Pairings | Chassagne-Montrachet

10 top wine matches for Christmas starters

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on December 1 2011 at 08:34

You may well know what you’re going to drink with the turkey by now but here are some ideas for what to match with your Christmas starters, paired with recipes from some of Britain’s favourite chefs and cookery writers.

Roasted pumpkin and thyme soup with gruyère
Butternut squash is generally a good match for oak-aged Chardonnay and this delectable soup from Rick Stein should be no exception. With the added cream and gruyère I’d make it a more classic European style Chardonnay rather than an exuberantly fruity one.

A salad of pear, stilton and pomegranate
This delicious-sounding recipe from Nigel Slater is exactly the sort of fresh-tasting starter I feel like over the Christmas period. Despite the blue cheese I wouldn’t be going for a sweet wine. A glass of rosé Champagne or sparkling wine would be lovely and pick up on the pomegranate.

Hazelnut butter-grilled scallops with salad
Scallops have a sweet, nutty flavour of their own so I love James Martin’s idea of accentuating that with hazelnut butter, a combination that would be fabulous with an two to four year old Chassagne-Montrachet or other good white burgundy or subtly oaked Chardonnay.

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