The best drinks for Christmas? We have you covered
What are the best drinks for Christmas? Or to gift? Or just to enjoy during a quiet moment this festive season? Wine writer Katie Spain picks 20 perfect drops, and there is something to please every palate and budget.
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What are the best drinks for Christmas? Or to gift? Or just to enjoy in a quiet moment this festive season? Wine writer Katie Spain picks 20 perfect drops, and there is something to please every palate and budget.
House of Arras
2008 / Grand Vintage
Region: Tasmania
Best with: Chrissy present wrapping – solo (it’s too good to share)
Breathe deep … this grand dame is enticing.
Toasty brioche aromas precede a glass full of bright fruit, a whiff of smoked oysters, a tiny lick of sugar, and fizz that’ll power you through a day of overindulgence.
The chardonnay/pinot noir is beautifully balanced – like synchronised swimmers in a glass and at this price; you really can’t do much better.
A tasty triumph.
$77.40
Mazi Wines
2019 / Rosé
Region: McLaren Vale
Best with: A Boxing Day barbecue on the back veranda
Hold on to your fun pants Aunty Paula, this is a rosé with edge.
It’s fresh, dry and vivacious — think layers of berries and bursts of bitter orange.
There’s a dash of spice to this little grenache livewire, too.
Mazi is Greek for ‘together’ so grab the fam bam and let the good times roll.
Serve chilled — like Santa’s homeland.
$25
Aphelion Wine
2018 / The Confluence (Grenache)
Region: McLaren Vale”
Best with: A pre-feast aperativo with a side of camembert (the good stuff)
Winemaker Rob Mack has a deft hand and a sharp, creative mind.
He’s going from strength to strength. The Young Gun of Wine 2018 created a masterpiece with this food-friendly grenache.
The majority of the grapes were hand plucked from an 80-year-old Blewitt Springs bush vines, whole bunches foot stomped, and handled with a minimal intervention approach.
The result is cherries on the nose and a mouthful of fresh berries and spice.
$35
Goodieson Brewery
Christmas Ale
Region: McLaren Vale
Best with: Fruit mince pies
Christmas tragics unite.
It doesn’t get more over the top festive than this (except perhaps Will Ferrell in Elf). Everything is better with a beer in hand.
Make it one that tastes like Christmas with Goodieson’s special festive froth. It’s brewed using Christmas spices all wrapped up in a Chestnut Brown Ale. It’s hugely popular and a seasonal release only so visit the brewery quicksmart or you’ll be left dry.
$110 for 24 bottles
Rojomoma
2018 / Red Art Chiaro
Region: Barossa Valley
Best with: A quiet moment of peace after the kiddies have gone to bed
Christmas should be about time with loved ones so it’s fitting to break bread with a drop made by a lovely Barossa-based family with a whole lot of heart (and art) behind their little brand.
Rojomoma is run by Sam Kurtz, Bernadette Kaeding and their young son Raj.
This mash-up of tempranillo and grenache was inspired by a traditional winemaking process in which a small batch was made by drying lower ripeness bunches on racks for two weeks, before crushing and fermenting.
Think rich flavours, dark berries, and pretty floral notes thanks to the grenache.
A crowd pleaser.
$30
Wines By KT
2019 / Peglidis Vineyard Watervale Riesling
Region: Clare Valley
Best with: Grilled seafood – poolside
Is there anything better than lounging on an inflatable flamingo, pool water lapping at your feet with a glass of riesling in hand?
Try it … you’ll see. Winemaker Kerri Thompson makes a particularly smashing range of rieslings and this is no exception.
It’s dry, intense on the citrus fruit front, mouth watering and simultaneously prettier than Mum’s festive floral table arrangement.
Get it down you before the old gal drinks it all.
$38
Lake Breeze
2017 / Bernoota
Region: Langhorne Creek
Best with: Old Xmas movie classic Bushfire Moon
A wine as familiar and trustworthy as the package you’ll get from your nana (socks and jocks for the boys, hankies for the girls).
