As the founder of Manchester Wine Tours and an established food and drink writer, Kelly Bishop knows a thing or two about quaffing exemplary wine. In her first column for Altrincham Today, she selects a quintet of exceptional bottles for the festive season.
It’s completely dark at 5pm, the heating is on and you’ve dusted off your ancient hot water bottle. Woolly hats, gloves and thick socks are now daily requirements and if there is any budget left after you’ve paid the electricity bill, a nice glass of red wine will warm your cockles even further. We are also gearing up for silly season when, if your house is anything like mine, wine plays a leading role.
What a great time of year to be launching into a new role as the wine columnist for Altrincham Today. Hello! I’m Kel, a freelance food and drink writer and wine educator who hosts weekly wine tours around Manchester city centre.
I know a thing or two about wine and am really excited to be able to share some of my seasonal favourites with you this month. I hope they are a great addition to any festivities you are participating in this year - or at least inspire you to treat yourself on a cosy evening in front of the telly.
Gusbourne Brut Reserve 2020
(Reserve Wines, £45)
If English sparkling was ever having its moment, it’s now. You’ll have seen articles about the big French Champagne houses purchasing vineyards in the South of England. Here in the UK, we are already growing champagne grapes Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, and we have similar soil to that of Champagne (think Cretaceous chalky limestone and Kimmeridgian marl).
Now temperatures are rising due to climate change, the South of England is ideal for growing grapes for sparkling wine - possibly more so even than in Champagne.
Gusbourne makes some of my all-time favourite sparklers and this classic blend has the croissant crumb notes you expect and a depth of flavour from baked apple, pear and cinnamon spice. A perfect celebratory fizz for the festive season - or a gift for someone you really like.
Jansz Tasmania Sparkling
(Salut Wines, £23.50)
At this time of year, we knock back a lot of fizz so more affordable but still special options are welcome. This sparkling wine from Tasmania in Australia is my go-to - and a favourite of a lot of sommeliers.
Tassie has one of the coolest climates in Australia so it can make cracking sparklers. Jansz’s is serious stuff: vigneron Jennifer Doyle won Viticulturist of the Year at the Australian Women in Wine Awards in 2017. This little ripper has a beautiful peaches-and-cream softness.
Last Xmas, when I was lucky enough to spend a few days of family time in the Lakes, it was this that we cracked open to sip after dinner in the hot tub on Xmas eve. If you’ve never enjoyed an outdoor hot tub in freezing weather, I strongly recommend it btw.
Turckheim Vieilles Vignes Gewürztraminer
(Cork of the North, £19.50)
The grape name Gewürztraminer may sound a bit like one of your dad’s dramatic sneezes but it’s a noble grape variety that makes beautiful rich and luscious white wines.
Gewurtz is a German grape but it’s a key grape in the neighbouring French region of Alsace, an alpine area which makes lots of what I call ‘Grandma’s knicker drawer’ wines. Don’t let that description put you off, I just mean they are super floral like this one with its notes of lychee, candied peel and Turkish delight. With a touch of residual sugar, this would be absolutely belting with a Boxing Day turkey curry.
Villa Maria Cellar Selection Pinot Noir 2022
(Waitrose £16.99, or £12.75 if you take advantage of the 25% off 6 bottles offer)
I am currently in my Pinot Noir era. Much of my life, I’ve been a big bold reds girl, dismissing anything lighter bodied as ‘thin’. I’ve since realised the error of my ways and am making up for lost time.
Think of Pinot Noir as the Ed Sheeran of grapes: it’s a delicate soul, breaks a lot of hearts and burns easily in the sun. Winemakers call it the heartbreak grape because it’s such a challenge to ripen perfectly as so many things can go wrong.
But when they nail it, and ideally with a little bit of age on it, Pinot Noir makes some of the finest wines on the planet.
The French made it famous in Burgundy but NZ has long been making Pinot its own. This one from one of Marlborough’s most famous wine producers of the past 60 years, has soft cherry, wild strawberry, a touch of violet and a wisp of smoke. It punches well above its price point and is an ideal Xmas dinner wine.
Santodeno Sangiovese Appassimento
(Sainsbury’s £11, or £9 if you use Nectar)
This time of year, a lot of people want big beefy reds, so I couldn’t leave you without suggesting one.
This is made in a similar way to Amarone but is a lot more pocket-friendly. The winemaking method is called appassimento and it involves leaving the ripe grapes out to dry after harvesting so their flavours (and sugars) intensify - a bit like sun-dried tomatoes.
This means the wines often have some residual sugar which isn’t always detectable as ‘sweet’ when you taste it but amplifies the fruitiness and flavour of the wine as a tiny pinch of sugar added to your bolognese sauce does.
This Amarone-style wine is made from Sangiovese, the key grape of the Chianti region. It has Xmas pudding flavours of prune, fig, vanilla and baking spices and would sing with a hearty beef stew or a Mexican chilli.
Kelly Bishop is a food and wine writer from Manchester and the owner of Manchester Wine Tours. For more information, visit manchesterwinetours.com or follow @manchesterwinetours on Instagram.
