Believe it or not there's a local, organic wine for pretty much every gastronomic goodie that Christmas can throw at you. Granted, you may still struggle to sort out something for Grandad to sip with his sack of crystallised ginger or to match with the meat-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, flavour-free sausages
Yvonne Lorkin on how to match organic wine to a Christmas feast
By Yvonne Lorkin
Canvas·
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Wine writer Yvonne Lorkin, who picks the best organic wine for Christmas. Photo / Hawke's Bay Today/Warren Buckland
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If turkey stuffed with bacony, nutty, herby, figgy fabulousness is happening, then seek out a chenin blanc, pronto. The Black Estate Home Vineyard North Canterbury Chenin Blanc 2019 ($45), with its apple, honeysuckle and mineral-edged aromas and quince-y, beewaxy richness, is a brisk, bracing, crazy-good thing to drink. blackestate.co.nz
If you're a classic, crispy-skinned roast chicken complete with heaping wads of sage and onion stuffing that'll inflate your thighs faster than a Trump fan can yell "fraud!" kind of person, then go chardonnay all the way. And make it a honking, toasty, tropical, knicker-ripper like the Wither Hills Single Vineyard Ben Morven Marlborough Chardonnay 2019 ($28). This vineyard has produced certified organic fruit since 2009. Crafted by winemaker Matt Large, it's a rich, peachy, smoke-soaked chardonnay oozing caramelised, toasty spices and buttered crumpet characters on the finish. Saturated with flavour, it roars with roast chook. witherhills.co.nz
Unless you're plant-based or have cultural/religious beliefs preventing it, a Christmas ham is compulsory. Food Porn Law states it shall be studded with cloves or slapped with circles of citrus and glazed with all sorts of cellulite-inducing stuff like marmalade, brown sugar, spices and brandy. Complex as that sounds, only one wine rules for Yuletide swine and that's viognier. It's a French grape that grows exceptionally well here in New Zealand however people avoid it because they can't pronounce it. Repeat after me. Vee. Yon. Yay. Easy. Think the tropical weight of chardonnay combined with the exotic spiciness of pinot gris or gewurztraminer (something Kiwis also avoid because, eye-roll, pronunciation pain) ergo, it's heavenly with ham. The biodynamically built Millton Riverpoint Gisborne Viognier 2018 ($28) is perfect because it's bursting with apricot, jasmine and deliciously dry, spicy orange peel characters. Luxuriously textured, it sings with the saltiness of the meat and the sweetness of the glaze. millton.co.nz
Christmas table truth. Roast lamb rules with pinot noir. Organic wine wonder-couple Tom Hutchison and Fiona Harvey crafted the intensely flavoured, unfiltered Rock Ferry Trig Hill Vineyard Central Otago Pinot Noir 2016 ($55) from a tiny site in the desert-scape of Bendigo. Crammed with dark cherry, rosehip and black tea characters, the Trig is incredibly fresh, frisky and displays delicious earthiness and supple tannins to finish. It loves lamb cooked any-which-way but if it's a roast leg, studded with fresh garlic and fragrant rosemary, then prepare for your jaw to hit the floor. rockferry.co.nz
For pinot and lamb first-timers, the Stoneleigh Organic Marlborough Pinot Noir 2018 is a more wallet-friendly version available in supermarkets and often priced between $15-$20 a bottle. It's softly styled, berry-edged and a total crowd-pleaser. Pinot noir is also gum-numbingly good with roast duck.
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No Christmas lunch at Chez Lorkin occurs without a slab of beef or venison. No matter whether it's gussied-up Wellington-style or roasted with garlicky good-stuff and set sail on a sea of pan-juice gravy, I will always, always, serve bovine or cervine with a large goblet of cabernet merlot or a syrah. Introducing Rod McDonald's organically grown Te Awanga Estate Hawke's Bay Quarter Acre Section 2018 ($39.99). Comprised of 43 per cent merlot, 39 per cent cabernet sauvignon, 14 per cent malbec and a 4 per cent splash of cabernet franc, it's saturated with dark plum, pepper, berry and cocoa characters that wash across the tongue, leaving a juicy, smoke-edged mouthfeel. teawangaestate.co.nz
Featuring grapes from the original row of New Zealand's oldest syrah vines, the certified organic Stonecroft Reserve Syrah 2018 ($60) is a stunner. Crafted by Dermot McCollum and Andria Monin, each sip is a pure-fruited, pepper-and-violet-scented splash of seduction. With its powerful spice core, deliciously dusty tannins and smoky, cedar-laced finish, it roars with roast Rudolf and is gorgeous with gamey, wild pork and fragrant pheasant too. stonecroft.co.nz
Pudding time means pavlova, trifle and buckets of brandy snaps. Sadly my pavs usually resemble something an albino cow might excrete, my trifles tend to be too boozy (such a thing exists?) and mid-afternoon humidity inevitably turns my brandy snaps into flaccid tubes of terrible. They're rescued by a decadent dessert wine like the Churton Marlborough Petit Manseng 2018 ($49). It washes across the crumbly, creamy, fruit-topped meringue; that spongy, custardy, berry, sherry and brandy-fest; and those gingery, golden-syrupy cylinders of sweetness. From organic, biodynamic champions Mandy and Sam Weaver, it boasts intense aromas of honeysuckle and mango and at only 11 per cent alcohol it is punchy-sweet and bursting with ripe pineapple, mandarin and candied tangelo-type tastiness. churtonwines.co.nz
