There is a Port for all seasons if you know where to look. Often thought of as an after-dinner, fireside drink, Port can be enjoyed in multiple ways depending on the character of the wine.

There is a pyramid of different Port styles, from vibrant youthful ruby to venerable aged-tawny and vintage. Port is often thought of as a heavy winter drink, but aged tawnies, colheitas and mature vintage Ports can be supremely elegant and refined.

White Port and tonic (also known as Portonic) and tawnies (served slightly chilled) are just as well-suited for warm summer days as a ruby or a full-bodied LBV is for the winter months. Such wines have never been more in demand.

This style guide climbs the Port pyramid, surveying the latest trends. It will point you to the right Port for any occasion, winter or summer.

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Ruby

Named after its youthful colour, a ruby Port will be a blend of wines from more than one year. It is aged in bulk for up to three years and bottled young to capture its strong, fiery personality.

Reserve

A blend of premium-quality wines often aged for slightly longer than a basic ruby before bottling: giving a rich, satisfying Port. A reserve tawny is a blended wine that has spent about seven years in wood. It can be excellent value compared to wines bottled with an indication of age.

Crusted

So-called because of the deposit (or ‘crust’) that the wine throws in bottle. Crusted Ports are a blend of wines from two or three harvests aged in large oak vats for two to four years (though surprisingly there is nothing in the regulations on this). Like a vintage Port, they are bottled without any fining or filtration. The only significant date on the label is the year of bottling. Most crusted Ports are ready to drink with five or six years of bottle age and will last for another decade. The British houses make a speciality of this style. Excellent value: crusted is poor man’s vintage Port!

White

Made from white grapes. Most are bottled young but some whites are capable of wood age. Those wines may now be bottled with the same age indications as tawny Ports or as a colheita (see below). White Port and tonic is a revitalsing summer drink, served with a twist of lemon and a sprig of mint. If you use an older wood-aged wine, your Portonic takes on the bitter-sweet character of a Negroni.

Pink

This style of Port was pioneered by Croft and has been adopted, not without controversy, by most shippers. It is made by cooling fermenting grape must, which has had minimal skin contact. Serve pink Port over ice or use as a mixer.

Cheese and Port matching guide

Port 2018: A buyer’s guide

Late Bottled Vintage (LBV)

Late Bottled Vintage means just what it says on the label: wwine from a single year that’s bottled between four and six years after the vintage. It’s produced in much larger volumes than either classic vintage or single-quinta vintage (see below). Two different styles of LBV Port have emerged.

The modern style of LBV was founded by Taylor’s in the mid-1960s and quickly became a commercial success. These wines are aged in large vats and are subject to fining and filtration prior to bottling. This prevents the formation of a crust or sediment in bottle, which removes the need to decant.

During the 1990s there was a counter-trend towards so-called ‘traditional’ or unfiltered LBV. These wines are aged in the same way but bottled without any filtration. Unfiltered wines are more structured and full-bodied than LBVs that have been filtered. They have the capacity to age for five to 10 years in bottle. They are bottled with a driven cork – as opposed to the stopper cork for LBVs that are bottled for immediate drinking.

An LBV may also be sold as ‘bottle matured’: aged in bottle for a minimum of three years before their release. Warre’s and Smith Woodhouse have made a specialty of this style. The wines share something of the depth and character and maturity of a true vintage Port at a fraction of the price.

Bottles at Graham’s Port Lodge in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.

Vintage Port

Seen by many as the pinnacle of the Port pyramid. Many shippers have built (and occasionally destroyed) their international reputation on the back of vintage Port. The skill in making a great vintage Port comes from the strict selection of small lotes (parcels) of wine from the very finest locations made from grapes picked at optimum ripeness after an outstanding growing season. These grapes need to be very well worked during vinification, either foot-trodden in traditional stone lagares or increasingly subject to careful piston extraction or robotic treading. Graham’s 2000 was the first classic vintage Port to be partially made by robotic feet.

After the harvest these wines are monitored for a potential vintage. The decision to ‘declare’ a vintage is made independently by the shipper and it is not one that is taken lightly. There is no law about the regularity of Port vintages but there are usually three or four a decade. However, over the past decade there has been a string of fully or partially declared years including 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Port vintage guide: 2000-2022

Port vintage guide: 1960-1999

Quantities are limited and a major shipper may declare anything from a few hundred cases to 15,000 cases depending on the year and circumstances. Sometimes the quantity declared is much less.

There is a recent trend towards declaring super-premium wines from a site-specific plot in a particular vineyard (often alongside a classic declaration). Quinta do Noval Nacional, from a tiny plot of ungrafted vines, is the historic prototype for this sub-category of wines. It now includes Taylor’s Quinta de Vargellas Vinha Velha, Graham’s Stone Terraces and Quinta de la Rosa’s Vale do Inferno. The total quantity declared of each wine is usually no more than 250 cases, and prices are commensurate. These are the ultimate collector’s wines!

Quinta do Noval

Before a Port can be bottled as a vintage it must be submitted to the IVDP (Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto) for approval. This can happen anytime between 1 January and 30 September in the second year after the harvest. Once the wine has been bottled it continues to evolve slowly over a period of at least 15 to 20 years or more, before it is considered ready to drink.

Rather like the seven ages of man, vintage Port enjoys a short, fragrant bloom of youth before it shuts down and goes through 10 to 20 years of surly adolescence. Then it slowly emerges as an adult gaining in gravitas until it reaches its peak, often between 20 and 40 years of age.

For the finest wines the peak becomes a long plateau and old age may not be reached for 80 years or more. Anyone born in one of the great post-war vintages of 1945, 1955, 1963, 1966 and 1970 has a wine to accompany them for life!

Since the early 2000s, a dramatic improvement in the quality of the fortifying spirit (which, it is easy to forget, makes up 20% of the wine) has altered the flavour profile of vintage Port. The spirit being used to fortify vintage and single-quinta vintage Port has a much more vinous character than in the past.

This means that it interferes much less with the fruit in a young wine than the coarse, rather oily spirit used previously. Certainly recent declared vintages such as 2007 and 2011 are notable for the purity and clear expression of fruit, even at this early stage. David Guimaraens, head winemaker for The Fladgate Partnership, maintains that the transition from youth to maturity will be much smoother in future, with less of that awkward adolescent stage. This should make vintage Port easier to broach at an earlier stage but the best wines should still age for a lifetime.

Vintage port 2000 and 2003: panel tasting results

Single-Quinta Vintage Port

With huge improvements in winemaking from the 1980s onwards, the production of a good vintage Port is much less of a hit-and-miss affair. Unless the year is a total washout (eg 1993 and 2002), wines of potential vintage quality can be made every year. Consequently wines from good years (in between declared vintages) are bottled by the major shippers as single-quinta vintage Port (SQVP). The same rules apply as to vintage Ports, the only difference being that the wines come from a single quinta or estate with the recommendation that they may be drunk earlier, after 10 rather than 20 years.

Without the collector’s cachet of a vintage Port, these wines are excellent value and by building up a vertical collection you can follow a specific Douro terroir. A handful of independent quintas are now producing their own SQVP nearly every year, along the lines of a Bordeaux château. Although this is a relatively new category, look out for properties that already have a good track record: Quinta do Vesúvio, Quinta de la Rosa, Quinta de Roriz, Quinta do Crasto, Quinta do Passadouro and Quinta do Vale Meão.

Touriga Nacional vines at Quinta de Roriz

Aged Tawny

Sharing the pinnacle with vintage Port, it has been said that whereas vintage is the ‘king’ of Ports, tawny is the ‘queen’. The ageing process is of vital importance. While a vintage Port will mature for a short time in large wooden vats and then in bottle; tawnies will age for much longer in small casks before bottling. These casks, known as lodge pipes, have 600- to 640-litre capacity.

