Perfect pairing: top wines to match your Turkey
The beauty of our favourite festive fowl is that it pairs well with a wide variety of wines. So do you opt for your usual choice this year, or try something different? Here’s some advice from our pairing expert, Fiona Beckett, plus 10 suggestions for perfect bottles to bring your Christmas meal to life.
If you’ve cooked – and written about – Christmas turkey as often as I have (which is a lot), you may think there’s nothing more to be said on the subject of what you should drink with it. But can I gently suggest that you might be wrong.
It’s not that there are likely to be options out there that you’ve never thought of – it’s more that it may be possible to do it better, more cheaply, and more in tune with the guests you have round your table this year.
Even if you plan to bring something special out of the cellar this year – I mean, you are a Decanter reader, after all – I suggest it’s wise to have younger wines as back-up, and not only because one or more might be corked or over the hill. Not everyone enjoys older wines, and if it is a big party and they are likely to drink a lot then you might also want something more affordable to hand.
It is of course not just the turkey (which will rub along perfectly amiably with most wines) but the trimmings you need to match with, which are, after all, the main point of Christmas lunch. Of which the stuffing, cranberry sauce and whatever gravy you’re serving are the main issues to contend with.
I find it helpful to consider how traditional your menu is going to be. If the meal is predominantly savoury (ie, chestnut stuffing, classic veg, traditional, British-style gravy), I’d be more inclined to go for a classic red such as a Bordeaux or a Rioja. If it’s more modern in style, with, say, a spicy or fruity stuffing and jazzed up Ottolenghi-ish veg, you might find a brighter red like a Shiraz or a New World Pinot Noir would work better.
It’s also, of course, a question of personal preference. If you can’t drink your favourite wines at Christmas, then when can you? I have a weakness for wines from the Rhône and Languedoc with turkey and could frankly have filled the whole list with them. But I must admit I was impressed by what Tuscany currently has to offer around the £10 mark, and also by the more fruit-driven styles of Bordeaux and Rioja. Sneaking in one that nearly made it onto the list, try the Bodegas Palacio, Glorioso Reserva Rioja 2016 (£11.95-£14.99 Ocado, The Wine Society), which has an almost passito-like ripeness that would make lovers of slightly sweeter reds very happy.
Something white
While I like white Burgundy, particularly mature white Burgundy, with turkey (a discovery I actually made at a Decanter tasting some years ago when a Chassagne-Montrachet came joint top), I generally find red Burgundy too light – or too fragile if it’s a venerable bottle. I’d rather have Beaujolais, which I reckon is also the best pairing for the leftovers.
Other full-bodied whites such as Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Hermitage, while good candidates for turkey, are really not worth fielding straight off the shelf – there’s an awful lot of underaged white Châteauneuf about, which is why I’ve included the Sablet Côtes du Rhône Villages in my line-up.
And frankly, if there aren’t that many of you, why not drink Champagne, which goes with everything. Gonet-Médeville Tradition 1er Cru Brut (£33.50 Lea & Sandeman) was another that just missed the cut here. Save it for New Year’s Eve if you don’t drink it on the 25th.
The wines to match:
Wines grouped by colour and ordered by score, in descending order.
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Smith & Sheth, Cru Heretaunga Chardonnay, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, 2018
New Zealand may be better known for Sauvignon Blanc, but it produces some absolutely cracking Chardonnays, too, including this one – from the less fashionable North Island. From 20-year-old Clone 15 and 95 vines, for the geeks among you, and aged in new and aged French barriques, this is fabulously opulent and creamy; powerful enough to stand up to the bird. Could easily be taken for a Meursault.
2018
Smith & Sheth
Domaine Saint Gayan, L’Oratory, Côtes du Rhône Villages, Sablet, Rhône, France, 2020
If you have a white Châteauneuf-du-Pape palate but not a Châteauneuf budget, this luxuriantly creamy, peachy Côtes du Rhône from Sablet should tick all the right boxes. With turkey, the classic white blend of mostly Viognier and Clairette with Bourboulenc, Grenache Blanc and Roussanne is, I think, better than perfumed Viognier alone, having more structure. Delicious now, but worth tucking away a couple of bottles for next Christmas, too.
