Your festive table must include your loved ones, many gourmet dishes, and ... the right wine, of course! Whether you have meat or fish in mind for your festive menus, we have plenty of tips on pairing them with good wines! Curious? Look here!
Wines for the festive season: Fish-based Christmas Eve dinner
If you are planning a sophisticated fish menu for Christmas Eve, we have just the white wine for you: the CORTESE PIEMONTE DOC is perfect with delicious shellfish and tartare appetizers, and with first courses based on seafood (can you imagine how wonderful it would be to start the evening with some lovely spaghetti and clams? Mouth watering!) Serve the wine chilled and you will see it is a really good choice. This wine can accompany you through the entire meal, especially if you have planned a somewhat "posh" second course such as a baked fish with herbs, or a classic sea bass in foil dish: it’s best to start the festive season in style, right?
Wines for the festive season: A glass of wine to welcome is always a good idea
Serving a glass of chilled, light wine (usually sparkling but white works well too) is ideal not only to make your guests feel welcome but also to pair with appetizers before the real dinner. This could be a moment to chat and relax while waiting for the inevitable latecomers! It is best to always keep a chilled sparkling wine on hand especially if you have relatives who are coming from afar and may have been caught in traffic ;-).
Wines for the festive season: Christmas meat dishes
While you may go lighter on Christmas Eve, we are sure you will want a "strong" meat course on Christmas day. As we always say, true wine lovers like you will want a full-bodied, enveloping red that pairs well with all types of meat and with those cheeses that make for a more substantial delicious appetizer. A CASTELLI ROMANI DOC ROSSO COLLECTION is the label to keep at hand for the most daring menus: fragrant and intense, this wine is simply perfect with roasts and game, but it can also accompany the tastiest traditional Italian first courses such as bucatini all'amatriciana. Moreover, cold cuts and cheeses will make for fabulous appetizers when paired with this wine: in short, the Castelli Romani Doc Rosso goes well with everything!
Wines for the festive season: A menu that has it all
If you don't want to choose between meat and fish, and you plan to let loose in the kitchen like a real Masterchef, choosing the right wine for your menu is easy! You can’t go wrong with the RAGGIANTE ROSÉ: this wine pairs well with roast chicken, shrimp cocktail, various crudités, and fresh cheeses ... You can really indulge yourself with the gourmet dishes, including spicy and fusion creations, you want to prepare! This delicate and aromatic rosé is also ideal as a welcome wine or with appetizers.
If you want to be really chic and serve elaborate canapés or some exotic finger food, you absolutely must chill this wine: trust me, your guests will love it from the first sip (a delicious glass of chilled rosé is just the thing before sitting down to a festive meal, don't you think?)
Wines for the festive season: Which wine to serve with dessert?
For some people, dessert is the best part of any festive menu. In Italy, Panettone and Pandoro cakes are essential desserts during the Christmas season. However, Italians also enjoy traditional regional Christmas desserts, and the famous “Torrone” nougat and dried fruit are also always very popular. Which wine to serve with dessert? Simple, a nice sparkling wine: the '900 GRAN GIORDANO, for example, is perfect with all the desserts we mentioned. It can also accompany you from the appetizer through to late evening chats around the table. This is a super-versatile sparkling wine that is always good to keep in the fridge, especially during the festive season: we are sure you will have an opportunity to open a bottle of it!
Now that we have given you many tips on how to pair your festive menus with the right wine, you need only look to Giordano: you will find all the right labels for truly sparkling celebrations!