The wines undergo a steady process of controlled oxidation and esterification as the colour fades from deep, opaque ruby to orange-amber-tawny. The tasting and blending of an aged tawny is a continual process. Wines set aside initially are often marked with the year of the harvest (‘colheita’). But as the shipper makes up new blends followed by blends of blends, the characteristics of individual wines gradually meld into the house style.

Tawnies may be bottled with an indication of age: 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50 years old. Even older wines may be designated ‘Very Very Old Tawny’. The age designations are obviously approximations and all wines have to be submitted for tasting by the IVDP for approval.

I adore the intricacy and delicacy of a well-aged tawny. A 20 Year Old is my preference, for its complexity offset by freshness. But there are some increasingly good 30, 40 and 50 year old wines as well, that don’t seem to have sacrificed their balance with age.

Port shippers often opt to drink a gently chilled tawny after lunch in the heat of the Douro. Think of aged tawny as a summer alternative to a fireside glass of vintage or LBV.

The Kopke cellars have large reserves of old Ports

Colheita

Meaning ‘harvest’ in Portuguese, colheita is a wine from a single year, aged in wood for a minimum of seven years before bottling. By this time the wine begins to take on the characteristics of a tawny. Most colheitas are aged for much longer and, with careful nurture, may be bottled after 50 or 100 years.

Two dates appear on the label: the year of harvest and the year of bottling. The latter is significant as the wine won’t generally improve in bottle – although after prolonged ageing in wood it won’t deteriorate quickly either.

Once the preserve of a select group of so called ‘Portuguese shippers’ (Barros, Burmester Cálem, Kopke, Krohn) colheitas have been taken up enthusiastically by the British shippers, sometimes bottled under the name ‘single harvest’. Serve colheitas cellar-cool, like a tawny.

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Inspiration: wines to drink with a vegetarian Christmas dinner

Nut roast: Orange wine | Southern Rhône reds | Xinomavro (Naoussa)

Roasted vegetables platter: Chianti Classico | Douro reds

Mezze: Pinot Noir | Mencía (Galicia) | Pétillant naturel

Cheese board: California Chardonnay | Aged Riesling | White Rioja

Scroll down for wine recommendations

For most, Christmas dinner revolves around the idea of a standout meat dish at the centre of the table. Yet this is no longer the rule for everyone; many of us have now switched to vegetarian or vegan diets and it’s hard to hold a celebration without having to accommodate different, meat-free preferences.

Rather than a hindrance, this should be seen as a great opportunity to bring new flavours to the festive table and think of wine pairing possibilities that go beyond the ‘which wine shall I have with turkey’ dilemma.

Best wines to drink with nut roast

The go-to replacement dish for that rebellious vegetarian/vegan friend or relative was, for a long time, the infamous nut roast.

Infamous because many vegetarians will tell you there are a number of more exciting, less obvious and easier-to-cook alternatives (more on that below).

Having said that, a good nut roast is indeed delicious and usually ends up being eaten by everyone! Its crunch and smokiness can actually be compared to that of lamb, namely when spices and herbs are also a central part of the recipe.

The comparable smokiness of an orange wine will be a great fit, as will the herbal profile of a Vacqueyras from the southern Rhône or the trademark tapenade aromas of a Naoussa Xinomavro.

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Choosing wines for vegetarian Christmas: the beauty of simplicity

The truth is that the best vegetarian dishes, while bound to delight even the most avid meat-eater, are simple and based on only a handful of ingredients.

If you’re not vegetarian yourself, pleasing the vegetarian guest is all about integrating the veggie dishes as part of the whole meal, so that everyone can enjoy them – and their accompanying wines, of course.

A nice selection of delicious roasted vegetables, brought to life by the smokiness of the grill, the complexity of spices and the depth of a good olive oil, is a great dish in itself with a dollop of labneh or sprinkled with feta. It also makes a great side for a turkey or meat roast.

And those roasted veggies will handle – and ask for – a structured red, with firm tannins and good concentration, as much as the reddest of meats.

So don’t be afraid to pour the same wine that you’ve selected for the turkey, lamb or ham. A dry Douro red, a Chianti Classico or a Hungarian Kekfrankos will likely do the trick.

Wines for vegetarian mezze

A mezze spread, with delightful dips, a colourful selection of olives, spiced nuts, marinated aubergines and marinated beetroots, is also something you should consider.

It makes a great aperitif selection but also allows guests, vegetarian or not, to nibble throughout the meal.

Pair it with a refined Pinot Noir or a Mencía from Galicia; their fresh minerality will allow you to appreciate the diversity and subtlety of flavours.

Another great option alongside mezze – especially at the start of a meal – would be a refreshing and delicious pétillant naturel wine, also known as pét-nat. The structure, broad palate and restrained effervescence of a pét-nat will deliver such a great balancing act.

Photo by Jez Timms on Unsplash

Cheese, real or fake, but never with red wine

Well now, there’s no Christmas without a proper cheese selection is there?

Although cheese and wine pairing is usually, and outrageously, associated with red wine, it is best to look elsewhere in many cases.

The tannins bind with the fats in the cheese and prevent the full appreciation of all those complex and delicious flavour compounds that the best cheeses have.

Look to structured, medium-to-high acid white wines and this complexity really comes to life. Try a robust California Chardonnay, an aged Mosel Riesling or a white Rioja and you’ll be a little closer to heaven.

Orange wines will again be a good option, because the intensity and high acidity will enhance the umami characters in the cheese. But, once again, you should avoid skin-contact wines with too much tannin.

For vegans, the choice of non-dairy ‘cheese’ is increasingly appealing and diverse.

These are usually made with fermented seeds and nuts, helping them to develop texture and flavours that are, well, very cheesy.

The same wines that pair well with cheese will therefore also be great companions to their vegan counterparts. But it’s worth pointing out that, when considering vegan diets and guests, you will need to make sure that the wine itself is vegan-friendly!

The golden rule: always have good fizz within reach

It’s worth stating the obvious here: always have a good bottle of sparkling wine close by. Not only is it the trademark celebratory drink and the best crowd-pleaser, but it is also the ultimate food pairing wine.

Think past the world of oysters and canapés, because the right fizz can be perfect with a variety of dishes, from roast chicken to pasta with leeks or even cheese.

So it’s worth investing in some good bubbles, which would work equally well as an aperitif or alongside some of the main meal’s dishes. Sparkling wines are often an ideal option when vegetarian dishes take centre stage.

Try an English sparkling rosé with a plate of creamy pasta or a sparkling Vouvray with a nut roast.

And if you’ve never tried a cheese platter with a late-disgorged Champagne, full of toasty aromas and pastry-like flavours, you’d be mad not to have a go.

Ten wines for your vegetarian Christmas meal:

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The post Great wines for a vegetarian Christmas dinner appeared first on Decanter.

Seven wine styles to drink with pork:

White wine

• German Riesling
• Condrieu  (Viognier)
• Chenin Blanc

Red wine

• Pinot Noir
• Grenache / Garnacha (red or rosé)
• Aged Barolo (Nebbiolo)
• Sicilian Nerello Mascalese

Surprise the wine connoisseur in your life this Christmas!

Red or white wine with pork?

‘Rich whites and juicy reds tend to work well’, said Decanter Rhône correspondent Matt Walls. But, there are no hard and fast rules for pairing wine with pork.

Nutritional studies class pork as a red meat, despite its relatively light appearance and a renowned advertising campaign by the US National Pork Board entitled ‘the other white meat’.

Jean-Baptiste Lemoine, dining room manager and director of wines at The Goring in London, said it’s important to consider:

• the cut of the pork;
• the way it’s cooked;
• the sauce you are serving it with.

Wine with pork belly and suckling pig

For tender, melt-in-the-mouth suckling pig, Lemoine advised drinking lighter styles of red. These include Spanish Mencia, Nerello Mascalese from Sicily, Pinot Noir from cooler regions or Chilean Carménère.

Riesling with a touch of sweetness can work well for white wine drinkers, he said.

This is also a good option for pork belly and was listed as one of the top 25 food and wine pairings by Fiona Beckett in a previous article for Decanter.com.

