Perfect pairings for those seasonal get-togethers
MOMO Carmelo’s Green Mandarin Kombucha (£28 for six 33cl bottles, momo-kombucha.com) From the disappointing tangerine at the bottom of the stocking to the peel in the mulled wine and the Christmas cake, citrus, and specifically orange citrus, is, to use the cheffy vernacular, one of the “signature flavours” of the season. That’s one of the reasons why I reckon the latest inventive concoction from MOMO, one of my favourite kombucha producers, is going to be my go-to fancy no-low drink for those moments over the next couple of weeks when the thought of more booze palls. It’s a collaboration with the upmarket greengrocer Natoora, who bring in the Tardivo di Ciaculli Mandarins that the kombucha is made with from the titular Sicilian grower Carmelo, who picks them weeks ahead of schedule to give them their extra wince and zing and green colour. The drink itself is dry and alive with those very same flavours as well as the classic kombucha savoury sourness, which, incidentally, makes an exhilarating match for Christmas dinner leftovers.
Lyrarakis Assyrtiko-Vidiano Orange Wine, Crete, Greece 2023 (£13.99, or £11.99, majestic.co.uk) Another style of drink with a knack for enlivening the kind of eccentric-buffet eclecticism of a Christmas leftovers meal (sprout, stilton, pigs-in-blankets and cranberry sauce toastie served with a handful of Twiglets anyone?) is orange wine, and happily these red wine-textured, white-wine fresh wines made from white grapes macerated with their skins are getting more and more widely available. Recent favourites of mine have included a very bright, fresh and gentle Cretan example which (and I promise this isn’t just me being influenced by the colour) has a lovely streak of pithy Seville orange, and Gérard Bertrand Orange Gold (£19.99, ocado.com) a super-slinky and softly stylish, hazily orchard-fruited version from the Languedoc in southern France. Also in ocado.com, Bodegas Vinecol Chincero Organic Criolla 2023 (£14.99) is a pale, light red wine from Mendoza in Argentina that feels, in texture, a little like an orange wine, and has much of the same briskly refreshing food-matching versatility, too, albeit with a cherry rather than a citrus hit.
Unearthed Les Montagnes du Paradis, Corbières, France 2022 (£9.95, Aldi) A necessity for Christmas drinking is a pair of standby wines, red and white, for around a tenner that you can rely on to work with the merry-go-round of roasts, to take to friends or family, or to simply open of an evening slumped on the sofa watching a never-ending stream of Roger Moore-era Bond films. Red candidates for me include Aldi’s rambunctiously rich, spicy, and warming, but nonetheless rather polished classic southern French blend, and the glossy black cherry-skin and dark chocolate of Masi Campofiorin Appassimento 2020 (£10, reduced from £14.99, Waitrose) made with a portion of dried grapes in Veneto in northeastern Italy. For whites, meanwhile, those looking for a bit of ripe, oak-influenced, golden Burgundy-like succulence on a budget could do worse than source a bottle of M&S’s South African Gable End Wild Ferment Chardonnay, Western Cape 2023 (£10, Marks & Spencer); those who prefer zing and crispness, meanwhile, might go for The Co-op’s Greek Irresistible Assyrtiko 2023 (£10), with its seasonally citrussy (lemon zest) crackle.
