Monday 17 December 2018

Some Christmas wine chat....


             Whatever we say about Christmas, from a culinary perspective there’s certainly some serious fun to be had.  Have you already planned your menu or is someone else planning it for you? Either way I have a few wine thoughts to tempt you with.
            Say we start with a salmon mousse type of arrangement or a mackerel paté. Served on blinis, of course, or on oatcakes is rather fun. For those flavours, I’d suggest a Sauvignon Blanc from the Eastern or Upper Loire in France. Pouillé Fumé and Sancerre are the famous examples but there are others worth seeking out. Menetou Salon, Reuilly and Quincy are neighbouring areas providing that same beautiful crisp acidity at slightly more reasonable prices. Highly recommended. For those of you who think you probably don’t like Sav. Blanc due to the intense gooseberry bombs from Marlborough in New Zealand, don’t fret, this is a different experience, equally delicious with the famous goats’ cheese from the area such as Selles-sur-Cher (that’s my veggie tip). Yum yum yum.
            Now let’s assume you’re having turkey. You may not be, of course. I had pheasant in recent Christmases, one as as turkey is too big, two, I like pheasant and three, it’s cheap and roams around a bit more in quaint, leafy England, before being shot. But you probably are having turkey and why not. Turkey is delicious. Now, will you have white or red? You can have either really though red would probably be the experts’ choice.  With a roast turkey christmas dinner there are lots of flavours apart from the bird. Cranberry, stuffing, sprouts, rich, salty roasties and so on. For white, I‘d suggest a big chardonnay. Rich and oaky with good freshness and acidity too, in order to stand up to all those flavours. A rare treat would be Limoux in southern France which does fantastic examples, or South Africa does some delightful food-friendly Chardonnay, notably from the Western Cape. Margaret River in Western Australia also would be a good bet.  
            If you’re more inclined to red, as I would be, California or New Zealand Pinot Noir could be a good place to start, if you like the big new world flavours.  Burgundy, my favoured location for the sensual wonder that is Pinot Noir, may be dominated by the sharpness of the cranberry sauce, whereas the New World Pinots have more weight and depth of fruit. New Zealand can be procured for less money – still quite a lot though - but Californian Pinots are worth investigating if you’re happy to plunder your overdraft. Personally, I’d go for a European, something a bit more restrained. Maybe a high quality Beaujolais – no, that’s not a contradiction in terms – such as a Morgon or a Moulin-a-Vent or or a Côtes-du-Rhône named village such as Cairanne or Séguret or even a Rioja Reserva. Or less obvious, how about a Zweigelt, unique to Austria, medium-bodied with enough fruit, spice and acidity to match the turkey and trimmings.            
Some other reds worth discovering this Christmas and after, would include Saperavi. Saperavi is from Georgia. Yes, Georgia, on the Black Sea near Russia, that’s right. Caviar comes from there. I don’t know much more about Georgia but discovering this wonderful wine makes me want to. Too much for turkey – big and rich with strong tannins  - it would be a great match for beef or venison. Or how about Aglianico from south-west Italy. A similarly powerful red, with added minerality from the volcanic soils, it’s wonderful with dark meats or strong cheeses. Wine is about discovery. Voyages of discovery to places that you don’t need to spend a fortune visiting. Just spend twenty quid, drink a glass and imagine these beautiful lands where grapes have been grown for thousands of years.
As for dessert, there would have to be some kind of chocolate involved, as far as I’m concerned. Pedro Ximenez from south-west Spain is a dark, sweet sherry, reminiscent of chocolate raisins. It’s recommended poured over ice cream though ice cream is not particularly Christmassy. If you want to save the waistline, just drink it - chilled - on its own. The sherry that is, thanks to my editor for that one. The fascinating Icewine or Eiswein is also a thing of miraculous qualities. Produced in Canada, Germany and Austria, primarily, it has a unique genesis. When temperatures drop below a certain level, around minus eight, I believe, the grapes are picked and crushed frozen. The result is an acidity of astonishing intensity and very concentrated sweetness. Less cloying than classic dessert wine like Sauternes it is, again, a wine to be discovered, but it’s not easy to find and not cheap. Also, unusually, it comes in red and white. Maybe start saving up for next Christmas on that one...

Tuesday 11 December 2018

Christmas again! At least, we have a choice...


“It’s Christmas time, there’s no need to be afraid…” as Paul Young once sang. It’s true there are lots of things to be afraid of at the moment, or at least worried about. So much negativity, mediocrity, anger and hysteria Etc. so we probably need Christmas more than ever. Christmas, ideally in the Christian sense of peace, love and compassion or at least those great Crimbo songs from the 1970's. What we're more likely to get, however is people dressing in ridiculous costumes - one guy I saw, seemed to be dressed up in a baby suit covered in baubles and tinsel - people getting drunk at office parties, tacky light displays outside our houses, offending the eyes of anyone with a modicum of aesthetic judgement and the usual tasteless circus that is modern Christmas. We can also go to a carol concert or we could help feed homeless people. Good, spiritual things happen at Christmas too. I don’t tend to do either of these two things, though I wish I did. Point is, we have a choice. I often feel guilty at being a bit self-indulgent and lazy at this time of year, rather than helping my fellow man. At least I don’t offend my neighbours and contribute to global warming with a flashing reindeer outside the house.
I can think of many reasons for which I’d like to have a time machine. One would be to travel to mid 17th century England and bring back a Puritan type to see what they made of modern Christmas. I fear the horror might be too much for them. You see, the Puritans (Oliver Cromwell et al,  today’s equivalent of the DUP or Daily Mail readers minus the boozing and wife-swapping) banned Christmas, or rather the celebrating of Christmas. They felt it would be much better to spend time in quiet contemplation, praying for the salvation of one’s soul, being, as we are human, prone to sinfulness. What a bunch of killjoys. They did the same in Scotland, even earlier. “Dreary pricks” as Billy Connolly once described them. The banning of revelry had other reasons too. The Puritans, not being too keen on Catholics, also wanted to erase any evidence of Catholicism’s existence. Mass etc., hence Christ-mas, so it was partly political but also, clearly, because they were “dreary pricks”.
When Cromwell died and England decided they didn’t like him after all, they invited the Catholic monarch, Charles the 2nd, whose father’s head they had chopped off, to take the throne. Can never quite make their minds up, the English.  Charlie boy, grandson of James the Sixth of Scotland and First of England, for whom the term “party animal” was probably invented, quickly shook things up. Partying and producing illegitimate children left right and centre, he took a salacious revenge on those fun-hating puritans and of course laughter at Christmas was re-instated. Quite what he would have made of modern Christmas, who knows, but I suspect he wouldn’t ban it, except perhaps the playing of Christmas music in shops in October. Well that’s what I would do…And if it came down to choosing between a puritan Christmas and today’s then fetch me a Reindeer hat and a baby suit covered in tinsel anytime. On second thought…In any case, I feel grateful for the agony of choice.