winemakers there to live up to their “billing” with extra commitment and determination.
Delicate but with an appealing orange roundedness, this example brings us finessed melon, red apple ad apricot flavours.
Those are accompanied by lime based acidic zing and an almost mineral edge.
Now to the southern hemisphere
2023 Olifantsberg Grenache Blanc (£16 at Tesco and 13.5%):
While we enjoy the mineral and herby constituents of French white grenache, South African versions like this offer something slightly different.
The foundation is similar but the warmer climate helps accentuate any peach and melon constituents and wraps them in a fuller texture.
Soft with a neat savoury edge, this version exhibits herbal nectarine, greengage and grapefruit flavours.
Those components are engagingly embellished with zesty lemon acidity and attractively captured within a coconut, juniper and spice texture.
Finally to the shamefully misunderstood.
2023 Peter & Ulrich Griebeler Dry Riesling (from £11.99 at Majestic and 12.5%):
Of all the seriously underappreciated grape varieties, none, surely, are more misunderstood than German riesling.
Historical impressions of its excess sweetness years ago, encouraged drinker to migrate to chardonnay and, then, pinot grigio – and riesling has never recovered.
That injustice is especially apparent with Mosel versions where slate-centred geology add complexity to wine that, often and as here, balance sweetness and acidity perfectly.
With little of the traditional kerosene influences, this still has riesling’s other trademark (sherbet lime) acidity and accompanies it with zesty grapefruit, mango and apple flavours.
A sprinkle of nutmeg at the end adds a touch of complexity.
Santa’s elves insisted I mention these enjoyable whites too
- 2022 White Burgundy Cuvée Mallory Talmard (£14.49 at Adnams and 13%): Clean and bright Macon chardonnay with pineapple flavours and flinty minerality.
- 2023 Domaine les Caizergues “Les Bobines” Blanc (from £12.15 at Wickham and 13.5%): Ripe nectarine flavours with peach fragrance and a twist of spice.
- 2023 Complices de Loire Le Vent Mineral AOC Vouvray Sec (£18.95 at Vintage Roots and 11.5%): Sophisticated with a pineapple and cooked apple base and bright lemon acidity.
- 2023 Muga Rioja White (£12.99 at Waitrose and 13.5%): Gently perfumed with a creamy texture wrapped around white peach and greengage flavours.
- 2023 De Martino Reserva Chardonnay (£12 at Asda and 13.5%): From Chile’s Limari Valley – rich but with vibrant quince and melon flavours and citrus acidity.
Call in again on Monday when the spotlight falls on Top Tips that offer especially good value at a store near you.
13 responses
– the Talmard white Burgundy from the Wine Society is excellent, and very popular.
– For party fodder that Cotes de Ventoux from Lidl that you highlighted a week or two back is brilliant, I think.
Happy Xmas to you Brian, and to all!
Very good to see that “Santa” and his elves have developed great discernment for quality white wines and value! He must spend most of the year in the North Pole trying out wines.
I think it was Richard in a previous post who put me onto the somewhat secret joys of Beaujolais Blanc.If we compare Brian’s Wickham choice to Erling Haaland ,then their Clos du Viuex Bourgeois, Beaujolais Blanc 2020 at £16.65 could be Mo Salah. Very little in it.
Moving onto Gavi, I have very much enjoyed Gavi ‘La Fornace ‘ Cinzia Bergaglio 2023 13.5% £16 upwards from various independents.Whilst it is refreshing ,there is an added twist of sage and heather and the extra heft gives it a creaminess that ups the Gavi game.Well worth seeking out.
Now Loin de L’Oeil – which is a real test of your French pronunciation- comes from Occitan origins and means “far from the eye” ,which seems to refer to the long stem of the grapes and thus being far from the original bud.Another cracking wine.
What a great pick of Christmas whites, Brian and I completely agree with your suggestion Olifantsberg Grenache Blanc. It’s a superb wine and I didn’t know it was in Tesco!
The Vouvray Sec from Santa’s elves would be fantastic with ham too
Agree Lisa about the Grenache Blanc, it’s excellent. I’ll definitely be buying the ‘Gaillac Loin de L’Oeil’ as well, another lovely white. Have to mention another Tesco wine for ‘Sovee’ lovers the ‘Springfield Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2023’ I thought it was stunning, all the usual Sovee flavours with the dial cranked up, great producer.
Hello Dave,
Asda Awatere Sauvignon Blanc which has been previously recommended is on offer down to a bargain £6.75.Goes well with anything fishy at Xmas.
Thanks Paul, I’ll check it out
As ever Santa super recommendations with these whites. Particularly will check out that Riesling from the Mosel at Majestic, that keep sending me a money off voucher to use.
I have a TWS order arriving tomorrow with several whites.
