Winter wines on a budget

January is a tough time for the average wine lover. There are few excuses to celebrate and, post-Christmas, there is an underlying feeling that perhaps one should lay off the booze for a while, for the good of the liver - and wallet.

On the liver front, without going into too much laborious detail, 2 or 3 alcohol free days a week year-round are what’s required. A month-long moratorium on drinking is perhaps admirable, but will not benefit your liver in the longer term if you simply then return to a daily glass or two thereafter.

And for the wallet…here are some wines that can help to banish the winter blues, and which won’t give your bank balance a bruising.

Mesquiriz Navarra Rosado 2015, Spain - £3.99, Lidl

At this price, this winter-weight Spanish rosé will bring a smile to the lips of any skint wine drinker. The generous strawberry fruit with a little kick of white pepper makes is a perfect midweek wine for bangers and mash.

Trebuchet Chardonnay 2015, South Africa - £5.99 (mix six price until 30 Jan), Majestic

This South African Chardonnay tastes much more expensive than it is, especially at the reduced price. It has creamy fruit with a zesty lemon finish.

Tesco finest* St Mont 2014, France - £6, Tesco

The direction that Tesco’s wine range is heading doesn’t give much to cheer about, but this long-lived member of their own label finest* range is a welcome survivor of recent culls to the list. This blend of Southwest France’s native white varieties Gros Manseng, Petit Courbu, Petit Manseng and Arrufiac deliver a wine of character, combining grapefruit zing and apricot-tinged fruit.

Casal de Ventozela 2015, Vinho Verde, Portugal - £6.99 (mix six price), Majestic

This medal-winning Vinho Verde is fresh and spritzy with lemon and herbal flavours – a tonic for the jaded.

Setze Gallets Garnacha Monastrell, Spain 2014 - £7.25, The Wine Society

Full-flavoured, fruity and with a level of class that belies its price, this is perfect winter comfort wine. From the sunny climes of Valencia in Spain and aged in amphorae, this red combines the dense dark fruit of Monastrell with the rich liveliness of old vine Garnacha.

Falanghina Sassi del Mare 2015, Italy - £7.99, Lidl

This is part of Lidl’s Christmas wine collection, which you should be able to find until the next collection hits their shelves from 26^th January onwards. Try this gem of an Italian white, from Campania, for a taste of springtime honeysuckle in winter.

Tesco finest* Tingleup Riesling 2015, Australia - £8, Tesco

Another long-standing Tesco listing, the wine’s flavour somehow matches the its name – though Tingleup is simply the name of the region of origin in Western Australia. Fresh, juicy lime fruit and waxiness combine in a wine which is dry but never austere.

Mesta Organic Old Vine Tempranillo 2015, Spain - £8, M&S

The same red grape, Tempranillo, as Rioja, but in a richer, riper style that is full of fruit with an edge of tomato leaf -  and without oak.

Zalze Shiraz/Mourvèdre/Viognier 2015, South Africa - £8.29, Waitrose

For people who like their winter reds to pack a punch of both flavour and alcohol, this delivers the necessary with full-flavoured, juicy fruit.

Blason du Rhône 2015, Côtes du Rhône Villages, France - £8.99, Waitrose

The word “Villages” in the name is an important one, signifying a step up in quality from straight Côtes du Rhône. This soothing wine is soft and smooth with strawberry fruit and a hint of herbs on the finish.

Wines for the Christmas table

Here’s a handy guide to wines to make your Christmas Day go with a swing.

Smoked salmon

When you have your smoked salmon might determine your choice of drinking accompaniment.

Pouilly Fumé 2015, Masson Blondelet - £15.99, Ocado

If it’s as a starter to the Christmas Day feast, then a smart bottle like this could be the way to go. Sauvignon Blanc finds its most mineral, sometimes smoky, expression in the Loire vineyards of Pouilly Fumé. The fresh, tangy, slightly marine aromas give way to a textured, fragrant wine with zesty acidity, delicate structure and persistent flavour.

If, however, your smoked salmon crops up in a more brunchy setting – don’t look at the clock, it’s Christmas - a bottle of something sparkling might be more fun. There are plenty of fizz recommendations in my previous column (online version here: http://yourliquidassets.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/fizz-for-sparkling-christmas-parties.html). If I were to choose one perfect match from that list, it would have to be Champagne Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs 2007 Grand Cru - £33.99, Waitrose.  

