Wine Suggestions for Christmas Dinner

Food and wine matching is subjective and it is always fun to try new things, here are a few of our suggestions for Christmas dinner.

Salmon
A popular choice for Christmas, rich oily salmon works well with aromatic white wines with crisp acidity.

Domaine Fouassier Sancerre, Loire, France £15.99

Little Beauty Riesling, Marlborough, New Zealand £16.99

Turkey & Chicken
In general chicken & turkey works very well with Chardonnay. Richer lightly oaked styles go well a roast, for example white Burgundy, while the classic match for red drinkers is red Bordeaux. For Christmas dinner with all the trimming you may want to consider Rhône reds such as Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Reserva or Gran Reserva Rioja or for new world fans Californian Zinfandel.

Vins Auvigue Pouilly Fuissé Les Crays 2011, Burgundy, France £21.99

Rioja Vega Reserva 2007, Rioja, Spain £15.99

Duck & Goose
Both duck and goose have a high fat content & therefore work best with wines with fragrant wines with good acidity, good quality Pinot Noirs are ideal. For fans of white wine try with Pinot Gris or Riesling.

Paul Dolan Pinot Noir 2010, California, USA £24.99

Willm Pinot Gris 2011, Alsace, France £13.99

Beef or Vension
When looking at matching wine & red meat the obvious choice is red wine, classic choices include Cabernet & Merlot based Bordeaux, full bodied Italian reds & from the New World a rich Malbec.

Rivetto Langhe Nebbiolo 2011, Piedmont, Italy £19.99

Botalcura La Porfia Malbec 2010, Maule Valley, Chile £13.99

Vegetarian
Earthy Mushroom based dishes pair well with Rhône reds or Chianti. Other dishes will depend on ingredients & spice.

Cristia Grenache, Vin de Pays Mediterranee, France £10.99

If you want any help with food and wine matching please ask our staff.

Don’t forget the BUBBLES!!!

DWS Awarded “Best UK Independent Retailer of the Year”!

Best Sellers

(The IWSC Report 2013, published in Drinks Business)

It takes a real specialist to win the independent retail trophy and the McAlindon’s didn’t disappoint

Founded in 1954, Direct Wine Shipments is Belfast’s oldest independent wine merchant.  Still family run, the business today is overseen by the McAlindon brothers, Neal and Peter, whose family has history in the wine trade going back 80 years.

Award sponsor PLB praised the retailer as “genuine specialists” with “incredibly good value pricing on a wonderful selection, as well as wine tastings and excellent customer engagement.”  Judges supported this view with special reference to the retailer’s “unique efforts despite the economic austerity that has been linked to Belfast in recent history.”

As well as its focus on retail, Direct Wine Shipments is well known in Belfast for wine education, conducting tastings, dinners, food matching and wine courses, which involve winemakers and well-known wine personalities.  The staff are all well versed in wine training: out of eight, four have WSET Diplomas and three hold advanced certificates.

The range itself focuses on independent and family-owned estates from around the world.  However, uniquely for a merchant, the McAlindons also own their own winery – a long-standing dream that became a reality in 2003.  Located in Salanques, Priorat, the wine is made by ex-Vega Sicilia winemaker Silvia Puig.  Named “Creu Celta” (Celtic Cross in Catalan), the vineyards are near the Scala Dei Monastery.

Finally, the trade-focussed side of the company, McAlindon Wines, is a supplier to a number of the best restaurants in Northern Ireland.

Jonny’s Hunter’s Trip

My wife Bronagh and I had been travelling around the south island of New Zealand by campervan, and having driven every day of the previous week we decided to spend a few days in Blenheim to experience the Marlborough vineyards. On our first day there we met James McDonald at, of all places, a beer festival and he agreed to show us around Hunter’s winery and even cooked us a fantastic dinner that night! Having spent quite a bit of time working at Vineyards in Bordeaux James really appreciates food and wine matching and the BBQ pork and seafood fritters we had were out of this world, probably the best cuisine we experienced on our whole trip!

The following day we set off to Hunter’s winery which was a 10 minute drive from our campsite. We made our way through the masses of vineyards which spread as far as the eye could see from the dark, fertile ground of the Wetland mountains on the north, to the bright sand-dune like Dryland mountains to the south. We arrived at Hunter’s and walked from the car park through the fantastic gardens, past the restaurant and quaint artist in resident gallery to the reception/cellar door. There, we were warmly greeted by Helen who has been working at the winery for over 15 years and hosts the cellar door tastings, providing a refreshing glass of wine to any passing thirsty tourist! While she went off to find James, Bronagh and I had a look around the gift shop. Of course it had all the usual beautiful branded T-shirts and baseball caps that some wineries had, but the walls were adorned with certificates, newspaper cuttings and photographs ranging from the early days of the winery, to those who represent Hunter’s all over the world, including one of a Mr Kevin McAlindon! There were many pictures of the late Ernie Hunter receiving the top award at the Sunday Times Wine Festival in London in 1986. Winning this award came as such a surprise to Ernie that he had not dressed for the occasion, and had to accept the award wearing a rugby jersey, while his European counterparts whom he had beaten were all dressed in Tuxedos!

James then brought us for a quick tour of the winery. We walked around some of the vines as James gave us a brief overview of the viticulture process. We even got to try some Gewurztraminer grapes straight off the vine, which it must be noted are a world away from the brilliantly aromatic and lush wine that they produce! He then took us around the vinification part of the winery where we saw the grape presses and fermentation tanks. Whilst we were there the last of the 2012 vintage of Sauvignon Blanc was being bottled and we were able to try the filtered and unfiltered versions straight from the tank, as fresh as it comes! We also met Jane Hunter, Peter McDonald and even Gary Duke, the winemaker whose name is printed on every bottle of Hunter’s wine.

Suitably refreshed, James then took us through to the bottling plant where we could see the Sauvignon Blanc getting bottled, labelled and capped within a matter of seconds, a mesmerising process. This section of the winery also had pallets of Hunter’s wines bottled and ready for shipping, and reminded me a lot of the DWS warehouse at Christmas time!!! Having reached the end of the production line we then returned to the gift shop where we met up with Helen along with some other wine tourists for a cellar door tasting of the impressive Hunter’s range.

Both Bronagh and I had a spent a great morning at Hunter’s and we are very grateful to James for taking the time to show us around. Having seen the popularity of Hunter’s wines in Direct Wine Shipments it was a great opportunity to see behind the scenes and has made me appreciate the work that goes into all the wines they make. I was also very proud of the fact that Ernie Hunter, originally from Belfast is still remembered with such fondness, not just at Hunter’s but at all the wineries in the area. No matter what independent tour we went on, which cellar door we stopped at or what literature we read whilst in Marlborough, everyone still cites Ernie Hunter winning Gold at the Sunday Times Wine Fair in 1986 as a pivotal moment for wine making in the region. It also must be noted that his Irish roots are always referred to in Marlborough. He is not known as Ernie Hunter, but rather the Irishman Ernie Hunter, or Ernie Hunter from Belfast!

Hunter’s Wines