2020
Domaine Saint GayanCôtes du Rhône Villages
Bouchard Aîné & Fils, Grand Conseiller Chardonnay, Vin de France, France, 2020
Fruit has been sourced from the south of France and some from Burgundy for this handsomely packaged Chardonnay, which could easily pass for a white Burgundy. Aged for six months, mainly in stainless steel, it’s surprisingly rich, and has an attractive creaminess that carries a bit more weight than a Chablis at a similar price point – were such a thing to exist.
2020
Bouchard Aîné & FilsVin de France
Schloss Schönborn, Alte Reben Pinot Noir, Rheingau, Germany, 2018
How good are German Pinots these days! And what incredible value, with a weight, structure and elegance you simply wouldn't find from Burgundy – or even the New World – at this price. (Tease your family by serving it blind: unless they're MWs they won't guess where it comes from.) The old vines undoubtedly contribute to the deep mulberry fruit with a lovely touch of plum and pomegranate molasses. Almost made for turkey.
2018
Schloss Schönborn
Château Mont-Redon, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Rhône, France, 2015
The first three bottles showed really quite oxidative for a 2015. Full-bodied, and packed full of fruit, but quite pruny. They were better on the palate, with some freshness, but again really quite advanced for the vintage, with massy, soft tannins. A fourth bottle was quite jammy on the nose, good concentration, with fairly low acidity, but enjoyably unctuous fruit. Powerfully tannic still, so this needs more time in bottle, but not too long as the fruit is quite soft. The score and drinking dates are for the fourth bottle, but I would be wary with the 2015 vintage here, there is clearly considerable bottle variation. 50% aged in stainless steel tank, 50% 228-litre barrels (one quarter new), mostly from François Frères.
2015
Château Mont-RedonChâteauneuf-du-Pape
Domaine de Verquière, Plande Dieu, Côtes du Rhône Villages, Rhône, France, 2019
There may be bigger names in the Rhône, but less prestigious appellations such as Plan de Dieu offer incredible value. A really delicious, bright, juicy red brimming with vibrant plum and cherry fruit but with acidity to cut through the richness of the Christmas feast – and many other meals, too. A great all-rounder – joyously, exuberantly festive.
2019
Domaine de VerquièreCôtes du Rhône Villages
St. Dune, Pyla, McLaren Vale, South Australia, Australia, 2020
This exotic cocktail of grapes including Nero d’Avola, Carignan, Negroamaro, Montepulciano, Grenache and Mourvèdre makes for a gorgeously vibrant red with all the power and character of the Mediterranean varieties and the fresh acidity of the Italian ones. A good wine to have as an option for younger members of the party alongside a more classic bottle from your own cellar – maybe even an older Shiraz.
2020
St. DuneMcLaren Vale
Lapostolle, Reserve Merlot, Apalta, Colchagua Valley, Chile, 2019
Smooth, ripe and velvety, this impeccable Chilean red has the unmistakable polished stamp of consultant Michel Rolland. 45% of the wine is aged in French oak for five months, the remaining 55% in stainless steel, adding a balance of freshness to the lush sweetness of the fruit. Quintessentially Chilean, it should have no problem with a turkey dinner. Good with beef Wellington, too.
2019
LapostolleApalta
San Felice, Morrisons The Best, Toscana, Tuscany, Italy, 2019
Pour this Tuscan red for your guests, then ask them to guess how much it cost. My hunch is they'll pitch it around £20. It’s rich, ripe, supple and full-bodied in spite of the relatively low levels of alcohol and, although it spent 16 months in French oak and Slavonian oak casks, the wood is beautifully integrated. It will really cut through the richness of your Christmas meal.
2019
San FeliceToscana
Château de Pierreux, Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference, Beaujolais, Brouilly, Burgundy, France, 2020
While you might, like me, be a fan of Beaujolais being poured with the Boxing Day leftovers, you might regard it as a little too light for the main event – but not this bottle, which comes in at a hearty 14.5% and has been aged in oak vats for six months. This is a muscular style with a really good hit of ripe cherry fruit that could easily take the cranberry sauce and all the other trimmings in its stride. Great value, too.
2020
Château de PierreuxBeaujolais