Unlike nan, Lake Breeze moves with the times but we can always rely on the Langhorne Creek winery to keep the price of this crackerjack blend of old vine shiraz and cabernet sauvignon to a minimum.
Think worn leather and towering gums, with a masculine mouthful of Haigh’s Dark Premium Fruit and Nut chocolates, spice, a shotgun round of tannins and just enough sweetness to make you swoon.
Winner, winner, roast chicken dinner.
$22
Koerner
2019 / Pigato
Region: Clare Valley
Best with: A sneaky vermentino-fuelled snog under the mistletoe
Look, this is Australia, not Lapland’s icy cold clime, so if you’ve got half a brain you’ll eat fish rather than a full-blown roast this Christmas Day.
Pair your Tommy ruff or your King George whiting with this snappy vermentino (on skins) by Clare’s Koerner Brothers (winners of the 2019 Young Gun Of Wine Award).
It’s a ripping drop – especially on a stinking hot day.
It’s aromatic AF and a veritable orchard in the mouth. Serve chilled. Heaven.
$30
Maxwell Wines
Honey Mead
Region: McLaren Vale
Best with: Long games of Monopoly and dad jokes
Maxwell Wines’ Spiced Mead smells a lot like a European Christmas but is best served warm so in the spirit of sweltering Aussie heat, go for Honey Mead on ice.
It’s made by fermenting pure South Australian honey, using a precious family recipe (it goes way back — Vikings drank this stuff).
Breathe deep for beeswax and cooked citrus aromas followed by a sweet mouthful of florals. Serve it as dessert if you can’t be bothered cooking on Christmas Eve.
$17
Charlotte Dalton
2018 / Love Me Love You Shiraz
Region: Adelaide Hills
Best with: Mum’s roast with all the trimming
Get ready for a snowstorm of warm fuzzies. Winemaker Charlotte Hardy’s 2018 Love Me Love You Shiraz is named after sweet nothings whispered by her mother during childhood.
It’s elegant, soul-packed and unfiltered so you can literally taste the love.
Fun facts: Charlotte topped the Hot 100 Wine Show with her 2018 Eliza Pinot Noir and won Best in Show at the Adelaide Hills for her 2017 Love Me Love You Shiraz.
Tell that to your family as you pour the good stuff.
$42
Brave New Wine
2018 / Savant Garde
Region: Great Southern, WA
Best with: Animated conversation and bonbons
We’ve all got that weird relative who confuses us a little but is ultimately endearing for all their quirks. Welcome to the wine equivalent. As the name suggests, this is a sauvignon blanc/semillon for the ballsy. Get ready for a capsicum explosion. It’s got more green pumping through its blood than Kermit. Cucumber and green capsicum aromas precede flavours of green peas and gravy and chilli. Husband and wife duo Andries and Yoko Lüscher-Mostert’s small batch, experimental creations are not for the faint-hearted but this little freak is totally worth the challenge.
$26
Smallfry Wines
2019 / Barossa Tangerine Dream
Region: Barossa Valley
Best with: A Boxing Day cricket match on the beach
Good things happen when semillon, pedro ximenez, riesling, roussane and muscat collide (and when Wayne Ahrens and Suzi Hilder are at the helm). The bright orange giraffe on the Tangerine Dream label is indication of what lies within. Citrus peel-topped oatmeal aromas lead the way to layers of comforting and simultaneously thrilling flavours. It’s dry and has plenty of depth. Let it sit in the glass awhile to allow the curious combo to soar. Another one to get conversation flowing during Uncle Bob’s awkward silences.
$36
Hills Cider Co.
Virgin Apple Cider
Region: Adelaide Hills
Best with: Designated driver duties
The only thing sloppier than a great-grandma smooch is great grandpa after too many ciders. Slip one of these booze-free alternatives and you’ll skilfully avoid the latter. It’s the type of beverage you can almost convince yourself is healthy. Adelaide Hills apples dominate the drop which has the bonus of zero added concentrate, flavours, sugars or water. Just the good stuff. It’s gluten free and vegan too so crack out the tofurky and wake up fresh when everyone else feels rotten. Hangover, what hangover?