The main event – Christmas dinner

Roast turkey (or goose), roast potatoes, sprouts, cranberry sauce, gravy, pigs in blankets – is it really possible for a wine to match all the foods that we merrily pile onto our festive plates on Christmas Day? In truth no, so we can be liberated from embarking on that impossible task. The prime consideration is to choose something you know you’ll enjoy.

But there are wines that will cope with the kind of rich cornucopia of flavours better than others.

Pinot Noir is usually my choice of red for the occasion. It makes wines that are fragrant and full of red fruit with only a whisper of tannin, but with crisp acidity: a profile that makes for wines which can rub along happily with a wide range of flavours, rather than clashing with them.

Try one of these:

Villa Maria Private Bin Pinot Noir 2015 - £8.50, Morrison’s, £9, Asda

At its full recommended retail price of £13.35 this is no bargain, but at these special offer prices there’s plenty to recommend this New Zealand Pinot: aromas of raspberry and clove carry through to the palate, with barely there tannins. This is fruity and easy-drinking enough to take with you after the meal to the sitting room for slurping with a box set. In the same sort of vein is Ara Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2014 - £11.99, Waitrose.

Sancerre Rouge au Bois de l’Epine 2015 - £15, M&S

Red Sancerre, always made from Pinot Noir, has improved greatly in quality in recent years. This has lovely ripeness of fruit, body and texture.

Domaine Lucien Muzard Santenay Premier Cru Maladière 2014 - £21.49, Waitrose

Ultimately, no-one does Pinot Noir better than in Burgundy. This example, from the Côte de Beaune, the southern half of the Côte d’Or, has spent a year in oak and combines depth and intensity with a smooth richness.

Contino Rioja Reserva 2005 - £25, The Wine Society (Marks & Spencer have the 2010 at the same price, as do Waitrose)

You can’t go wrong with Rioja. The mellow nature of the wine, thanks to oak ageing, makes it slip in just fine with all manner of dishes. It’s renowned for matching with lamb, but, I would argue, is one of the most versatile of red wine styles. And who isn’t pleased to see a bottle of Rioja on the table?

Contino is a byword for quality in Rioja. Their wine is made from all their own estate-grown fruit (not the norm in Rioja) and the balance of flavour, ripeness and freshness is usually spot on.

Christmas pudding

Sometimes it’s hard to do justice to the Christmas pudding after all the conspicuous consumption that precedes it.

Royal Palace Colheita Port 2002 - £26, M&S

A Tawny Port, aged for a few years in oak, would make a good match for the dried fruits, nuts and spice of your Chritmas pud, and could happily continue on to the cheese course. Warre’s Otima (widely available at around £12 for a 50cl bottle) is a reliable introduction to the style, with some mellowing nuttiness alongside the sweet, spicy fruit. Single vintage, or Colheita, Ports are often a step up in quality and complexity. This one, from the 2002 vintage has a stimulating mix of berries and herbs with a medicinal hint.

Fontanafredda Moscato d’Asti Moncucco 2015 - £9.95 (50cl), Great Western Wine

Or you could go more leftfield and try a Moscato d’Asti. Rather than matching flavours, this is about providing a contrast. The fresh, lightly sparkling pear flavours of this delightful Italian charmer provide a foil to the richness of the pudding.  And if you can’t face the pudding at all, a glass of this (at only 5.5% alcohol) is a great post-prandial pick me up.

Cheeseboard

Harveys VORS Palo Cortado - £22.59 (50cl), Waitrose

VORS stands for Very Old Rare Sherry and this Palo Cortado, aged for a minimum of 30 years, certainly fits the bill. The label indicates medium sweetness, but I would say it is just off-dry and the long ageing brings wonderful complexity, with tangy nuttiness, caramel, dried fruits and more to savour. Sherry is perhaps not a classic cheese match, but try this and you might be converted. If I were Len, I’d give it 10.

Cook’s treat

Finally, and most importantly, the success of any Christmas Day should include something delicious for the cook(s) to sip at as they chop, stuff, steam and baste in the kitchen.