After finishing the excellent Sainsbury’s TTD Müller Thurgau that I really enjoyed over several days, I’ve turned to a white Burgundy from TWS that I’ve ordered again … Domaine Mallory et Benjamin Talmard, Mâcon-Villages 2023. Getting towards the edge of affordability in my budget range at £12.50 it really hits the spot for me. Unoaked Chardonnay, classy, delicate and altogether unmissable if we enjoy something akin to Chablis but at lesser, typical cost. I see Jerry W likes it too.
I thought also to have;
The Society’s White Rioja 2022 £9.25,
Duo Des Mers Sauvignon-Viognier 2023 £7.75 … and
The Society’s Cava Reserva Brut 2021 £9.76
All bases should be covered now for over the festive season along with the Asda usual suspect Wine Atlas whites already waiting on the shelf.
At Morrisons I tracked down one of the last of the Calvet Cité de Carcassonne reds plus a couple of new, The Best Chinon, a Cabernet Franc from its natural home and standing alone in its own right.
My wife doesn’t like it even for all the old times of camping days and weeks on the banks of the Vienne facing the Château of Chinon and shopping in E Leclerc back in the day when we could if we’d needed to buy shotgun cartridges off the shelf in that supermarket, I kid you not. The rural reality of France then. Unique. Loved it!
If there is one thing that I appreciate about a bottle of wine above all else it’s when it delivers the exact thing that I’d have hoped for based on characteristics I knew and loved from the best of the genre I’d been able to have previously. I can’t get enough of that purple red juice all berry fruit, perfume and sous bois. Suspect in recommending it here we’ll find it’s a bit of a ”marmite” choice and others too won’t get it as doesn’t my better half. It’s £9 but £6.75 on the current buy 6 deal.
But for those with a TWS subscription here’s one popular red bottle just back in stock this week that I bet lots will enjoy.
Sangiovese-Primitivo Cielo Via Mare, Puglia 2023 at £6.95 that is as much best value a red TWS are doing just now. It really is very decent and at the money a proper Mid Week wine selection.
Speaking of TWS membership I was chatting with an old drinking buddy/musician from south London the other day, reminiscing as you do about nights spent in his local club drinking Youngs ”mixed” pints (half ordinary bitter, half special) as we enjoyed in a very old-fashioned kind of way an elderly woman who had been in her younger days with the Ivy Benson Band! A terrific pianist who could play anything asked of her. Happy days!I said I was getting a lot of supplies these days from the excellent TWS. He told me he’d bought his son a £40 subscription as a Xmas present. What a great idea for a gift …
and a PS to close
Just noticed the Lidl 30% reduction on buy 3 De Luxe wines is interesting and very welcome I’m sure for those with a little less money to spend on wine.
The excellent SA-Chenin drops to £4.54 and the NZ-SB to 5.80 but opening the full details on today’s Lidl Plus app notification I’m amazed to see how many De Luxe wines are listed there in the range, many of which I cannot ever recall seeing on the shelf!! There are 32 listed when only a dozen are showing in the printed publicity. Worth checking out carefully methinks.
Typo
Should be Clos du Vieux.
Still as good as many a Burgundy white but well below Burgundy prices.
You can’t go wrong with a riesling from the Mosel in our house.
I also very much enjoyed TWS Talmard in a short run of Maconnais wines in a recent group tasting.
QUESTION Brian .. anyone .. in the Lidl De Luxe range do any of the reds stand out??
The Deluxe Australian Cabernet Sauvignon, Coonawarra, 2022 at £5.99, was rated 88 points by Richard Bampfield. And Pete Turner included this in his 6 best sub £10 Lidl wines YouTube vid published a couple of weeks ago. Haven’t drunk it myself, but those 2 guy’s opinions will be more informed than any of mine!
Thank you Richard appreciate that. I asked about these reds specifically because the De Luxe range is all new world that with reds I know little about and especially Australia that I never choose at all these days. Even NZ-Pinot Noir challenges my understanding but South African Cabernet and Syrah not at all of what few bottles I’ve had. I was in Lidl yesterday all ready to buy 3 bottles and enjoy the money off and suddenly became underwhelmed even for the excellent SA-CB with nothing else I fancied to go with it and bought nothing at all. Pinotage does nothing for me and I’ve gone off Malbecs from everywhere . I felt all bah humbug but then laughed out loud at myself … and people just stared at me!! My TWS order just came . All French Italian and Spanish joy. But I’m still willing to buy some Lidl de luxes if only …
Maybe will risk it the Oz Cabernet if it’s only 4 quid!!!
May I recommend viewing the latest “A Great White Wine- G&L Malagousia ,£8.95 The Wine Society ,Wine review ,Episode 489, Wine Mastery” on you tube where the two Johns really enjoy a Greek white wine I have previously brought to MWW members attention?