Lacbleu's Christmas Wine Guide

We’re big fans of drinking the wines we love and not agonising too much over what goes with what. However, Christmas is a special occasion and maybe calls for slightly more preparation. So we’ve put together our highly scientific Lacbleu Christmas Wine Guide to make this year just a little easier.

🎅 Christmas Day

🕛 12:01 – As she does every year, Auntie Brenda, looking at nobody in particular, asks “Is it too early for wine yet?”. An uneasy calm sweeps across the room and you, not wishing to seem like a party pooper, mumble “I guess not, I mean, I suppose it’s already lunchtime in France”.

Great. We’re off. That was exactly the starting gun that was needed and, secretly, all the guests are once again grateful to Brenda for kickstarting proceedings.

This is the point at which you reach into the fridge and pull out the perfectly chilled and beautifully crisp Lacbleu 2014 Chablis. Served alongside some crackers and a chunk of Brie, everyone can settle into Bargain Hunt Christmas Special and peace is restored.

🕐 13:00ish – You dish up Christmas lunch and everyone’s pleased that they picked the Bargain Hunt items that did best at auction (but are left wondering how so many people can spend a whole hour making just £2 profit?). Anyway, back to lunch. Whether you choose turkey, beef or lamb or goat.. you’re probably going to want to take things up a notch and bring out the Lacbleu 2017 Saint-Emillon Grand Cru. It will subtly substitute that cheesy cracker taste for the deep, sophisticated flavours of dark fruits and smooth tannins.

As the meal goes on, the dodgy impressions start flowing and old family rifts resurface like clockwork (hopefully nobody mentioned Brexit yet), it might be time to dial up the tannins a little as you prepare to go into political battle. Probably a great time to crack open the Lacbleu 2018 Bordeaux Supérieur and offer everyone a refill. This beautiful Bordeaux vintage, a mixture of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec, is both strong and wonderfully complex at the same time. The room will certainly fall quiet as guests appreciate the well-balanced notes of blackberry, cassis and tobacco (ok that probably won’t happen. Which is a shame, because it should).

🕟 16:30 – Stuffed and groaning from over-consumption, it’s time to roll out the Christmas pudding. “Oh, why did we not eat that first?” someone will ask. But it’s too late. Like every year, guests will have to dig deep and find that little bit more space for pudding and lashings of vanilla custard. “But you know what will make it better?”, you ask the table confidently. Nobody dares open their mouth – afraid of an uncontrolled explosion if there’s the slightest change in air pressure inside their stomachs. “This Lacbleu 2020 Côtes de Bergerac Moelleux will go down a treat with pudding!” And you’re right. Its subtle sweetness makes it a great accompaniment to desserts and all the guests are happy once again, as they roll onto the sofa or sink into an armchair and sleep through Gone With The Wind for the umpteenth time.


📦 Boxing Day

Now, we know there’s a good old tradition of serving sparkling wine for Boxing Day breakfast, but why not try our deliciously refreshing Lacbleu 2020 Perigord IGP Rosé instead? It’s really a whole bottle full of optimism and sunshine, captured from the southwest of France – and no gases in sight. Whether you’re tucking into smoked salmon, fruit, viennoiseries or a Full English (actually we’ve not tried that one) this wine will lift everyone’s mood and set the tone for a day of doing virtually nothing.

🕔 17:00 – Annoyingly, about this time someone’s going to say they’re hungry. Looking back at last night, it was hard to believe that you would ever be hungry again, but it happened. So, in keeping with tradition, and in order to give yourself a break from the constant cooking, why not reheat some of yesterday’s leftovers and serve them up with a bottle of Lacbleu 2015 Bourgogne? This delicate Burgundy, beautifully matured from the amazing 2015 vintage, is made from 100% Pinot Noir and is a wine that is sure to round off the Christmas celebrations perfectly.

Ok… everyone can go back to sleep again now until New Year’s Eve.

Joyeux Noël