Christmas Drinking

I'm back in the UK for Christmas, where enough rain has fallen to alleviate California's drought for the next ten years. I've met up with friends and family, indulged in a number of pub lunches by blazing log fires, and had plenty of good wine to celebrate. With the rich, hearty food I've been eating, I've been looking for wines with plenty of acidity to give a refreshing lightness. The other aim has been simply to drink memorable wines. 

Eyrie Melon de Bourgogne 2009

I bought this wine on a trip to Oregon two and a half years ago, and because of its uniqueness I have been saving it for a special occasion - which turned out to be by a fire in a cottage in the Lake District while playing Bananagrams with my wife and sister. Back in 1965, David Lett, one of the founding fathers of Oregon wine, planted Alsace and Burgundy varieties in the Willamette Valley, including Pinot Blanc. Some of the cuttings he bought from UC Davis, but upon planting them he realised that they weren't Pinot Blanc at all, eventually concluding that they were Melon de Bourgogne, which is grown only on the Atlantic Coast of the Loire Valley (Chalone in Monterrey encountered the same problem with Pinot Blanc cuttings they bought from the university). With just a small plot of this unfashionable and undistinguished variety, Lett never made a commercial wine from them. After his death in 2008, his son Jason decided to make wine from the plot - now over forty years old - in tribute to his father. The wine is superb, rare proof that old-vine Melon takes on more substantial and complex characteristics than is generally associated with the grape. It's nutty and yeasty, with rich stone and tropical fruits, enlivened by an acidity that's still fresh six years after the vintage. I feel this wine will still be drinking well in another ten years. ✪✪✪✪✪✪

Château Musar 2003

A legendary wine from Lebanon, known for its volatile acidity and great ageing potential. I was delighted to find it on a pub wine list for just £45. Made from a unique combination of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan, and Cinsault, the twelve-year-old wine maintains its freshness from its almost aggressive acidity - for a red wine at least - gripping tannins, and black fruits, alongside mature aromas of dried fruits. It's a wonderfully appealing, individual wine on its own; perfect also with the roe deer, lamb, and duck dishes we enjoyed on a wet wintery night. ✪✪✪✪✪

Ioppa Ghemme 2004

This was the wine we had on Christmas Day to accompany the turkey. Ghemme is in northern Piemonte, where the wine is made mainly from Nebbiolo, making it a good-value alternative to the better known Barolo and Barbaresco. It's a little bit different from those famous areas, as the climate is cooler and the Vespolina grape is added (in this case 15%) to soften Nebbiolo's aggressive tannins. Age had also mellowed this wine, but the tannins were still firm, the acidity lively, with fresh red fruits: a perfect accompaniment to the rich turkey dish with roast and mashed potatoes. ✪✪✪✪✪

Muga Rioja Reserva 2009

Muga are a producer who merge the best of traditional Rioja and more modern trends. A mixture of old and new, French and American, oak is used to age the wines, retaining that slightly reductive funk one associates with old-fashioned Rioja while adding an oaky spiciness more contemporary drinkers are used to. This would also have been perfect with turkey, but we drank it by the fire while opening presents. It's light and supple enough to drink on its own, with that unexpected power and depth that Rioja at its best offers. ✪✪✪✪✪

Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

One of the best value wines in California (at £30/$50), as the grapes come from the Monte Bello vineyard which produces the state's greatest Cabernet-based wine. I had hoped to age this wine longer, and even at six years old it was a little young, with its intense, firm, drying tannins. But it's still a beautiful, delicious, and quietly magnificent wine, with ripe black fruits evocative of California's sunny climate. We were also a little drunk by the time we opened this wine, at the end of Christmas Day. ✪✪✪✪✪✪