‘Roast pork belly works best with a wine that has a high level of acidity plus a touch of sweetness,’ Beckett wrote.

‘Cue dry German Riesling, especially if apple is served alongside. It provides welcome freshness, cuts through the fat and doesn’t detract from the crispness of the crackling.’

She also suggested a young red Burgundy, returning to the Pinot Noir theme above.

Red wine to drink with roast pork

A combination of fresh acidity and juicy red fruit can also work well with roast pork, on the other hand.

Decanter’s Julie Sheppard previously recommended this Cabernet Franc from Mendoza, available at Sainsbury’s in the UK, for instance.

Roast pork beyond suckling pig can handle a slightly bolder wine, although fleshy, juicy fruit and bright acidity should generally work better than the sort of tannic heavyweight that might pair with a darker red meat like steak.

‘Roast pork calls for something that combines richness with acidity, whether it’s white or red,’ said Matt Walls.

As an expert on the Rhône Valley in particular, he advised turning to the Grenache heartland of Gigondas.

Can you drink white wine with roast pork?

For white wine lovers, ‘Condrieu [Viognier] can be a brilliant match for pork roasted with herbs like Oregano or Marjoram,’ Walls said.

He added that it’s also worth considering Pinot Noir from warmer climates, plus fresher styles of Chardonnay or Chenin Blanc from either the Loire Valley or South Africa.

Some styles of white Rioja can also be delicious with roast pork. Decanter’s Amy Wislocki recommended this ‘intense, toasty, oily and nutty’ example from Allende, which also shows ‘incredible length’.

Wine with pork sausages

Walls returned to the Grenache theme when considering a wine for pork sausages. ‘For a classic bangers and mash, I tend to reach for a young Grenache-based wine like a southern Rhône.’

Grenache-based blends with lots of juicy fruit and depth could be a winner with barbecued sausages too.

A high-acid red like Barbera, meanwhile, can match well with the fattiness of a sausage pasta dish, especially if tomatoes have added extra acidity to the meal.

Rosé wine with BBQ pork

Dry rosé wines could be a good bet for BBQ pork, whether pulled or cooked as a chop.

However, the meat might overpower some of the more delicate styles.

The Goring’s Lemoine suggested a Grenache rosé, particularly the more full-bodied styles from Spain, where the grape variety is known as Garnacha.

Aged Barolo wine with roast ham

Are you lucky enough to have any bottles of top Barolo, Bordeaux or white Burgundy quietly ageing away in your cellar?

Then the serving of a roast ham – whether at Christmas or any other time of year – could be a great excuse to pull the cork on a treasured bottle, said Lemoine.

He said the softer tannins and complexity of these wines after a few years of bottle age will work well with the meat.

This article was first published in 2019 and has been edited in November 2023, including with the addition of new wine reviews (below).

Reviews by our experts: inspiration on pairing wine with pork

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‘It was a very good vintage with extremely healthy grapes’ – Vincent Dauvissat

After a week spent in Chablis tasting 375 wines, it is clear that 2022 is a very good year – and potentially an excellent one. Although a warm and very dry vintage, yields were not excessive and, crucially, acidity is high. The resulting wines are very well balanced with a lovely combination of the freshness and minerality which typifies Chablis, combined with fleshy, ripe, stone- and tree-fruit flavours.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for a selection of top-scoring and top-value Chablis 2022 wines

Coming after the very challenging growing season in 2021 (severe frosts, cold weather and rainfall leading to disease pressure), Chablis 2022 has a different style and one which will appeal both to ‘classic’ Chablis lovers as well as those looking for more generous fruit character.

Top producer Vincent Dauvissat commented that in 2022 ‘the vines were recovering from 2021, and were compensating with lots of vegetative growth’. Dauvissat notes: ‘It was a very good vintage with extremely healthy grapes.’

See the Chablis 2022 top wines score table for all wines scoring 93 points or above

Howard’s pick: 30 great buys

The following wines are Andy Howard MW’s pick of the top-scoring and best-value Chablis 2022 wines, according to his own extensive tastings, as well as including wines from ‘producers to look out for’.

NB: many retailers’ allocations for these wines are as yet unconfirmed – prices and stockists are given where available, and alcohol levels are shown where known at the time of writing. If we have awarded ‘Top value’ to an as-yet unpriced wine, it is based on our predicted pricing.

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Attending a dinner party is supposed to be the relaxing end of the guest-host trade-off. You can simply show up while the host organises all the minute details to make the gathering a memorable one. Yet, before settling in for a hosted evening, there’s one detail that requires your attention – choosing the perfect bottle of wine.

Wine as a thoughtful gift

With so many styles, regions and labels to choose from, this can often trigger social anxiety. Does my host like white or red? What are we having for dinner? How many people will be there? These are all questions that arise in anticipation of finding the perfect bottle. Instead of asking them rhetorically, sommelier and founder of The Hue Society, Tahiirah Habibi says you should actually ask them.

‘Get as much information about the host and event as possible, that way you can tailor your selections,’ she says. ‘Cultural identities, commonalities, celebrations and food preparation can really help you understand your host’s wine preferences and they will appreciate the effort.’

Of course, there are times when you can’t secure these details – maybe the host hasn’t chosen the menu or perhaps you are a guest-of-a-guest and aren’t able to ask the host. In that case, there are a few ways to go about choosing the best bottle.

Credit: d3sign / Moment via Getty Images

Choose a wine with a personal meaning, says Vincent Morrow, MS and beverage director at PRESS Napa Valley. ‘Wine is meant to be shared and if all else fails, bring a bottle that means something to you.’ Morrow shares he often presents a Riesling that he and his fiancée helped produce in the Pfalz region of Germany. ‘It is a stunning wine by itself, but the story means so much more to us.’

Along these lines: ‘Something that you’re excited to try will be exciting for whom you share the experience with,’ says Abe Zarate, sommelier at The Modern in New York.

A guest can also look at the occasion to help narrow down the choice. Even if you don’t know the host or the minutiae of the hosted event, is it in celebration of a birthday or a holiday?

Wines for the right occasion

For instance, Thanksgiving is an opportunity to bring a unique bottle to the table, says Jeremy Shanker MS, corporate wine director of Mina Group. ‘Have a little more fun with it,’ he says, noting the challenging amalgamation of flavours on a Thanksgiving plate. Chenin Blanc matches the caramel in sweet potatoes, the tartness of cranberry and savoury items like turkey.

Understanding the occasion, Shanker advises, also applies to birthdays, in which case he says there is a line where a bottle could be considered too cheap. ‘If you’re gifting somebody a bottle of wine, you might as well do it right,’ he says. This doesn’t necessarily translate to spending more money, as you can gift somebody a bottle that isn’t readily accessible or that they wouldn’t find at their local bottle shop, like a grower’s Champagne instead of Veuve Clicquot, he notes.

Zarate agrees with the swap: ‘Value wines outperform expectations in quality while offering an element of surprise,’ he says, offering a look at producers of great renown. ‘These days, they are likely to be working with lesser known or underrated regions and grapes.’ Zarate considers white Burgundy producers – instead of opting for their Grand Cru bottle, they might make an Aligoté, Bourgogne Blanc or even have a project in places like Oregon and California.

The price is right

On that note, what is the appropriate price tag for a gifted bottle? This is all dependent on the above and your relationship with the host, but on average, Habibi suggests a range of $20 to $50, which can be increased around the holidays to between $30 to $100. ‘I would try to avoid overly extravagant or inexpensive wines,’ she adds, re-emphasising the key of tailoring your choice to the host’s preferences and the context of the gathering.

Morrow agrees: ‘Don’t spend beyond your comfort level and risk also feeling resentment should they not like it.’

When it comes to presentation, context also plays a role: ‘The way that you package the bottle hints whether it’s a gift or whether it’s being opened that evening,’ says Shanker, who says if he was presented with a bottle of Champagne in a gift box or a bottle of wine in a bag with tissue paper, he’d assume it’s a gift and put it aside.

