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Christmas dinner is a hard meal to match with one wine. The turkey wants something gentle, and then there’s everything around it: pigs in blankets, sage stuffing, cranberry sauce, and sprouts done however your family insists on doing them. Later comes the cheese board, and whoever turns up with a box of mince pies.
So don’t hunt for the one perfect bottle. Open two or three at the start and let people help themselves. This is how we’d spread our range across the day, using the six South African wines we have in stock right now.
Quick picks
| Course | Wine | Price |
|---|---|---|
| As guests arrive | J9 Sauvignon Blanc 2021 | £13.99 |
| Starters | Ses’fikile Chenin Blanc Roussanne 2020 | £15.99 |
| The turkey | Compagniesdrift Chardonnay Pinot Noir | £17.99 |
| Beef, lamb or venison | Harold’s Pinotage 2019, or Compagniesdrift Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2018 | £15 / £16.99 |
| Boxing Day and the cheese board | Libby’s Pride Merlot 2021 | £13.99 |
While everyone arrives
J9 Sauvignon Blanc 2021, £13.99
The first bottle of the day should be easy and cold. J9 smells of guava and green fig leaf with a hint of lychee, and at 13% it’s a sensible way to start a long day. Pour it with smoked salmon blinis, or with a bowl of crisps while the kitchen panics.
Starters
Ses’fikile Chenin Blanc Roussanne 2020, £15.99
Chenin Blanc is the most planted grape in South Africa, and here it’s blended with Roussanne, which rounds it out. Our tasting note says pears, apples and honey, with fresh acidity holding it together. The honey makes it lovely with a chicken liver pâté or a goat’s cheese tart. There’s enough freshness in it for a prawn cocktail too.
With the turkey
Compagniesdrift Chardonnay Pinot Noir, £17.99
If you only open one bottle at the table, make it this one. It’s a blend of a white grape and a red grape, pale in the glass with a rose and mandarin tint. You get cherry and red berries first, then some stone fruit underneath.
Turkey is a lean meat, and a heavy red tends to flatten it. This has enough red fruit to cope with cranberry sauce and the freshness of a white, so it suits the guests who say they only drink one or the other.
For beef, lamb or venison
Harold’s Pinotage 2019, £15
Pinotage was created in South Africa in 1925 by crossing Pinot Noir with Cinsault, and it’s still grown mostly there. Harold’s is a modern style. Think red berries and cranberry, a little cinnamon, something like toasted marshmallow, and soft tannins. Serve it at a cool room temperature with a rib of beef or a venison joint. It’s also very good with the leftover turkey curry on the 27th.
Compagniesdrift Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2018, £16.99
This is the darker option. Blackcurrant and plum, a bit of spice, and 14% alcohol, so it has some weight to it. Roast lamb with rosemary is the match. Open it half an hour before you sit down.
Boxing Day and the cheese board
Libby’s Pride Merlot 2021, £13.99
Medium bodied, with red and black berry fruit and a little mint at the end. It goes with cold cuts and bubble and squeak on Boxing Day, and with a cheese board that’s mostly cheddar and Red Leicester.
Getting it in time
Any six single bottles get 10% off, and you can mix them however you like, so the six wines above make a full set for the day. Six bottles also ship free, as does any order over £70. We deliver across the UK in 1-3 working days.
If you’d rather browse, here are all our red wines, our white wines and the cases of six.
We’ll add our last order date for Christmas delivery here as soon as it’s set.