To make your Christmas dinner absolutely perfect, you must know with which wine to serve your Christmas log. Beaux-Vins helps you choose the ideal wine !
What would Christmas be without its famous log at the end of the meal ? Whether classic, chocolate, with coffee or ice cream or even fruits ; for our happiness the possibilities are numerous and the food and wine pairings too.
Originally the Christmas log was not on our tables, but the wood log was in the chimney. We used to, during Christmas Eve, put a log in the fire. The latter had to burn until the New Year or at a minimum during the 3 days. In some wine regions, the log was sprinkled with wine during its combustion to ensure a good harvest.
Well - too much —, Champagne pairs this festive dessert, but as we have seen in " Serving champagne for dessert is a bad idea ", this is not the best idea.
The traditional Christmas log
The traditional log is simply a rolled sponge cake topped with buttercream. For this rich dessert, since topped with buttercream, I advise you to opt for a Natural Sweet Wine. This is both alcoholic and naturally sweet wine - but we will come back to that next time —.
My preference is for young sweet natural white wines. After an often rich dinner and with a dessert that is just as much, the floral and fruity aromas of these wines are appreciable. With her yellow-gold dress, Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise develops honeyed aromas of flowers, of exotic fruits and white fruits with a beautiful persistence in the mouth which is characterized by notes of candied fruits. We can also pair our dessert with a white Banyuls, a Sauternes or a Côteaux du Layon for example.
We can also very well pair our Christmas log with a sweet white wine like a Quarts-de-chaume. Coming from the Loire Valley, this wine is characterized by honeyed aromas of flowers, citrus fruits and fruit with white and yellow flesh, but also spices. The Chenin Blanc grape brings vivacity and freshness to the mouth thanks to exotic fruit aromas, compote ripe fruit and dried fruit.
Finally, we can also think of pairing our dessert with a sweet white Alsace wine of Pinot Gris grapes.
The chocolate Christmas log
The characteristic bitterness of chocolate requires red wines to pair this dessert. So we can set our sights on a Natural Sweet Red Wine. I immediately think of traditional Languedoc-Roussillon Banyuls. The black and grey Grenache grape varieties give this wine a nose with aromas of cooked fruit, prunes, black fruits and hints of cocoa. You can also turn to a tiled Rivesaltes, a Maury, or a red Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise.
We can get a very nice pairing with a Tawny Port. Porto is a mutated wine produced exclusively in the Upper Douro region, in Portugal. It is characterized by its production method since it is a blend of cuvées aged on contact with air in barrels for a period of 5 to 7 years. The aromas of this type of Port become more complex with age. With a beautiful aromatic complexity, we find intense notes of nuts, but also empyreumatic aromas - smoked or toasted aromas - such as tobacco and roasting. Dry and candied fruits are also part of the game and this wine can also reveal notes of leather and wax.
The frozen Christmas log
Frozen foods are always quite a problem, because the cold tends to anesthetize the mouth and therefore the taste buds. Sensations being diminished, it is difficult to feel all the aromatic subtleties of wine and of the pairing. — not to mention that eating ice cream in December is as normal as brushing your teeth with mustard —.
With this dessert coming straight from the freezer, I recommend a semi-dry Champagne, even soft.
If the frozen log is with red fruits, you can taste a Rosé Champagne that will echo the taste of your dessert. Red fruits can also resonate in a Red Natural Sweet Wine like a Red Banyuls, a garnet Maury or a red Rasteau.
An frozen log with exotic fruits will ask for aromas that echo it. A sweet white wine will be part of the game like a Gewurztraminer in selection of noble grains from Alsace. A natural sweet white wine such as a Muscat de Mireval or a Muscat from Cape Corsica will be perfect.
Read also :
- Which wine to pair with Christmas turkey ?
- Food pairing & wines : How to pair foie gras and wine ?
- What wine to drink with smoked salmon ?
- Food pairing & wines : Which wine to drink with oysters ?
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