Christmas Desserts & Sweet Wines and Port Guide

We love a great sweet wine at Vintage Roots, and not just as wines for Christmas desserts. Also known as dessert or pudding wines, they offer a thrilling drinking experience. The popularity of sweet wines has been steadily rising in recent times with an increasing audience understanding that the broad range of styles within the category means that there’s a sweet wine out there for everyone. It’s a little frustrating to use the dessert and pudding wine labels as these wines can be enjoyed just as much as a digestive or aperitif… some can even be drunk with a savoury main course! Fans will sometimes skip a baked pudding altogether and just pour themselves a glass of Sauternes (or other) instead! More versatile than many people realise, we have a handful of outstanding organic sweet wines available for you to include in the festivities.

Christmas desserts & wine pairings: Best dessert wine for Christmas pudding?

When it comes to Christmas desserts and wine pairings, Christmas pudding probably comes to mind first. Let’s be honest, there’s nothing subtle about the British Christmas pudding; it’s rich, sticky and brilliantly delicious.

The knack to finding the right dessert wine for your Christmas pudding is not to overwhelm it with something equally rich; we like to serve ours with a wine that has some of the citrus qualities that you’d find in the pudding; citrus peel, lemon zest and orange and refreshing acidity too.

Our three choices for Christmas pud this year: Château Dudon’s Sauternes, Chateau Vari’s AOC Reserve Monbazillac (also available in half bottle size) or Stellar Organics Heaven on Earth.

These are the sweetest wines we have, and will elevate your Christmas pud or dessert even further. Serve them really nicely chilled (longer in the fridge than Champagne or white wine) at about 10 C.

If you’d like to go with something less sweet to have with your Christmas pudding, we recommend a Port, such as Casal dos Jordoes’ Finest Reserve Port (also available in half bottle size) or Domaine Bousquet’s Fortified Malbec.

Christmas desserts & wine pairings: Sweet Wines for Christmas cake

Okay, it’s not sweet but honestly, there’s not much that beats a full-on Christmas cake with a splash of quality whisky or sweet wine too. You can take your pick from our organic whisky and malt selection from Scotland and Wales. Aptly named, his year we’d recommend Nc’Nean’s limited edition Woodland Candy Single Malt or their classic Single Malt Scotch would be fabulous too.

Whisky not your thing? An equally good option would beDomaine Bousquet’s Fortified Malbec, which has delicious notes of chocolate-soaked and dried fruites and the heft to drink very nicely with Christmas or fruit cake. Any of the sweet wines listed above for the Christmas pud will work too, or go for a Port if that’s your thing.

Christmas desserts & wine pairings: Sweet wines and blue cheese, what goes best?

When yet another meal is too much there is nothing more decadent than some time with a good book, a generous piece of cheese with crackers and a glass of something toothsome. Although there are others, Christmas blue cheese classics are of course Stilton and Roquefort. The former is crumbly, salty and strong, whilst the Roquefort is typically more moist though still wonderfully salty.

Any of the options Château Dudon’s Sauternes, Chateau Vari’s AOC Reserve Monbazillac (also available in half bottle size) or Stellar Organics Heaven on Earth are all good options for sweet wines for blue cheeses or stronger cheeses. We sometimes pair our South African Heaven on Earth Sweet Muscat with the Stilton, and the Dudon Sauternes is a classic partner for the French Rouquefort.

Can I skip the dessert and just have the wine?

Absolutely, if you’re too full, why not?! Having a bottle or two of sweet wine on the rack and some vanilla ice cream in the freezer is also a great way to save yourself time when you are surprised by those last-minute or unexpected guests.

Aged for more than a decade, Vari’s Reserve Monbazillac trickled over some organic vanilla ice cream is a star dessert… only problem, your guests may never leave!!

Can you serve a sweet wine with a savoury dish?

The answer is yes again!  The sweetness in sweet wines can balance out a dish’s salty, sour, and spicy flavours, and they can also be a great match for savoury dishes with fruit in them. Perhaps not for every day, but if you want to have some fun with your sweet wines you could pull out the cookbook from the 1960s, whip up a duck a l’orange and pour a glass of  Dudon Sauterns. You could even try replacing the orange liqueur in the recipe for the sweet wine itself!

Do you have any regular wines on the sweeter side?

Yes we do, and these are great matches for things like cheeses, Christmas lunch and also desserts if you want something that’s just a touch sweet. Here are two top choices this year, a Gewurztraminer and Riesling.

Don’t forget the Port…

First of all, a lightly warmed mince pie with a glass of dessert wine or Tawny Port is one of life’s great treats!

We know the shops are full of gift packs of Stilton and Port at this time of year and whilst it is indeed a match made in heaven, often the scale of both is so great that people simply run out of steam, the cheese dries out and the Port gets abandoned…

Here are some delicious ways to maximise the Port experience this Christmas

• It doesn’t have to be Stilton … Port goes very well with our wonderful British cheddar! A bottle of the Casal Jordoes Finest Reserve Port and a round of organic cheddar would make for a five-star gift for someone…
• Do you have a sticky toffee pudding on the go? Think about serving it with a glass of Tawny Port
• Chocolate truffles with our Fonseca Terra Prima Organic Reserve Port is another treat
• Enjoy your cocktails? A quick online search will reveal any number of magical Port cocktails, not least the Oaxaca Coffee Cocktail, devised by Vivek Singh and which includes Tawny Port, tequila, egg yolk, agave syrup and orange bitters… Can you think of anything more festive?!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this guide all about Christmas desserts and wine pairings, and a cheers to thinking & drinking organic 🥂