You also don’t need to go over the top, says Habibi. ‘Wrapping it nicely with a ribbon can enhance the presentation. Including a personalised note as to why you made the selection is a great touch.’

If you show up with no bag, it’s a clue to open it at the gathering, but by no means an expectation. ‘If it doesn’t get opened, then you leave the bottle. Don’t take it with you,’ stresses Shanker.

Though you can follow any of the aforementioned tips, perhaps the best advice is when all else fails, bubbles save the day. ‘You can’t ever go wrong with Champagne,’ says Shanker.

Credit: Luis Alvarez / DigitalVision via Getty Images

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Six wine styles that pair well with beef:

• Cabernet Sauvignon

• Grenache or ‘GSM’ blends

• Malbec

• Shiraz

• Aged Nebbiolo (Barolo)

• Traditional white Rioja

Search Decanter wine reviews to find the perfect bottle

Choosing a wine to drink with roast beef

It’s hard to beat a delicious bottle of red wine with hearty roast beef on a wintry afternoon, whether it’s Christmas Day or simply a relaxed Sunday lunch.

Classic fuller-bodied reds, such as Bordeaux blends led by Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, Châteauneuf-du-Pape from the southern Rhône or Australian Shiraz, are often considered go-to wines that can match the flavour intensity of a roast beef dish.

Yet balance is important in any great wine. A refreshing dose of acidity can work wonders, particularly if you also have a range of trimmings on the dinner table.

A bit of bottle age can bring depth and complexity, too, as Decanter’s Natalie Earl noted after tasting this Château Brane-Cantenac 2010 from the Margaux appellation.

‘It’s showing nice maturity already, with savoury saddle leather spice enhancing red plum and bright cassis fruit – a natural partner for roast beef,’ she said.

Pairing wine with beef also offers plenty of scope for experimenting and personal preference.

If you’re thinking about a more precise wine and beef match, consider the following:

• cut
• age
• cooking time
• accompaniments.

Surprise the wine connoisseur in your life this Christmas!

Red wine with beef: what makes the cut? 

‘The easiest way to pair wine with beef is to think about matching the flavour intensity of your wine with your beef,’ said Mark Quick, wine director for Hawksmoor steakhouse restaurants.

‘The fat in your cut is where all of the flavour is locked up,’ he told Decanter.com in December 2020.

‘More fat equals more intense beefy flavour. For example, a fillet would be one of the leaner cuts and usually have a very subtle flavour, on the other end of the scale would be a heavily marbled rib-eye.’

Leaner cuts, like fillet or topside, can be beautifully melt-in-the-mouth tender but could also be overpowered by a wine that is too bold.

‘You could be better off going with a lighter and more subtle drop,’ said Quick.

‘For example, a red from the Jura, a Pinot Noir from anywhere, or there are some very good lighter Garnachas [Grenache] coming out of the New and Old world nowadays that work very well too.’ He highlighted Dani Landi, ‘La Uvas de la Ira’, as a particular favourite.

Malbec lovers could look towards fresher styles from Altamira and Gualtallary in Argentina’s Uco Valley, as previously suggested by South American wine expert Patricio Tapia, a Decanter contributor.

A leaner cut of beef served rare or pink might also benefit from a red that puts bright, juicy fruit front and centre, yet still with enough depth to match the flavour of the meat.

Fat and tannin: a match made in heaven

Fattier cuts of beef, such as rump, fore rib and shin, have a deeper flavour than leaner cuts.

Quick said that the higher the fat content of the beef, the higher its capacity to pair with richer wines that have bolder tannins.

Fat content washes away tannin in your mouth and vice-versa, he said. ‘That’s what keeps you coming back for more of both your wine and your steak.’

Drinking Barolo with aged beef

If you’ve gone for dry-aged steak or beef, then think about how long the meat has been aged for.

‘Heavily aged beef possesses a gamey, sometimes cheesy characteristic that marries extremely well with old wines,’ said Quick.

How about wine with a few years of bottle age? ‘An aged Barolo or red Burgundy would be epic,’ said Quick. ‘It could be the perfect excuse to drink that bottle that has been staring at you.’

Sauce may affect your choice of wine to go with beef

Many of the classic sauces with beef hold pretty strong flavour themselves. How about meeting that peppercorn sauce head-on with the peppery notes of a Syrah/Shiraz, for instance?

Roast beef with red wine sauce or jus might work better with a red that showcases riper fruit, while a traditional gravy has more savoury elements to it.

When it comes to sauce, Hawksmoor’s Quick said, ‘Ignore all of my advice about avoiding big, powerful, tannic wines with lean cuts if you are going to pour sauce all over your steak. You are essentially covering your steak in butter or beef fat anyway, so should revert to the advice about fatty steaks in this instance.’

Can you drink white wine with beef?

It might be considered a faux-pas in some circles, but personal taste is important – and several sommeliers say some white wines can work well with beef.

If you’ve got a lovely caramelised crust on your meat then a white wine with nutty flavours can be brilliant, said Quick. ‘Look for extended oxidative ageing,’ he said, suggesting Jura or traditional white Riojas.

He also highlighted Sherry as a potential match here. ‘If that’s what you are into, [it] would work wonders,’ he said.

Oloroso, for example, is a Sherry style known for its nutty complexity.

Tasting notes: Inspiration for pairing wine with beef this Christmas

The wines below have been recently reviewed by Decanter experts.

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Classic styles when pairing wine with turkey:

• Full-bodied Chardonnay, such as those from Burgundy or California
• Pinot Noir
• Mature Bordeaux, Rioja or Barolo
• Beaujolais (Gamay)

Remember that turkey is not a powerful meat

When pairing wine with turkey, remember that this is a white meat with a low fat content, which is why it can dry out if not cooked carefully.

Your wine matches should ideally be either a full-bodied white wine or a medium-bodied red, with low or medium tannin and relatively high acidity.

Search all Decanter wine reviews

Do you know somebody who wants to start learning about how to pair, taste and serve your favourite wines? Pairing & serving wine: a guide for the real beginner is a new online learning course from Decanter designed to introduce the basic principles and start beginners on their journey through the fascinating world of wine. Find out more… 

Pairing wine with turkey: a visual guide

Click on the turkey and wine pairing graphic below to see a full-size version.

Tips on matching turkey with wine. Credit: Annabelle Sing / Decanter

Decanter Premium: The perfect gift for a special wine lover

The basic rules of pairing wine with turkey

Let’s talk about tannins

Fine tannins are great in a balanced wine with some bottle age, but too much mouth-coating tannin could also ruin all those hours you’ve spent in the kitchen.

There is likely to be a dearth of fat on the plate in general, leaving little to soften tannins in a big, bold, young wine.

This can accentuate the harsh feeling of tannins in the mouth, eclipsing other flavours. The saltiness of the turkey can also make tannins taste more bitter.

It may seem strange that classic wine choices include those with relatively high tannin levels, such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blends from Bordeaux.

This, however, is where several years of bottle age come into play. Tannins will soften and integrate over time in the best wines.

Embrace acidity when pairing wine with turkey

A roast turkey dinner is often full of flavours and complexity. Sides like cranberry, bacon, parsnips, stuffing and Brussels sprouts are just some of the dishes vying for attention.

A wine with medium or high levels of acidity should be able to cope better with these myriad flavours.

Red wine with turkey

Taste is personal and there are many options out there, but but Pinot Noir is often seen as a great match for turkey dinners.

Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir from bolder Burgundy crus, such as Gevrey-Chambertin or Pommard, should work exceptionally well.

If you can stretch to the Grand Cru of Chambertin then you’re in for a treat, but there are also plenty of less expensive options out there. Try looking towards Fixin or Santenay, for example.

Some lighter styles of Burgundy Pinot, such as classic Volnay wines, may be overpowered by the range of flavours on your plate.

You can also look to other relatively cool-climate regions known for great Pinot Noir. These include Central Otago in New Zealand, Mornington Peninsula in Australia, The Finger Lakes in New York State or even Essex or Kent in the UK, too.

