Welcome to the Metro Wine Club.
We’ve teamed up with Virgin Wines to bring you great savings on a range of top-class bottles from around the world – with Saturday Kitchen expert Jane Parkinson as your guide.
In our first instalment, Jane shares her top tips for the ultimate Christmas wines – and assures us good wine needn’t cost top dollar.
You’re an award-winning wine expert, journalist and presenter on Saturday Kitchen Live. How old were you when you got into wine?
Technically speaking, and if my parents read this, at university. It’s complete serendipity as I lived in Burgundy for my third year when studying French and my tutor suggested I did my final dissertation on mustard or wine. It took two seconds to make my decision. So from knowing absolutely nothing, I was off to vineyards and interviewing wine producers, and that’s what drew me in.
Is Christmas your booziest and busiest time of year?
September is the busiest because it’s when the retailers and everyone are gearing up for Christmas. But is it my booziest? Yes, I’d say it is. It’s the time when we see people the most so it gives me an excuse to order more wine!
How do you pace yourself over the Christmas period?
I don’t think I overindulge because I’m the cook in the house so there isn’t time to glug back loads of wine. But also I’m greedy in that I want to try a bit of every wine.
With the Christmas meal, I like to have a bit of sparkling wine, a fresh white, a richer white, a light red, a heavier red and a sweet wine, so I never go super-big because I want to pace myself, enjoy the wine and make sure I can enjoy things the next day. My days of going a bit too crazy are past me.
Are you good at drinking water in between drinks?
I am. Another thing I have if I’m feeling a bit like I did have a few glasses last night, is a little shot of apple cider vinegar – for me, it works wonders. I don’t know if it’s psychological but it’s pretty reinvigorating the next morning and really helps me out. Another sensible tip is when your fridge is rammed at Christmas, stick your wines on your back doorstep because it’s cold outside.
What should we drink on Christmas Eve?
I love sparkling wine but I appreciate that champagne, especially at the moment, is out of people’s reach. But there are some brilliant cheaper ones out there. Crémant, which is French sparkling wine, just not from the region of Champagne, is one of my favourites.
For mince pies I’ve got an amazing sweet wine from Australia that’s like a muscat dessert wine. That’s what I’ll be pouring for Father Christmas!
How early do you start drinking on Christmas Day?
I have a cheeky glass about 9am. There are no rules at Christmas! It’s usually a Moscato d’Asti, which is a very lightly sparkling sweetish wine from northern Italy at just five per cent. It’s not too heavy but it still feels quite celebratory. And then I’ll probably have a gap until I’m in the sauna/kitchen getting lunch ready,
What’s the best wine to drink with Christmas dinner?
This year we’re having turkey, and I’m always saying to people it doesn’t have to be white wines with white meat, especially with Christmas dinner because all of the accompaniments are pretty rich, with the pigs in blankets, stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce. A lighter red wine is my preference so we have a really lovely New Zealand pinot noir.
Do you have to spend a lot of money to drink decent wine?
Definitely not. There are certain ways you can go about buying in a clever way. Don’t go for the names people know, because they command a premium and everyone’s got different palates anyway. Find out what grapes those wines are made from and go for another wine made of the same grape, which just requires a bit more research.
When do you drink dessert wines and port?
Port gets a bad rap because people sometimes feel terrible after drinking it. But it’s more that by the time people open a port, it’s what tips them over the edge. What port is brilliant with is dried fruits, whether it’s Christmas pudding, Christmas cake or mince pies. It also goes with chocolate, which is notoriously difficult to match with.
Sometimes I like a dessert wine instead of pudding at Christmas because I’m so full. Sherry is brilliantly diverse. There’s super bone-dry sherry such as fino, to go with olives and nibbles, and sweeter sherries for the end of a meal.
Have you always had a good palate?
I think it’s an OK palate but, like with anything, you train, which sounds quite fun, but there is such a thing called palate fatigue because sometimes you’re tasting 100-150 wines a day. And the dentist bills can be high because of all that acid.
Where’s your favourite region?
I have a special place in my heart for Champagne because it’s the one I’ve visited the most. There are so many lovely ones. If you love culture, travelling, food and flavours, working in wine is great because it’s not made anywhere ugly. Franschhoek in South Africa is beautiful. I lived in a wine region called McLaren Vale in Australia for three months and I’ve spent a lot of time in Chile, which feels like you’re at the end of the earth.
English wine is starting to rival more established wine regions…
There’s so much going on here that we should be proud of and it’s only growing. On the flip-side, climate change is making it more possible and now it’s opening up to Essex and nudging further north all the time. We put ourselves on the map 15-20 years ago with sparkling wine but now our still wine is starting to gain a bit of recognition.
Do you do dry January or is that not possible in your industry?
It’s not. But also I’m an advocate of my industry. People do it because there’s a notion of excess in December. And while I definitely have a good time and drink plenty, I never feel like it’s in excess – but maybe that’s because my constitution is different to other people.
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