Christmas Dinner wine suggestions?

Darkginger

Sorry to post another Christmas dinner thread, but I guess we're all planning ahead for the big day...

Anyway - my menu is looking like this (below) and I'd like to complement it with a couple of decent bottles of wine (there's only 2 of us), as opposed to the plonk we drink the rest of the year.

Starter:

Chilled crab salad on cucumber jelly (a la French Laundry at Home recipe, the crab is mixed with whipped cream) - I'm thinking a white wine with this, not sparkling 'cos the last thing my tummy needs is extra gas before a massive meal - perhaps a Gewurtztraminer? Advice sought, anyway.

Main:

Roast goose - Gordon Ramsay's recipe, which includes Chinese 5 spice powder and a lot of citrus zest
Sprouts, carrots, parsnips, potato stuffing, roast spuds and Yorkshire puds, date and red wine (which is what I need advice on) gravy.

Pud:

Christmas Pannetone pudding and brandy butter - will be having a good old Irish coffee after this I expect, if we can fit it in, and a large snifter of brandy if we can't.

Aprés meal: much Alka-Seltzer!

So - two bottles, one white, one red (the red needs to be used in the gravy too), priced under €30 each ( which is significantly better than the €3.99 I've been paying for plonk from Aldi!).

Faith

Moved to Beer & Wine & Spirits.

colinsourke

For your starter I would think a Premier Cru Chablis would be one good option. You say you don't want fizz, which would have been a nice match, but Chablis in some ways has many of the qualities of Champagne, but without the bubbles i.e. its a Chardonnay grown in the same type of climate and is known for its piercing acidity which counterbalances the rich apple fruit flavours. Crab is quite a rich meat and so the acidity would cut through nicely. Also the fact that the crab is mixed with cream suits, as Chablis is a very good match for creamy dishes/sauces. You would definitely get a very nice Premier Cru on a budget of thirty quid.

For the goose, full-bodied, strong flavoured reds are often recommended as the flavours of these wines can stand up to the flavours of the goose. However you need to be careful going down this road, as tannin in red wine does not go well with fats in food, so a tannic red with fatty food is a no no. Goose is quite fatty obviously, so tannin level is a consideration. If I was having goose I'd go for a top-class New World Pinot Noir, maybe a Californian from the Carneros region- Clos du Val Pinot Noir for example. With this you would get rich red fruit flavours with a hint of oak and vanilla that would neither overpower or be swamped by the goose flavours. Good Pinot Noir generally has great acidity which again, as with your starter, would cut through the fatty goose meat perfectly. Also, wines like this are generally not big on tannin, and whatever tannin is present will be silky and well integrated and shouldn't cause a problem. Finally, really good Pinot often has a very enticing savoury quality to it, both on the nose and on the palate, which i personally find really appealing and I reckon it would match a roast goose perfectly! Again, a thirty quid budget is more than enough here.

Instead of that Irish Coffee/Brandy snifter, if your budget can possibly stretch, you should consider buying a sweet wine to have with your pudding and after. For example, a good quality Madeira is like liquid Christmas in a glass, or maybe a Banyuls, which is a tawny wine from the South of France. I think both of these would be nice with your pudding.

Anyway, I'm no expert by any stretch...I think at the end of the day you should go for something you know you like on a special occasion like this, rather than going for something totally new and risking a let down! Wine and food matching is not a science, the point is if you like how a wine tastes with a particular food then go with it and sod the 'rules'. Good luck choosing!