Pinot Noir is also a good pairing with cold roast turkey leftovers, according to food and wine expert Fiona Beckett. She previously recommended ‘a riper, more robustly fruity Pinot Noir from, say, California, Oregon or New Zealand’.

Beaujolais Cru

Gamay is arguably still underrated as a grape variety and yet it can produce red wines offering delicious depth, as well as drinking pleasure.

In its Beaujolais heartland, look towards the 10 ‘Crus’, and perhaps especially those known for making slightly more powerful styles, such as Morgon or Moulin-à-Vent.

Aged Bordeaux

Cabernet Sauvignon is in a completely different universe to what we’ve just talked about, with big tannins, big acidity and lots of luscious dark fruit.

Merlot, too, carries significant weight in its classic Bordeaux Right Bank form.

Yet the delicately poised balance of fruit, acidity and integrated tannins can still work wonders with your turkey dinner, if tertiary aromas from a few years of bottle age have started to develop around the edges.

Last year, Decanter revisited the Bordeaux 2012 vintage 10 years on from the harvest, and Jane Anson selected a fine collection from the 2000s that are beginning to drink wonderfully.

Aged Barolo or Chianti Classico are other classic reds to consider with turkey.

Mature Rioja can combine those lovely, earthy, mushroomy aromas with bright red fruit and medium-weight tannins. There are also plenty of relatively good value options.

Be wary of choosing a wine with too much oak influence, however.

White wine with turkey

Chardonnay

A full-bodied Chardonnay can be an enchanting accompaniment to your turkey, especially with traditional sides like bread sauce.

The best examples exude oaky richness that can give sweet spice notes. Creamy lactic acid also really helps out with a meat that can sometimes be on the dry side. A backbone of acidity brings balance to the flavours.

Good Chardonnays, in general, are found in the similar geographical areas to good Pinot Noir.

White Burgundy will work well at almost all levels.

Those lucky enough to be able to choose a Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru or a Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru are unlikely to be disappointed.

The high levels of minerality and acidity in these wines help to cleanse the palate, allowing you to wade through all the trimmings effortlessly.

The Mâconnais is an area to explore for relative value options, particularly for anyone who enjoys riper fruit notes on their Chardonnay.

Other wonderful examples can be found in Australia, from Victoria to Adelaide Hills and Margaret River, or in California from Napa Valley to Sonoma’s Russian River Valley and Santa Barbara County.

Don’t overlook South Africa, home to this ‘fresh and spiky’ Chardonnay from Storm, or New Zealand, such as this fantastic value, ‘silky and pure’ offering from Wairarapa.

Tasting notes: Wine with turkey suggestions

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At Angeleno Wine Company on the outskirts of LA’s Chinatown, co-owner Jasper Dickson pours one of the most exciting wines of the year. Angelica is a wine made from the oldest producing vine in the US – the Ramona vine – believed to have been planted in the 1770s in the courtyard of Mission San Gabriel. The Spanish Franciscan community was established in 1771, 10 years before the founding of Los Angeles.

It has just been released after ageing in French oak for three years and each 375ml-bottle is one of only 336 in total. The bottle features artwork of the Ramona vine by Xochi Maberry-Gaulke. The pale cherry-coloured fortified wine has notes of caramel and winter spices rounded by moderate tannins and refreshing natural acidity.

History in the bottle

‘We are making history in the glass,’ says Amy Luftig, one of the owners of Angeleno Wine Company.

‘For me, this project encapsulates the entire reason why we started this winery,’ Luftig adds. ‘We wanted to integrate into our wines the lost history of Los Angeles. We always wanted to remind people that California wine started here. This is a bonafide wine region. To be working with some of the fruit that was brought over by the friars to start winemaking is amazing, and that’s why we are doing it.’

The project of recreating Angelica started in the spring of 2020. Terri Huerta, director of development and communications at Mission San Gabriel, reached out to the Los Angeles Vintners Association. The initiative was founded by three local wine operations: Byron Blatty Wines, Angeleno Wine Company and Cavaletti Vineyards.

The project stemmed from a dedication to reviving and revitalising the rich history of winemaking traditions in Los Angeles. Huerta asked the winemakers to take cuttings of the Ramona vine, a hybrid of the native Vitis Girdiana and the Mission grapes brought from Spain.

From vine to glass

When the LA winemakers saw the giant tree with fruit hanging from the long pergola, they decided not just to tend it, but to attempt to make a wine from it, harvesting the Mission grapes and making wine as the friars did centuries ago. ‘We all agreed on making Angelica, the first wine made in California and named after Los Angeles,’ says Dickson.

The pruning conducted by Patrick Kelley from Cavaletti Vineyards helped with growth over the last three years, as well as affecting the berry size.

The winemakers began to search for the documentation of past production and found excerpts in the archives of Mission San Gabriel and Mission San Fernando, indicating what the wine might have tasted like.

‘There are no examples of the original wine that we can compare to this one,’ says Dickson.

The winemakers decide to use the Solera system, which is generally used in Sherry production to blend wines across vintages. Older wines add depth and complexity, and younger wines add acidity and freshness. For the Angelica, juice from the 2021, 2022 and 2023 vintages were combined with the initial wine from 2020.

Angelica can be found at all three wineries in Los Angeles.

One of the limited bottles of Angelica. Credit: Ani Duzdabanyan

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Looking for inspiration? Here are the best things to read, watch and listen to for wine lovers. We’ve picked out some of the top wine-related books, TV shows, podcasts and more for your enjoyment!

Read

On Burgundy

You might not be able to afford the top wines, but you can still read about them. Published in October 2023, this anthology of 59 wine tales endeavours to capture the essence of the region’s two main grapes, its terroirs and its special bottles. Contributors include Decanter’s Andrew Jefford, Allen Meadows, Eric Asimov and Aubert de Villaine. Many will no doubt turn straight to the essay on ‘Can Good Burgundy ever be for Normal People?’

Available through Académie du Vin Library

Vintage Crime: A Short History of Wine Fraud

Since ancient times the wine world has been plagued by criminals keen to make a fast buck, whether through ‘amelioration, adulteration or deception’. Rebecca Gibb
MW takes a romp through a history of wine crime – from the days of Imperial Rome to 21st-century New York – told chronologically through 10 wine frauds. Meet the fraudsters and their victims, the merchants, producers and collectors, in this entertaining and illuminating read.

Available through Amazon UK

Oxford Companion to Wine

First published in 1994, The Oxford Companion to Wine remains a definitive reference work on the subject. This fifth edition, edited by Julia Harding, Jancis Robinson MW and Tara Q Thomas, features more than 100 new writers (of a total 267) and over 270 new entries; every existing entry has also been reviewed and updated. Included for the first time are Estonia, Finland and Latvia – places previously considered too cold for winemaking – as well as Gabon, Senegal and Uganda.

Available through Oxford University Press

The Classic Wine Library Reader

Edited by Richard Mayson, this is an anthology of selected writing from titles published in the Classic Wine Library over the past decade. Sections include historical background, winemaking, regional perspectives and wines of note. Topics range from manzanilla Sherry to the origins of biodynamics and South Africa’s apartheid legacy and the wines of Japan. Look out for essays from Decanter contributors including Rebecca Gibb MW, Matt Walls, Anne Krebiehl MW and Stephen Brook. A lovely book to dip in and out of.

Available through Infinite Ideas

Watch

The Mega Trade

Wine educator Sam Povey set himself a challenge this summer: to trade his way, with his followers on social media, from a bottle of Yellowtail Shiraz all the way up to a bottle
of one of the world’s most expensive wines, Domaine de la Romanée Conti’s Romanée Conti. It’s all taking place on his entertaining and informative @sampovey.wine Instagram page. As Decanter‘s November issue went to press, he had worked his way up to Domaine Coffinet-Duvernay, Bâtard-Montrachet GC 2018.