$17.99 per 6 pack
Yalumba
2017 / FSW8B Botrytis Viognier
Region: Wrattonbully
Best with: Grandma’s trifle
Oh, so lush.
Give your Kris Kringle a bottle of Yalumba’s sweet golden nectar than make sure you’re around when they crack it open.
The viognier grapes come from Wratonbully in South Australia’s South East and this elegant little number serves up apricots, peaches and spice.
It’s great served alongside dessert and your favourite late night Xmas flick.
$29
Murdoch Hill
2018 / Rocket Chardonnay
Region: Adelaide Hills
Best with: A gleam in your eye and fun pants fastened tight
Winemaker Michael Downer won seven trophies at the 2019 Adelaide Hills Wine Show, including top wine of the show for his Murdoch Hill 2018 Rocket Chardonnay. He takes chardy seriously which is why you should look no further than this pure, elegant example made from fruit sourced from Piccadilly Valley and Lobethal vineyards. As bandwagons go, you’d be a fool not to jump on and hold on tight. it’s a ripper.
$85
Ngeringa
2019 / Uncultured Pétillant Naturel
Region: Adelaide Hills
Best with: Leftover ham sangas
Wow your guests with funky, unfiltered fizz this year. Pétillant naturel (pet nat) is an ancient méthode ancestrale technique where (in a nutshell) fermentation is finished in the bottle, without the addition of secondary yeasts or sugars. Ngeringa’s lightly bubbly rosé is a doozy. Grapefruit, blood orange, and citrus blossom fill the nose, summer fruit salad engulfs the mouth. This is a conversation starter an ideal for loosening up those awkward family gatherings.
$30
Settlers Spirits
Blood Orange and Chilli Gin
Region: McLaren Vale
Best with: Morning after egg and bacon rolls
Distiller Rowland Short likes to get his mad scientist on in his McLaren Vale distillery and this concoction is a doozy.
Head spinning from too many festive frothy’s the night before Xmas?
Bang a bit of this tart-meets-hot citrus banger in your glass and you’ll blow the cobwebs for six.
Can’t handle the heat?
Add tonic water to taste. It works well with a slice of fresh orange. Just what the doctor ordered me-hearties.
Primo Estate
NV/JOSEPH Sparkling Red
Region: McLaren Vale
Best with: Christmas turkey – any time of the day
This drop is more essential to Christmas than the big dude in red (sorry Santa, it’s true). Roll out the red carpet. This beauty ain’t cheap but you get what you pay for. Each year, a hogshead of the premium JOSEPH Moda Cabernet Merlot (from every year since 1991) and Primo Estate Shiraz from 1989 is added to a unique blend of museum vintages dating back to the ’60s. Time, effort, and meticulous care goes into it – the result of which is a delicious savoury style, perfect balance, and essential Christmas table status. Act fast – popular is an understatement. They sell out fast.
$90
Grant Burge
Aged Tawny
Region: Barossa Valley
You’ve got to leave Santa and his fur balls something to sip while they lay out the goodies for your little ones. Leave this by the chimney and the old bloke will be stoked. The blend of traditional tawny varieties grenache, mataro and shiraz (an average of six years old) and is a smooth, rich way to ease the old bloke in red (and you) into a busy night of gift distribution. If you’re feeling really fancy, splash out on the 40-Year-Old Super Rare Tawny. At $450 a bottle it’s not for the faint hearted but damn it’s something special. Only 100 bottles released.
$20
919 Wines
919 Reserve Collection
Classic Topaque
Region: Riverland
Best with: Christmas pudding
You’ve got to love a sticky drop that you can serve with Christmas pud or a bacon fry-up the next day. Eric and Jenny Semmler make beautiful wines and fortifieds — this is no exception. Breathe deep for a hit of honey. Sniff again. Ooh, toffee. Take a mouthful and it’s all buttered honey, malt, and maple syrup. This family-run business has more heart than Love Actually. Enjoy it with this movie classic or hidden away, book in hand and ‘me time’ on your mind.
$42