Wine pairing help

[fredt]

Hosting new years for a bunch of people, menu as follows and.

Prawn Coctail
Beef Wellington
Chocolate/fudge, lemon meringue, choc truffle mini trio (I accept there will be compromises here! )
cheese

Any help? 14 of us and I'm not a millionaire so looking to keep prices civil. £10 per bottle would be nice, £15 acceptable, could be persuaded to 20 for the main and maybe a bit more for dessert if I have to.

Any help appreciated

[Bullett]

I'd go for a French (dry) riesling for the starter but it depends on how spicy you make the sauce. If you want to try something different how about sherry, a bone dry Fino would work.

Red for the main, I'd probably go for Merlot.

Ice Wine or Tokaji for dessert to go with the meringue and port for the chocolate.

Port also for the cheese.

It's personal. If you are not a wine expert don't worry about it too much. If you don't like a wine style don't have it. I'd suggest going to a proper wine merchant and asking there.

[NormalWisdom]

Amazon are doing 6 bottles of McGuigan black label shiraz for 24.99. Very unshabby indeed.

Eta - would work well with the beef

[calibrax]

It's Christmas... Champagne throughout. If on a budget, a nice Cava is a good alternative.

[Bullett]

Lidl fizz is pretty good at £10 a pop.

[tomw2000]

Bullett said:

Ice Wine or Tokaji for dessert to go with the meringue and port for the chocolate.

A little out of budget, (and flying off the shelves so grab it whilst you can) but Aldi have good Canadian Ice wine and Hungarian Tokaji right now.

[Hosenbugler]

Always a difficult call (to recomend) but here goes

If you have an Aldi nearby, then Pino Gris (its an aussie term for Pinot grigio) but in this case it has some lovely flavours, its under 6 quid.

If you have a Sainsbury's ,then its Kannonkop Kadette, an SA Pinotage, for under a tenner, cracking stuff. Brill with red meats.

For dessert, hunt down a Tokaji, will be around £20, but with the small servings will go a long way. Arguably the best there is untill silly money needs to be paid.

[JeremyH5]

NormalWisdom said:

Amazon are doing 6 bottles of McGuigan black label shiraz for 24.99. Very unshabby indeed.

Eta - would work well with the beef

Ooh that's better than Morrisons, well done. If you like that I think you'll like Wolf Blass Red Label Shiraz Cabernet at £6.
Those two are our staples.

[fredt]

Thanks!

I'm getting drawn to calibrax's advice, seems obvious actually and it saves me some hassle! Seen Mumm for 20 quid seems quite reasonable!

[thebraketester]

I'd go with a vinho verde for starter. Nice and light with a tiny amount of fizz

[anonymous-user]

fredt said:

Thanks!

I'm getting drawn to calibrax's advice, seems obvious actually and it saves me some hassle! Seen Mumm for 20 quid seems quite reasonable!

Champagne for the prawn cocktail,definitely. Easy choice, and can't go wrong.

If you're going for Champagne throughout, try the Sainsbury's own label vintage. Buying 6 a couple of weeks ago worked out at £18 a bottle - it is discounted with a further 25% off for 6.

I wouldn't recommend champagne with Beef Wellington, or with desserts though. Canadian Ice Wine (mentioned upthread, at Aldi) is usually vg and would go well with the lemon. Chocolate, OTOH, is one of the harder flavours to pair with a wine. I would think about Sainsburys Pedro Ximenez (served chilled; a good one tastes like Christmas pudding in a glass) for the chocolate, and perhaps get some cheese to pair with dessert wine.

For the beef, something quite full bodied. A Shiraz (Aus) or Syrah (ROTW),would work well, although some of them are a bit OTT for my tastes. Otherwise a (good) Rioja maybe - often good value.

[peter tdci]

It's probably controversial for a traditional meal like Christmas dinner, but if you aren't drinking the same wine throughout, how about switching the order? Have the cheese between the beef and the pudding: then you could stick with red for the cheese, or switch to something sweeter and stay with that for the pud.

[PedroB]

I'd opt for:

Starter- Something light like a Pouilly-Fume is a classic match with seafood. It has a touch of acidity and flinty mineral character which will cut through and lift the heavy creaminess of the sauce.

Main- Two ways you can go with this I reckon, a decent Pinot Noir from Burgundy will have the nice, earthy sous-bois to marry with the mushrooms in the duxelle. It might however not be quite heavy bodied enough to match the beef which needs a bit of juice and tannin. A big Barollo or Argentine Malbec might be a good shout.

Dessert- I'd look for a cheeky half bottle of Pedro Ximenez sherry, should be well in budget. It will match nicely with the chocolate parts of it but might jar a little with the lemon.

Cheese- Depends on the cheese, but blue cheese and he aforementioned Pedro Ximenez are a great match, the sweet figgy syrup flavour works like a sweet chutney or slice of membrillo would- just polish the rest of the bottle off! For an all purpose solution a decent bottle of port is always a winner.

[Davey S2]

At the prices you are looking at I'd go with a nice crisp Italian Gavi for the starter with Barbaresco for the main. Very similar to but better value than Barolo.

Decent Sauternes or Barsac for the dessert.