Stefan Neumann’s Blind Tasting Course

Hosted by Master Sommelier Stefan Neumann, this online video course is aimed at anyone sitting wine exams that involve blind tasting, but will be useful to any wine lover looking to hone their skills. Fifty bite-sized videos lasting three hours in total are divided into nine modules, covering not only how to identify grape variety, region and vintage blind, but also how to sharpen your senses, build a taste profile and expand your vocabulary.

The Wines of Tomorrow

This three-part online series features conservations with winemakers, thinkers and innovators in the wine sphere. Hosted by Michelle Bouffard, a Canadian sommelier, wine educator, journalist and founder of the Tasting Climate Change conference, the first episode (live now) sees her chat to South African winemaker Andrea Mullineux. Further episodes will air on 11 October and 6 December. Free to Wine Scholar Guild members; non-members can enjoy one free replay.

Eastbound Westbound

Reviewed by James Mottram

US merchant Jeffrey Davies takes a sprightly ramble through the origins of Franco- American wine relations, first fostered by Thomas Jefferson when he visited Bordeaux in 1787. Davies meets four major wine families with links between the vineyards of California and Bordeaux. Directed by Julien Couson, the film’s historical re-enactments are a little amateur, but Davies’ amiable style, whether chatting to critic Robert Parker or Prince Robert of Luxembourg, brings this transatlantic love affair vividly alive. Apple TV+, Prime Video, Google Play

Listen

Looking Into Wine

What’s it like being the editor of Decanter magazine? Find out in a special 30-minute ‘Careers in Wine’ episode of Italian sommelier Mattia Scarpazza’s Looking Into Wine podcast. The interview with Amy Wislocki, who has been at the helm of the magazine for 23 years, touches on topics such as how Decanter has changed during that time, how to succeed as a wine writer, and how the magazine coped during the pandemic.

The Wine Conversation

The founder of this twice-monthly podcast, Sarah Kemp, was publisher and managing director of Decanter for more than 25 years, making her one of the most well-connected people in the wine world. The Wine Conversation features in-depth conversations with leading figures in wine alongside monthly Omnibus, magazine-style episodes, which cover wine news and expert views in an engaging, and consumer-friendly fashion.

The Wine CEO #133 Rhône

Each week, certified sommelier Sarah Roth covers a different wine topic aimed at helping wine lovers feel more confident. In this episode, she interviews Matt Walls, Decanter’s Rhône correspondent and author of Wines of the Rhône. Walls gives an overview of the Rhône valley, explaining just why the wines from the north and south are so different, and shares the top things you need to know about this region. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other major podcast apps; also available via YouTube.

The Wine Makers

This weekly podcast is recorded in Sonoma Valley, with more than 285 episodes aired to date. Wine pros Sam Coturri, Bart Hansen, Brian Casey and host John Myers are joined by US winemakers such as Andy Beckstoffer and Diana Snowden Seysses – a Napa native now making wine in Burgundy – who chat about all aspects of their work. Relaxed conversation gives listeners fascinating insight into the joys, trials and tribulations of making wine. Themed episodes cover everything from compost and corks to bottle reuse programmes.

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For centuries, pubs have been the backbone of our society, hubs and sanctuaries for connecting people and communities. There’s something so quintessentially British about sitting in a pub garden in the sunshine, or in a comfy chair next to a roaring fire, I don’t think it can be replicated beyond our shores.

It’s been 10 years since my first cookbook Proper Pub Food came out, and this new book invites you into my Pub Kitchen today. It’s a continuation of that first book and a celebration of how far we’ve come as a culinary nation. British pub food has become so strong over the past decade or so, and it’s been really exciting to see.

I’m so proud to be part of such an eclectic and continually evolving food scene. Wherever you are in the country, you can find fantastic local gastropubs with super-tasty dishes on the menu.

Onglet steak with green peppercorn sauce

Onglet (also called beef skirt or hanger steak) is prized for its flavour, but you’ll need to time the cooking carefully as it can become tough if overdone. The steak goes really well with this peppery, creamy sauce flavoured with brandy, herbs and spinach. The brilliant, vibrant colour is also something truly special.

Serves two

Ingredients

• 2 onglet steaks (200g each)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• salt and freshly ground pepper

For the green peppercorn sauce

• 1 banana shallot, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp green peppercorns
• 2 tbsp brandy
• 100ml beef stock
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 heaped tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 sprigs tarragon, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp chopped chives
• 75g baby spinach (2 large handfuls), roughly chopped
• 200ml double cream

Method

1. Take the onglet steaks out of the fridge 30 minutes before you intend to cook, to bring them to room temperature. Drizzle them with the olive oil and season.
2. Heat a medium non-stick frying pan over a high heat. When it is smoking hot, place the steaks in the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side, depending on their thickness. You want a deep brown crust on each side and the steaks should still be springy to the touch.
3. Take the pan off the heat and add the butter to it. Baste the steaks with the melted butter for 2 minutes, keeping the pan off the heat. Transfer the steaks to a warmed plate, spoon over half of the pan juices and set aside to rest in a warm place.
4. Meanwhile, place the frying pan back over a medium heat, add the shallot and sauté for 2 minutes. Stir in half the green peppercorns along with the brandy and simmer until the liquor is totally reduced. Now pour in the beef stock and simmer until it is reduced by half. Add the Worcestershire sauce, mustard, herbs, spinach and half of the cream. Stir well until the spinach is wilted.
5. Transfer the sauce to a small food processor and blitz until smooth. Pour this back into the pan and add the remaining green peppercorns and cream. Stir well over a medium heat for 1 minute then remove from the heat. Pour any resting juices from the steak plate into the cream sauce and stir well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Carve the onglet steaks into thick slices. Spoon some sauce on to the warmed serving plates and pour the remaining sauce into two small jugs. Lay each sliced steak on the pool of sauce. Serve at once, with the extra sauce, chunky chips and/or green beans.

Extract taken from Pub Kitchen: The Ultimate Modern British Food Bible by Tom Kerridge (£27 hardback, Bloomsbury Absolute, September 2023)

The wines to drink with onglet steak with green peppercorn sauce

The key to this pairing is not so much the cut of beef as the sauce. Green peppercorns may stand out as the headline ingredient but there are many other flavours: brandy, beef stock, mustard, tarragon, chives, spinach and – and this is significant – quite a lot of cream, which will temper the spiciness of the peppercorns. I’d be tempted to go for a full-bodied red Burgundy from a warm vintage or a similar Pinot from elsewhere – Oregon, maybe, or Central Otago – but you could serve a fleshy Bordeaux – maybe a St-Emilion satellite. (I tend not to field peppery Syrahs with peppercorn sauces as one cancels out the other.) If you wanted to play to the cut’s humble origins you could serve a rustic red like a Marcillac or maybe even a Mencía. I wouldn’t be averse to a good cool-climate Chardonnay either, particularly with the tarragon, mustard and cream, though that may well offend traditionalists. An occasion, though, where you can serve white wine with red meat.

By Fiona Beckett

Wines selected by our Decanter experts

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Côte-Rôtie

Young Côte-Rôties are normally fairly easy to read, but that wasn’t the case with the 2022s. Many of them appeared very fruity, with soft structures, lacking energy and aromatic detail. There were some excellent exceptions however, often from those originating from old vines grown on schist and fermented with a proportion of whole bunch.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for top-scoring Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu 2022 wines

See all 400 Rhône 2022 tasting notes and scores

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Northern Rhône 2022: Full report and top-scoring wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring Côte-Rôtie & Condrieu 2022 wines:

The wines below all scored 95 points or above, and are listed Condrieu then Côte-Rôtie in score order.

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It felt like I was tasting two different vintages while working my way through more than 100 St-Josephs this year. Some of the reds were diminutive but fresh and well-balanced; others were soft, luxurious and liqueur-fruited.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for top-scoring St-Joseph 2022 wines

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Northern Rhône 2022: Full report and top-scoring wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring St-Joseph 2022 wines:

The wines below all scored 92 points or above, and are listed white then red in score order.

