So you've bought the wines (or panic-raided your father-in-law's cellar), and now comes the truly crucial part: not serving them like an amateur. Here's how to prepare your Christmas Day wines without causing your wine-snob cousin to have a meltdown.
Let's start with temperature, shall we? Nothing – and I mean nothing – makes me sadder than watching perfectly good wine being served at the wrong temperature. Those reds sitting by the radiator? Move them. Now. Room temperature in Victorian times (when this advice originated) was about 14-16°C, not the tropical 23°C of your central heating. If your red wine is warmer than your mother-in-law's glare, it's too warm.
For Christmas Day reds, take them out of the garage (or cellar it might even be the cellar) about two hours before serving. If they've been stored indoors, give them 20 minutes in the fridge – yes, really. Too cold? They'll warm up. Too warm and they’ll taste like soup.
Whites and fizz need proper chilling, but be careful of the freezer. I know you've forgotten to chill the champagne and guests are arriving in 20 minutes, but stick it in the freezer and I guarantee you'll remember it sometime around Boxing Day, when it's transformed into a very expensive ice lolly & oozed fragments of glass in to your packet of peas. Instead, deploy the emergency ice bucket method: water, ice, and a generous handful of salt. It's basic chemistry, and it works faster than your aunt can say "just a small one."
Now, decanting. This is where people really love to show off, usually with a decanter that costs more than the wine itself. Here's the drill: most young wines (anything from the last 3-4 years) really benefit from a bit of air. A good slug of oxygen helps open them up, soften them and get them ready to play. Older red, the sort that's been lurking in the cellar since last Christmas, also needs decanting. Not because it's particularly refined, but because nobody wants a mouthful of sediment while trying to navigate the dry turkey. For really old red though, beware. Whilst Oxygen is great for young, robust reds, it can start turning frail red to vinegar in just 30 minutes - (it’s done it to me with a 15 yr old Gevrey Chambertin)
The decanting process itself should ideally be done the morning of Christmas Day, giving the wine a few hours to open up. If you've forgotten, don’t worry, anytime before the guests see will do. Just don't do it at the table while providing a running commentary – nobody cares about the 'bouquet developing', they just want a drink.
A word about glasses: yes, they matter, no, you don't need 17 different types. Clean, decent-sized wine glasses for reds and whites will do nicely. And don't fill them up to the top – your guests need room to swirl without redecorating your tablecloth or unloading it over Uncle John. Fill red glasses to just below the widest part, white glasses slightly less. Champagne? Well, either go Great Gatsby and play the Saucer game, flutes and play the normal game or, even better, normal wine glasses which work better than flutes – more room for the aromas to develop.
One final, crucial tip: have a backup plan. Something will go wrong. A cork will break (keep a spare corkscrew handy), someone will knock over a glass (keep kitchen roll closer than the nearest relative), or you'll discover that prize bottle is corked (keep a spare bottle of literally anything within reach).
Remember, at the end of the day, it's Christmas – if all else fails, there's always port. And port requires no preparation whatsoever, except perhaps loosening your belt.
The Utterly Essential Guide to Not Cocking Up Your Christmas Wines
Christmas is always that time of year where the one wine snob in your extended family likes to throw their weight around. Here are my top tips on how to serve the wine perfectly, keep everyone happy, and really look like you know what you're doing.
16 December 2024