Wine picks for your Christmas table

Choosing what wine to serve with your Christmas lunch is sometimes as hard as deciding on the menu. Should you go for a good red, a refreshing white or blush rosé? There’s always the option of a bottle of bubbles to kick off the celebrations. But what to buy if you’re strapped for ideas?

We tried wines from two South African wine estates which offer a diverse variety that will please all palates around the table and appeal to easy and serious wine drinkers with differing budgets.

ALVI’S DRIFT ICON RANGE

As a rule of thumb, you will be well-advised on a bottle of Alvi’s Drift, whether from their flagship, reserve, signature, sparkling or Cap Classique ranges. This Christmas it might be time to treat yourself to their Icon range.

Named after the family patriarch Albertus Viljoen, after whom the winemaker Alvi van der Merwe is named, this range celebrates full-bodied, barrel-fermented wines.

The range includes a 2021 chenin blanc (R280 per bottle), 2021 chardonnay (R280 per bottle) and 2018 Bismark red blend (R310 per bottle).

The chenin blanc is elegant and bursting with rich flavour while the chardonnay is complex and well-rounded. Both won the Great Gold International Wine & Spirits Awards in Spain last year and are a must try for a white wine lover or drinker of these specific cultivars.

The red blend has won a slew of awards — and not surprisingly. It’s smooth, sophisticated and a beautiful example of the greatness that can be achieved when a blend is carried out perfectly.

We love this range because each of the wines are well-rounded and elegant, yet delicious to drink. This range offers the perfect pick for those who enjoy savouring a good bottle over a long lunch.

ROBERTSON WINERY SPARKLING WINES RANGE

If you’re looking for a bottle of bubbles to start the party or toast with during your family dinner, Robertson Winery has just the bottle — or nine — for you.

Last month, the wine estate unveiled new packaging on their sparkling wine range and the bottles are as pretty as a picture. Each of the wines in the range are sold in a transparent sleeve which allows the colour of the wine to shine through while featuring a floral design that heroes the roses grown specifically in the Robertson valley.

If grandma likes a sweet red but grandpa a brut white, there’s a bottle in the range for each of them. They offer a sparkling white brut or sweet white, a sparkling brut rosé or sweet rosé and a sparkling sweet red. All these wines retail for R85 a bottle.

The range also includes four nonalcoholic options which makes buying wine for the whole family a more inclusive affair, with a dry sparking pink, sweet sparkling pink, dry sparkling white or sweet sparkling white. These sell for R75 a bottle.

We love this range for the diversity it offers, the good price and that they’re easy to drink as they go down oh so well on a hot summer day.