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Wine tasting experiences can offer a range of opportunities, from the basics of wine education to exploring the vineyards and cellars of favourite producers. Below, you’ll find an array of tasting options that might make the perfect gift.

Educational tastings

An introduction to wine tasting: Unlocking the Secrets of Wine with Joseph Phelps

Wine tasting can be confounding and intimidating to the uninitiated, with its technical jargon and opaque traditions. But the new Unlocking the Secrets of Wine experience at Joseph Phelps aims to demystify wine’s most perplexing questions through a unique tasting experience – think of it as a way to fast-track your wine education. Attendees will learn what common wine terms mean, the proper way to store and serve wine, the elements of food pairing and more while tasting through Joseph Phelps’ Napa and Sonoma offerings. Guests should plan for 90 minutes for the experience ($150 per person) and are advised to book well in advance as the experience only runs on certain days of the week.

Off-road in the Finger Lakes: UTV tasting at Heart and Hands

The Finger Lakes is an often-overlooked region for exceptional wines, but the world is catching on to the many gems it offers. One unique way to explore the region is the Utility Task Vehicle (UTV) Tour & Tasting with Heart and Hands Wine Company. Co-founder Susan Higgins will take up to four guests on a bumpy UTV tour of her limestone-laden vineyard and explain the winery’s viticultural practices. Following the in-depth tour, guests will go through a tasting of six wines paired perfectly with six matching small bites. The tour costs $65 per person and lasts 90 minutes.

Hiking among the vines at Knudsen Vineyards. Credit: John Valls

Hike among the vines

A weekend-only tasting event at pioneering Willamette Valley producer Knudsen Vineyards offers guests a unique outdoor experience. Picture exploring the vineyards and then tasting the wines from those historic blocks over a picnic-style lunch. The Knudsens were among the first families in the Willamette to plant Pinot Noir in Oregon’s Dundee Hills. Guests will walk among the old vine blocks, taking in 50 years of wine-growing history, and then taste wines from the vineyard parcels they visited before a hearty lunch at the estate. The hikes go ahead rain or shine, so appropriate footwear is recommended for this two-and-a-half to three hour experience, which costs $95 per guest.

Creating a unique wine

Iconic Washington State winery DeLille Cellars offers guests an opportunity to make their own unique blends based on some of the winery’s most prized lots. DeLille makes some of Washington’s most sought-after wines from vineyards on Red Mountain and in the Yakima Valley, including historic old-vine sites. Guests will be treated to a blending seminar from one of DeLille’s team before creating their own blends. The cost is $145 per guest.

Wine and food experiences

In pursuit of the finer things: Three Sticks caviar experience

The stellar wines of Three Sticks need no accompaniment, but everything is better with caviar. The Caviar Experience at Three Sticks is offered seasonally, from October to January. The tasting is held in partnership with San Francisco’s The Caviar Company, whose different varieties of caviar are paired with single-vineyard wines to showcase how one enhances the other. For $150 per club member and $175 per non-club member, this luxurious culinary experience is a well-priced gift for anyone on your nice list.

Creative pairings

For adventurous foodies, Sequoia Grove in Napa Valley’s Rutherford appellation offers a tasty way to explore the versatility of Cabernet Sauvignon. Sequoia Grove was a pioneering Cabernet house, established in 1979, and has since established unique programming, including a famed ampelography class for those who want to level up their wine knowledge and the A Taste for Cabernet Experience.

The gastronomic experience eschews predictable, classic pairings like steak with Cabernet for more offbeat options. Sequoia Grove’s single-vineyard and reserve wines accompany chef Britny Maureze’s multi-course menu, with culinary creativity that will open guests’ eyes to new approaches. The 90-minute experience costs $150 for non-wine-club members and $100 for members.

The culinary gardens at Wheeler Farms. Credit: Sara Anne Risk

A three-course culinary lesson

Wheeler Farms, owned by Napa Valley’s famed Araujo family, offers a perfect gift for your favourite foodie. An acclaimed wine brand in its own right, Wheeler Farms is also home to chickens, an apiary, a large garden and fruit trees, all of which are included in their culinary programme, a homage to the agricultural history of the valley.

The Estate Tasting and Cooking Demonstration begins with a tour of the expansive gardens and the winery itself, followed by an up-close cooking demonstration with chef Tom Harder doing what he does best at the kitchen table. The four-course lunch and cooking demonstration is paired with Wheeler Farms wines, including Sauvignon Blanc, rosé and a number of unique Cabernet expressions. The experience lasts three hours and costs $350 per person for two-person parties, including a gift from the kitchen.

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Cornas

It was particularly dry in Cornas, with about 100mm of rain between April and harvest, according to Pierre Clape. It’s no surprise therefore that the ripening blockages are felt more keenly here than elsewhere in the north. ‘But the leaves stayed green, in contrast to 2003,’ says Clape.

Tannins can be difficult, rough and fibrous in places, but, both here and elsewhere, sensitive use of oak has helped to paper over the cracks and add some palate weight.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for top-scoring Cornas & St-Péray 2022 wines

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Matt Walls’ top-scoring Cornas & St-Péray 2022 wines:

The wines below all scored 92 points or above, and are listed in order of St-Péray and Cornas in score order.

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Thanksgiving is an excuse to indulge in the company of your family – and Thanksgiving 2021 will likely see even more indulgence than normal as people celebrate getting together again at this time of year. So pull out your best bottles and follow these top wine serving tips for a successful Thanksgiving.

Serve red wines at 16-18°C (61-65°F)

Your full-bodied California Cabernet or Brunello di Montalcino may be described as at the peak of its powers when served at ‘room temperature’.

However, ‘room temperature’ is an anachronism relating to old houses rather than modern houses with central heating, so serve full-bodied red wines at 16 to 18 degrees Celsius (roughly 61 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit). A full-bodied red wine that is too warm can become almost soupy, with flavours harder to distinguish and alcohol more noticeable.

It’s often best to serve light- and medium-bodied reds slightly cooler than this. The lightest reds – think Beaujolais, Frappato and even some Pinot Noir – can even benefit from being slightly chilled.

Try to keep wines clear of the kitchen during cooking, in particular. Things tend to get pretty warm and this may cause the contents of your cherished bottle to overheat.

Those with a temperature-controlled wine fridge may find it easier to navigate this issue, of course, but be aware that wines will warm up in the glass after serving, too.

Use an ice bucket to chill wine quickly

Ice buckets come in various shapes and sizes, but if you don’t have a specific one to-hand then other containers will do, as long as they’re deep enough. Of course, you’ll also need some ice cubes. If your fridge-freezer doesn’t produce a ready supply, or you don’t have enough ice cube trays, then plan ahead and buy a large bag of ice.

Add a reasonable amount of water to the ice bucket to help transfer the warmth away from the wine bottles more efficiently.

‘Use plenty of ice cubes (or ideally crushed ice) in a bucket with some cold water and lots of salt – yes, salt,’ Xavier Rousset MS previously told Decanter.

‘Make sure the bottle is submerged to the top to be more efficient. Your wine should be cool in about 15 minutes.’

Put Champagne and sparkling wines in the fridge 48 hours before drinking

Louis Roederer’s chef de cave and executive vice-president, Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, told guests at a Decanter Fine Wine Encounter in 2014 that his advice was to ‘put Champagne in the fridge 48 hours before drinking it’, if possible.

If you’re on a shorter time scale – but not yet reaching for the emergency ice bucket – then the Comité Champagne recommends placing a bottle on its side at the bottom of the fridge four hours before serving.

The ideal serving temperature for Champagne is 8-10 degrees Celsius (47-50 degrees Fahrenheit), it says.

Let your wines breathe

Most experts agree that pulling the cork and leaving the bottle in a quiet corner won’t really do much, but there’s debate about how much to aerate wine before drinking, and particularly on whether or not to decant.

While swirling wine in your glass is a form of aeration, some winemakers and experts believe that decanting red wines can help to soften tannins and release fruit flavours.

