Festive Food and Wine Pairings for Every Celebration
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Whether your festive style is traditional, contemporary, formal or relaxed, the perfect wine can make your dishes shine.
We’re sharing our favourite festive recipes & wine pairings.
Pétiyante Sparkling & Gin Cured Salmon
The Food: Cured Salmon is the perfect make-ahead entree or canape for any party. The acidity in the Pétiyante pairs perfectly with the richness of salmon. Of course, we recommend you cure it with the fabulous Kangaroo Island Spirits gin. Try this Tin Eats recipe for Beetroot & Gin Cured Salmon.
The wine: Our traditional-method sparkling wine, Pétiyante, is beautifully balanced with fine, elegant acidity and a creamy texture. Classic Champagne-like brioche notes on the nose and palate with a super fine bead with hints of nashi pear and white peach leading to a long, crisp, elegant finish. It’s the ideal start to any celebration meal.
360 Sauvignon Blanc & Roast Pork
The Food: Crispy pork crackling surrounding tender, juicy pork. Porcetta is a crowd-pleaser at Christmas. This Jamie Oliver Porchetta looks just stunning. To really showcase this spectacular dish you need just the right wine, with enough richness to complement the pork but great acidity to cleanse the palate, luckily we have just the thing!
The Wine: Our new 360 range Sauvignon Blanc is a true Fume Blanc style, barrel fermented and aged to build stunning texture and complexity. There is a hint of tropical fruit, passionfruit, a lick of acidity and flinty smokiness from the barrel. The middle is round and creamy with texture and a bit of weight carrying through to a long finish. Pork is a heavenly pairing for this small-batch wine.
The Rose with a Charcuterie Platter
The Food: Elegant, delicious Christmas entertaining doesn’t always mean slaving over a hot stove. Our friends at Adelaide’s Les Deux Coq make the most delicious range of authentic French charcuterie we’ve come across outside France. A quick stop at their Adelaide Central Market stall or website gives you everything you need for the most delicious meal that pairs perfectly with a chilled French-style Rosé.
The Wine: One of our fastest-selling wines, The Rose, honours the classic Provence style of southern France. Light in colour with a focus on elegance but full of flavour and texture. Flavours of strawberries and cream, even some peach notes with a light leesy grip, add complexity to the delicious freshness. It’s dry, fresh and dangerously easy to drink.
Sauvignon Blanc & Australian Seafood
The Food: If your Christmas tastes lean more towards seafood, then our Sauvignon Blanc will be a winner at the table. Pair it with shellfish like BBQ scallops, prawns or lobster with a rich homemade aioli. Get inspiration from Sydney Fish Market’s guide to Christmas seafood.
The Wine: Our Sauvignon Blanc has classic passionfruit, lime zest, citrus & sea spray notes. It’s delicate and aromatic on the palate with a light herbal note, ripe citrus and tropical fruits, rounded off with just enough acidity to finish elegant, clean and crisp.
Christmas Turkey with Bark Hut Road Shiraz/Cabernet Franc
The Food: Pairing wine with Turkey can be a tricky affair. You have the white meat with some richness and gaminess, but often, wine matching is about the sides, which are more robust in flavour, like stuffing, gravy and roast vegetables. Red wine can be a delicious pairing if the tannins don’t overwhelm the dish. That’s where the elegance and delicacy of Bordeaux-style blends Bark Hut Road hit the perfect note. Australian Gourmet Traveller is always our go-to for Christmas Turkey recipe inspiration.
The Wine: A classic from our premium Estate range, Bark Hut Road is one of our first wines released on Kangaroo Island. This elegant Bordeaux-style blend offers firm tannins, natural acidity, blackberry and sarsaparilla notes at the darker end of the fruit spectrum, and oak notes, vanilla, and coconut.
The Investigator Cabernet Franc & Beef Wellington
The Food: The ultimate luxury dish for a special occasion, a rare beef fillet coated in pate & mushrooms, baked in pastry. If there’s ever a time to dedicate this much love to a dish, it’s at Christmas. Chef Gordon Ramsay has made Beef Wellington his signature dish, you can try his recipe here.
The Wine: Only the best wine will do if you’re preparing a dish like this. The Independence Malbec from our Flagship range is the perfect foil for Decadent Beef Wellington. With black plum, blackberry, cocoa and sweet tobacco, it’s plush and full-bodied on the palate with Malbec’s classic firm tannins, power and finesse in equal balance. The Independence Malbec pairs beautifully with the beef and also complements the mushroom and pate components in Beef Wellington.
The Cygnet Shiraz & Glazed Ham
The Food: What’s Christmas without a Ham as the centrepiece? After hours of tender-loving-basting, this showstopper should be served with a wine to match. How could we go past the incomparable Maggie Beer’s Quince Glazed Ham recipe?
The Wine: When pairing wine with ham, it’s all about the glaze, which most often has a sweet element to counter the ham’s saltiness. Glazes work well with medium-weight wines with plenty of acidity and bold fruit. The Cygnet Shiraz from our Flagship range is often referred to as Christmas in a glass – steeped with red and blackberries and baking spices, complementing the spice of the glaze. This highly-rated Shiraz shows just how elegant the variety can be.
Sangiovese & Boxing Day BBQ
The food: The day after Christmas is a time to catch your breath and relax. Backyard BBQ, thongs and sandy feet. No need for a recipe here. Whatever you’re having on the BBQ, from steak to burgers to sausages, our cool climate Sangiovese is a great all-rounder. Try it lightly chilled for a warm-weather red.
The wine: Our varietal range Sangiovese, is ideal for BBQ meats. It’s medium-weight with plush red fruit notes, spicy cherries, vanilla oak, hints of leather and fine-grained tannins on the finish.
