Red’s Xmas Lunch – NV Veuve Clicquot, 1996 Knappstein Enterprise Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005 Charles Melton Voice of Angels

If you think you’ve seen this post before well you have. Somehow it entered the Bermuda Triangle of blog pages and disappeared without a trace . . . so here it is again

Christmas lunch in my family is the traditional turkey meal. We have normally had very good turkey over the years (compliments of either my dad or grandmother), but this year’s was exceptionally good and possibly the best Christmas turkey I can remember having (thanks dad!). Once again the wines were the equal of the food.

NV Veuve Clicquot – Between the presents, lunch preparations, conversation, and laughter, I can’t say I really concentrated while drinking this but I certainly enjoyed it. It was a great champagne to kick off the festivities. It had some toasty, yeasty aromas on the nose, while on the palate it was creamy and sweet. While it finished nice and dry it was certainly sweeter than the Prosecco we had had the night before - http://redtobrownwinereview.blogspot.com/2009/12/reds-xmas-eve-bellussi-prosecco-2008.html . Somehow that slightly sweeter style of champagne seems more appropriate for a festive Christmas day. In some ways it wasn’t an especially remarkable or memorable champagne but I really enjoyed it nonetheless

1996 Knappstein Enterprise Cabernet Sauvignon – This was just a beautiful, aged cab sav. The colour, while still reasonably dark, had developed some of that red brick look. On the nose it was classic aged cabernet, and could not be mistaken for anything else. It had a lovely soft, yet insistent bouquet of blackcurrant and leaf. On the palate it was smooth and concentrated, of good length, with blackcurrant flavours dominating. It was such an enjoyable wine to drink and I reckon we consumed it at its peak. A few more years and it might start to fade . . .

2005 Charles Melton Voice of Angels – While being a family of pagans it was noted that the name of this wine seemed apt for Christmas day. This wine has enough dark fruit and power to suggest the Barossa, but has the structure, elegance and pepper to indicate it’s from the Eden Valley. It’s aromatic and has flavours of plum, chocolate, fruitcake, and pepper. It has a tight structure, good tannins, and plenty of years in front of it yet. A beautiful wine with plenty of yum factor!

2004 De Bortoli Noble One – This was not the best Noble One I have had but it certainly did the job in complimenting the plum pudding with brandy sauce. Orange and honey were the main flavours, and it was sweet and tasty. If I was being critical I would say it was just a touch too sweet for my tastes, but at 4pm on Christmas afternoon after copious amounts of food and wine who’s complaining . . . time for a snooze . . .

Red