MICHAEL FRIDJHON | Festive wines to suit the size of your bonus

It’s not always easy to imagine what you would like to drink with family over the holidays: corporate partying can blunt one’s appetite for the more discreet pleasures of indulging with loved ones in an authentic rather than flamboyant space.

The beverages served at office parties tend to fall squarely into two broad categories. When there are many guests and the occasion offers an opportunity to make up in consumption what is unlikely to appear in a bonus cheque, cheap (and not necessarily cheerful) defines the purchasing guideline. If, however, numbers are fewer, business has been good and management has Rolls-Royce appetites, taste rather than effect generally describes the array on offer.

Either way, festive season shopping can be more of an art form than many people realise. If your guests spent the weeks before their year-end break hammering the full service bar at the office, it’s possible their appetite for alcohol may be satiated. This is not an absolute rule: if they are young and strong they might simply have thought of this as essential preseason training for your family party. If not, it’s easy to combine their needs with those who have been savouring a glass or two at year-end functions and have no desire to test the limits of their liver function.

Festive season shopping necessarily includes cap classique. As a general rule quality is exceptional and the entry-level pricing shamefully accessible. You can safely choose between Graham Beck — the Extra Brut and the Blanc de Blanc specially — Krone’s Blanc de Blanc, Simonsig, Boschendal, Bon Courage Jacques Bruere and Colmant.

On to sauvignon blanc: you can hardly go wrong with any Diemersdal or Springfield, Klein Constantia or Groot Phesantekraal, Iona or Steenberg, Cape Point or Lomond. When it comes to chenin, there’s an overwhelming choice so here’s a shortlist: Alvi’s Drift (specially the Albertus Viljoen), DMZ and DeMorgenzon reserve, any Stellenrust or Kleine Zalze, Bellingham Old Vine, Beaumont, Perdeberg, Hogan, Kaapzicht and KWV The Mentors. Chardonnay is also a richly endowed category: Delaire-Graff, Dewetshof, Capensis, Newton-Johnson, Paul Cluver, Meerlust, Tokara, Iona, Oak Valley and Jordan.

Summer is the time of year for rosé, and here there’s also a great selection: Pink Valley, L’Ormarins, Painted Wolf, Bonnievale, Bacco, Landskroon Blanc de Noir and Leeuwenkuil. You might, however, prefer a lighter red — where the obvious choice of varieties is pinot noir, grenache and cinsaut. Pinots cost the most, but that’s no reason not to buy Storm, Paul Cluver, Iona, Crystallum, La Vierge and Newton Johnson. There’s fine Grenache from Savage, Vriesenhof and Neil Ellis, and delicious cinsault from Van Loggerenberg, Savage and Donkiesbaai.

Among the fuller bodied reds there’s a wide range of varieties and styles. With cabernet you can safely select Le Riche, Hartenberg, Kanonkop, Tokara, Neil Ellis, Rock of Eye, Zevenwacht and Nederburg. Cabernet-based blends offer an equally broad selection, including Meerlust, Vergelegen, Morgenster, Kanonkop, Miles Mossop Max, Thelema and Constantia Glen.

Merlot — for reasons which completely elude me — is the country’s most popular red variety. Shannon Mount Bullet, Plaisir, Bein, Vergelegen and Thelema are all pretty smart. Shiraz/syrah — which produces many of the best value reds in the country — battles to get traction. Among the best are Eagle’s Nest, Mullineux, Fairview, Bruce Jack, Leeuwenkuil, Savage, Reyneke and Rust en Vrede. Pinotage is a variety that delivers dollops of flavour often at ridiculously good prices: Beyerskloof, Kanonkop, Bruce Jack, Rijk’s, Diemersfontein, Beeslaar and L’Avenir all come to mind.

Finally, there are our splendid noble late harvests. Among the former there’s Boplaas, De Krans, Delaire Graff and the KWV Tawny. In the unfortified sweet wine category Nederburg Noble Late Harvest may be the best value wine of this kind in the world. But if your bonus cheque had seven digits, there’s Vin de Constance and Mullineux Vin de Paille.

This column originally appeared in Business Day.