There are no hard and fast rules, but it’s wise to decant any wine with sediment, such as a vintage Port or an older vintage of red wine, to avoid a gritty mouthful of wine.

In a guide in 2010, celebrated wine expert Steven Spurrier wrote that he would generally aim to decant around one hour before serving, although this varied depending on the bottle. Young, tannic red wines benefit the most, he said, adding that older white wines should be decanted, too.

‘If I have to open a bottle at the last minute, I use a “ship’s” decanter with a very wide base, and swill (without shaking) the wine around the sides for about 30 seconds to make up for lost time,’ wrote Spurrier, who was consultant editor at Decanter at the time.

Some sommeliers advise against aerating an old vintage too much due to its fragility.

Food & wine pairing: keep it simple

If you’re keeping things simple this year and serving one main dish, then you might have time to think more precisely about the sort of wine that would work best with your Thanksgiving dinner.

But if there are a range of dishes on the table then, as a general rule, wines that have good levels of acidity can help to lift the meal.

An abundance of mouth-coating tannins, meanwhile, may dull your palate; not that bolder red wines won’t work – a bit of bottle age (or decanting in advance of serving) can help the tannins to integrate and reveal wonderful complexity.

All of that said, wine is about personal preference, too. In a 2016 article for Decanter, Ray Isle, executive wine editor at Food & Wine magazine, suggested choosing Thanksgiving wines that will make those around the table happy.

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The post Serving Thanksgiving wine: Expert tips appeared first on Decanter.

It’s an unusual style of red Hermitage this year: smaller in structure and stature than a usual year. Again, as with other appellations, it’s primarily down to problems with ripening – Guillaume Sorrel said it didn’t rain at all on the hill of Hermitage in June, July or August, and Maxime Chapoutier remembers the mercury hitting 40 ̊C as early as June.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for top-scoring Hermitage 2022 wines

See all 400 Rhône 2022 tasting notes and scores

Rhône 2022 full vintage report and top-scoring wines

Northern Rhône 2022: Full report and top-scoring wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring Hermitage 2022 wines:

The wines below scored 92 points and above, and are listed white then red in score order.

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The post Hermitage 2022: Report and top-scoring wines appeared first on Decanter.

After the disastrous 2021 vintage, 2022 is certainly a step up, though stylistically it couldn’t be more varied.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for top-scoring Crozes-Hermitage 2022 wines

See all 400 Rhône 2022 tasting notes and scores

Rhône 2022 full vintage report and top-scoring wines

Northern Rhône 2022: Full report and top-scoring wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring Crozes-Hermitage 2022 wines:

The wines below all scored 90 points or above, and are listed white then red in score order.

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Crozes-Hermitage 2021: report and top-scoring wines

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The post Crozes-Hermitage 2022: Report and top-scoring wines appeared first on Decanter.

‘Most will drink young and into the medium term, but the more tannic, structured wines will take a long time to soften, then age for decades’

Top-scoring northern Rhône 2022 wines:

The wines below all scored 96 points or above, and are listed white then red in score order.

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The post Northern Rhône 2022: Full report and top-scoring wines appeared first on Decanter.

While it’s a little jarring to discuss orange wines as a ‘trend’, given that this ancient winemaking style can be traced back thousands of years, orange wines are having a moment. Austria, Georgia and Romania are well-known hotspots, but England and Wales are also getting in on the act. Earlier this year Kent’s Chapel Down released its 2021 Orange Bacchus, the eighth vintage since its 2014 debut. Made purely out of ‘curiosity’, it was England’s first orange wine.

‘No-one had done it before in England and to my knowledge no-one had ever done it with Bacchus,’ says head winemaker at Chapel Down, Josh Donaghay-Spire. ‘Due to its Riesling parentage, many of the aroma precursors in Bacchus are found in the skins and I thought it would be interesting to see what would happen if we fermented in contact with the skins. If you have a curious mind when it comes to wine and flavours, I promise you’ll find it interesting.’

Litmus, in Surrey, followed in 2016 with its first orange, and in 2021 neighbouring Denbies released Solaris, its first orange wine. Orange wines are being made on a tiny scale in England, but it’s growing. ‘We don’t know how good English wines can be so it is imperative that we keep pushing quality up and trying new things stylistically – that is how a wine region develops,’ says Donaghay-Spire.

What is ‘orange’ wine?

The name is slightly problematic. Orange, or skin-contact wines, aren’t made with oranges, nor are they necessarily orange (their hue can range from pale yellow to luminescent orange). They are white wines that have been made in the style of a red, in contact with the skins. It means they benefit from deeper colour, higher tannins, more texture and intensity of flavour. Don’t confuse ‘orange’ with ‘natural’. While orange wines are popular within the natural wine movement, they aren’t by definition ‘natural’ and can be made conventionally.

Denbies’ Orange Solaris is made with the early ripening Solaris and is fermented on skins for between seven weeks and four months. It has – proudly – no consistency from one vintage to the next, according to Andy Kershaw, assistant winemaker. ‘This method produces a wine that challenges perceptions. The wine looks like a white, but has tannins and complexity associated with a red wine. It’s incredibly versatile – chill it for an apéritif or serve at room temperature to pair with a wide range of foods.’

Nania’s Vineyard made its first orange from an allotment in Bristol during lockdown. Owner James Bayliss-Smith now buys grapes from the Malvern Hills to make its Bacchus, The Fox, fermented with wild yeast, no fining or filtration and packaged in cans. ‘In England the wine industry is obviously very geared towards sparkling, but there are lots of producers realising that we also make great still wines,’ says the cameraman-turned-winemaker. ‘Orange wine is part of that, but it’s a bit like making red wine. You need the grapes to ripen properly which can be a bit of a struggle in this country.’

A variety of grapes

England’s ‘signature’ Bacchus variety has proven popular, but there aren’t strict rules that define English and Welsh orange wine, which means winemakers can, and are, exploring all kinds of possibilities. Ancre Hill in Monmouth, Wales, makes an orange from (predominantly) Albariño, recognised for its striking Kubrickesque label.

Limeburn Hill in Bristol makes natural, biodynamic pét-nat from Orion grapes. ‘When you ferment Orion on the skins there is an amazing opening up of aromatics which doesn’t usually come through in a conventional white, from green to stone and tropical fruit,’ says winemaker Robin Snowdon.

Huxbear, in Devon, makes Orange Bear – an orange from Chardonnay. The 2021 vintage was fermented for 15 days on skins before being pressed and aged in stainless steel. Winemaker Ben Hulland wants to make an orange Bacchus next, but has also planted Pinot Gris at his Chudleigh vineyard, with the intention of turning it into orange wine.

London-based Renegade has produced a skin-contact wine from Madeleine Angevine, grown in Herefordshire. Stanlake Park in Berkshire favours Siegerrebe, an early ripening, low acid variety with naturally high sugar levels for its orange. It spends one week on skins, is fermented in used barrels and aged in stainless steel. ‘We tell customers to think of it as a richer white, rather than a “funky” orange,’ says director, Natalia Pezzone.

Whether you love them, loathe them or just aren’t sure, it’s completely possible that orange wines could become a serious part of England’s wine offer.

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The post The rise of English and Welsh orange wine appeared first on Decanter.

Rasteau

Outside Châteauneuf, the best performing appellation was Rasteau. There were no problems with green tannins here, which Jérôme Bressy of Domaine Gourt de Mautens believes is thanks to the abundance of clay. The 2022 vintage has delivered wines with bright fruit, good concentration and balanced alcohol. They are often robustly tannic however, so pay close attention to drinking windows.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and score for top Rasteau, Cairanne & Vinsobres 2022 wines

Matt Walls’ top-scoring Rasteau, Cairanne & Vinsobres 2022 wines:

See below the top-scoring Rasteau, Cairanne and Vinsobres wines, listed by appellation and white then red in score order.

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The post Rasteau, Cairanne & Vinsobres 2022: Report and top-scoring wines appeared first on Decanter.