Dr Loosen Slate Hill Riesling 2015 – £8.99 on offer at Majestic (mix six price)

This zingy, fresh Riesling has a little lemon and peach fruity sweetness, but finishes dry. The perfect thing to have by your side as you cook and, at only 8.5% alcohol, you can have a glass of this without feeling sozzled before the turkey’s on the table.

Aperitivo time

Time was, an aperitif meant a hugely expensive gin and tonic served in a fancy restaurant while you perused the menu. I’m not one to turn down a G&T, but a broader range of pre-dinner snifters is very welcome.

Of course many of these aperitif drinks have a long and distinguished history and what we are experiencing is actually a re-discovery. But the expansion of bar and cocktail culture is also driving new uses for them to whet the appetites of a new generation of drinkers.

Vermouth is probably the most famous style of specialist aperitif and it is great for drinking alone, over ice, but also adds depth and interest to cocktails.  

The process to make it sounds straightforward enough: various botanicals are steeped in grape spirit for a period of time and then mixed with wine and caramel to give the required level of sweetness to balance the dryness of the wine and the bitterness of the herbs. In order to qualify as vermouth, one of the botanicals must be wormwood, or Artemisia absinthium. The Latin name gives you a clue that this is the same herb used to flavour Absinthe, rocket fuel of the Parisian demi monde, the wormwood giving it its hallmark green tinge.  

The German for wormwood, Wermut, gives us vermouth in English. Vermouths tend to be around 14-20% alcohol, roughly the same as sherry and port.   

The birthplace of vermouth is Italy and its second home is France. The big names, Cinzano and Martini, are both based in Turin, northern Italy and their various incarnations are widely available. Noilly Prat, the classic French vermouth hails from Marseillan, not far from Béziers in southern France. Noilly Prat Original Dry, with its full flavoured, very dry style and hint of herbal bitterness would be my choice for a classic vodka martini. 

If you’ve dipped your toe into the aperitif pool in recent years, it may well have been Aperol that tempted you in. Aperol shares some characteristics with vermouth, but the dominant flavouring is quinine, a bitter tasting substance derived from the bark of the quinquina tree, rather than wormwood. Such drinks are collectively known as quinquinas.  

Aperol originated in Padua in Italy and became popular between the wars. It’s a slightly disconcertingly bright orange colour and has a bitter-sweet flavour profile – think of a less brightly coloured and less intensely  flavoured Campari.  The in vogue way to drink it is as a spritz: 3 parts Prosecco, 2 parts Aperol and 1 part soda water, over ice with a  slice of orange. As Aperol is only around 11% alcohol to start with, this ends up being a lightish option as an aperitif and has the added virtue of being fizzy, which is what we Brits seem to require in our drinks currently. 

There are no hard and fast rules about the different categories of aperitif and in addition to vermouth and quinquina you might also come across Americano, which is usually grouped with the quinquinas as this ingredient is generally part of the recipe. Another issue which muddies the waters is that these drinks usually involve proprietary blends of herbs and spices and the exact recipes will be jealously guarded.   

Other quinquinas you might encounter include Dubonnet (£9 from Tesco), which was originally developed as a way of making quinine palatable to French foreign legionnaires fighting in malaria-infested parts of Africa.  

The French have a fondness for a range of herbal-infused drinks, including  Suze, which is flavoured with gentian, making for a really bitter drink, and St Raphael, which is red, fruity sweet and only slightly bitter. It’s hard to know if these should be classed as vermouths or quinquinas. You might also come across Dolin from Chambéry on the edge of the French alps, which is possibly a “true” vermouth (£10.49 in Waitrose). 

I wasn’t aware that Spain had also had a part to play in the vermouth story, but have recently been put right. Peruse the aperitif section of a Spanish restaurant – Iberica, for example (branches in London, Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow) lists six vermouths, all from Spain – and you’ll see what I mean. 

Finally, neither a vermouth, nor a quinquina (or Americano come to that) Pedrino Alcoholic Tonic (£1.90 for a 200ml bottle from Waitrose) is, nevertheless, most definitely an aperitif. It’s a blend of Pedro Ximenez sherry, quinine, citrus and sparkling water that is initially sweet, then tangy, nicely grippy with a  slightly bitter finish.  On its own, it’s a light alcohol 5.5% - combined with gin, it’s a bit more hardcore.  

Salud! Santé! Cin Cin!