For the holidays – Christmas wine: When it’s gone, it’s gone

But it happened at that time that a commandment went out from the feature section of the “nd” that all wine would be valued. Well, not every wine, actually just five different red wines that were chosen by editors to choose the Christmas wine for 2024. And so the companions, supplemented by a friend of the art editor, a sociologist from northern Germany who was passing through, met in a two-room apartment in northern Berlin and drank and examined and discussed, according to Goethe’s golden saying “Long live freedom!” Long live wine!”

But it couldn’t be too expensive (up to 18 euros), and ideally it should also be paired with potato salad with sausages, dem Perfect German Christmas Eve dish. But because this meal couldn’t really be made palatable to anyone present in the feature section, it was only imagined abstractly and instead pork fillet with baked potatoes and lamb’s lettuce with pomegranate and a cashew-cranberry mixture were served.

First, the group circulated a bottle of 2022 Portuguese Syrah, sold under the Fat Baron brand. After the first sip, the report editor asked whether this was actually a Christmas wine that could be served with a holiday roast. Because it is a bit too light for that, even if its pot-bellied bottle shape is reminiscent of sherry. She was informed by the art editor that it would go well with a potato salad on Christmas Eve, as the festive roast doesn’t come until lunchtime on Christmas Day at the earliest.

The sociologist who was passing through disagreed and declared the Fat Baron to be a very Christmassy wine that was also suitable for the holidays, as it didn’t taste “too light” but rather “very heavy”. She could also imagine it “with cheese afterward,” but definitely not with potato salad. For the literary editor, the wine “looked friendly over the shoulder of the real pork fillet.”

Next there was a 2020 Lagrein from South Tyrol from the H. Lun winery, which the film editor praised as “particularly round”. The theater editor tested it first without and then with pork fillet. Without it, he was very much in the foreground, he noted, but was then pushed into the background by the fillet, as if he had to retreat like a loser. This “quick disappearance on the tongue” also seemed suspicious to the literary editor, as “too indistinct and shaky.” The wine is nothing more than a “hectic greeting during the winter sales.”

The sociologist, on the other hand, found him to be “calm” and the art editor found him to be “very tender”. The report editor said: »Yes, there is such tenderness in it. This is something for people who are sensitive.” The literary editor was reminded of “Polizisten,” an old song by the group Extrabreit from the NDW era, which said: “You smoke mild variety because life is already hard enough” – and that’s exactly how this wine is. “So it’s the Marlboro Silver of red wines,” added the report editor.

In fact, the wine had only 12.5 percent alcohol, strikingly low compared to the Fat Baron’s 14.5 percent. The film editor commented that it was a wine “to drink” and not necessarily an accompaniment to food. »At first glance you think he doesn’t have much character. “But when you get to know him – oh,” said the art editor, summarizing all these impressions.

Next, a 2020 Côtes du Rhône Villages (Grenache/Syrah) from the Occitan Saint Gervais from the Clavel winery was poured. The theater editor found it “at first dominant, but then too unfocused, so that it doesn’t quite taste good.” The group wondered whether this wine was just a poser. “Yes, but in such a way that you believe him, even if only for a short time,” said the theater editor, “because he doesn’t accompany you, but goes straight into the surface instead of into the depth and then leaves you alone,” that’s why he was ” somehow charlatanish.” “It’s going off, a tannin rocket. Come in and draw attention to yourself,” the report editor agreed.

But what happens then? “You notice too much acidity,” analyzed the sociologist, “I find him too coarse.” For the art editor he was simply “too forward,” for the report editor he was “a Ricky Gervais turned wine,” after all, he came from one place , the equally hot and very bad British comedian. “You’re not allowed to drink it with food,” the theater editor warned; “An anti-food wine,” echoed the literary editor. And the film editor exclaimed: “I think the second wine tastes even nicer after the third!”

And so the time had come for the fourth wine: a 2020 Touriga from the Alentejo from the Plansel winery, the second Portuguese of the evening. This caused a happy hello among those present. The sociologist explained that the Alentejo is the largest region in Portugal and “very desert-like.” The theater editor recommended a shop for Portuguese wine in Berlin, where he knew “an assistant” who was actually a German scholar, but who had stopped his doctoral thesis and was now “totally happy.” The literary editor said that he had last seen Portugal in the last century. And the report editor asked whether the others would also notice “that gurgling in the bottle before the first drop comes out.” Because she really appreciates this sound.

But what did the Touriga look like after the gurgle? The smell reminded the film editor of oil, the report editor more of a freshly lit cigar, but: “It tastes better than it smells – definitely!” she qualified. The art editor judged that the poser-like wine before was exactly the other way around. The sociologist thought she discovered “a certain sweetness” that modestly concealed the high alcohol content (15 percent).

And then it was time for the fifth and final wine, which the art editor had brought with her from a wine shop in Berlin-Steglitz. She specifically asked for “wine with Christmas potato salad,” she explained. That didn’t necessarily increase the confidence of those present in this 2018 Cabernet Mitos from the barrique barrel. But then there were several surprises: First, it was the only bottle with a glass cork. Secondly, it was from Rheinhessen and not from France, from the Machmer winery in Bechtheim. And thirdly, the contents were delicious.

To the film editor, the wine smelled “very delicately of herbs.” The theater editor saw it as “a wine that knows what it is.” The report editor exclaimed: “Steglitz knows about it. This is a very good wine!” The sociologist found it “aromatically sugary” and tasted “some aniseed” instead of herbs. The literary editor praised it as “more well-rounded than the daredevil wine from the third bottle,” but pointed out that it simply disappears when it leaves: “When it’s gone, it’s gone.” The report editor agreed with: “This is a wine that knows when it has to go to the party.” And that’s why it couldn’t win this Christmas wine choice. Number two, the summery Lagrein from South Tyrol, won, just ahead of the Cabernet Mitos and the Syrah called Fat Baron. Because summer is our goal, especially in winter.

Fat Baron: www.jacques.deLagrein: www.lun.it; Côtes du Rhône Villages: www.vins-clavel.fr; Touriga: www.adega.plansel.com; Cabernet Myths: www.weingut-machmer.de

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