What To Drink When Main Courses Are Over

The main course has been enjoyed and plates taken away – but drinking pleasure need not end there.

First there is a need for a well-chosen dessert wine to take a pudding into the realms of something memorable.

Then comes the digestif which could be fortified wine or possibly something spirit based.

Today’s selections offer a guide on navigating the wonderful world of post-main course drinking with confidence and pleasure.

As implied by this website’s title, the focus will be on accessibility and on keeping a firm hand on costs.

We do break out at the end with a more expensive bonus item, though.

And then return to familiar ground with a quick look at Lidl’s current Wine Tour.

So read on – plenty to give the liquid side of Christmas a helping hand here.

The images and hyperlinks provided should help you to find them in crowded displays.

For the Dessert

2022 DB Family Reserve Botrytis Semillon (Just under £7 for a half bottle on promotion at Asda and Sainsbury’s and 9.5% abv).

In certain corners of Australia one encounters foggy autumn mornings and warm dry afternoons.

Those conditions are perfect for the production of high standard, botrytis derived sweet wines like this.

Few producers have been as successful with that style than the De Bortoli family who have earned international recognition for their results.

Gold in colour with orange centred aromas, this brilliantly priced example delivers rich apricot and honey flavours supported by firm tangerine acidity to counterbalance its luxurious texture.

And a red option.

Mavrodaphni Of Patra (£8 at Tesco and 15%):

While most sweeter wines are white, drinkers seem to be becoming more interested in red wines with more residual sugar.

Cue then for a red with significant sugar levels that could work with Christmas pudding or when a little more alcoholic heft is needed without going all the way to port.

While unmistakably sweet, this Greek offering is never cloying and is centred around rich cherry, plum and cola flavours.

It concludes with suggestions of molasses, raisin and vanilla and sweeter spices to give an uncomplicated dessert wine with gentle acidity and opening tawny port aromas. 

Speaking of Tawny Port

Fletchers Tawny Port (£4.99 for 20cl at Aldi and 19%):

While tawny port has been produced for centuries, international interest—particularly in age-designated versions—has accelerated significantly over the past half century.

Indeed, Aldi has a respectable Fletchers 10 year old Tawny Port available at £13.49, but I have concentrated here on the mini bottles of the style they sell for a fiver.

This is ideal for newcomers to tawny port to see how well they like the genre – going back for the 10 year old if the tester scores highly.  

Moreish fireside drinking, it provides soft raspberry and cherry flavours with a gentle chocolate backdrop.

Enhancing its Christmas connection, there are supporting elements of vanilla, cinnamon, nuttiness and nutmeg with tropical fruit hints too.

Moving up the Port ladder.

2019 Extra Special Late Bottled Vintage Port (£11.97 at Asda):

Top level vintage port is aged for a couple of years and then bottled – to sit (and develop) in someone’s cellar for anything up to half a lifetime.   

LBV’s (late-bottled, vintage) are not bottled until they have been aged in vats for up to six years; then they are released for filtration and, of course, for immediate drinking.

That, naturally, brings the price down appreciably and this is an example of the style done really well.

Dense yet never overly sweet, it exhibits plum, raspberry and raisin flavours coupled with slowly emerging acidity.

An overall smoothness and intense richness (containing hints of cinnamon and Black Magic coffee creams) completes the picture.

And the Christmas Spirit.

Specially Selected Chevalier VS Cognac (£18.99 in Aldi and 40%):

While cognac sales have declined recently, including in export-focused France, the traditionally minded (guilty, my lord) have a special place for it.

To me, winter has few bigger pleasures than sitting by the fire accompanied by the aromas from cognac warming in the tulip glass in your hand.

If that resonates with you seek out this nicely crafted award winner at the International Spirits Competition which represents terrific value at under £20.

Very smooth with a deep pinewood colour, it features balanced ginger, allspice, fudge and apricot flavours wrapped in sultana, vanilla and other spice aromas.

The restrained use of oak not only adds smoothness but provides complexity too and adds just a whisper of honeyed sweetness.

From France to Italy.

Limoncello Santa Marta (£13 for 50cl – down from £16 until New Years Day – at Waitrose and 25%):

A traditional “thank you” gift to end a meal in Italian restaurants is a nip of limoncello.

So let me use it to end the main piece as my “thank you” to all you fabulous subscribers for the support this site receives.

And, turning to what’s in the bottle, remember to serve it very cold – unlike wine, an hour or so in the freezer actually enhances everything.  

Despite a lightness in colour, this version’s opacity suggests that it contains a good concentration of lemon oils which is confirmed by the richness displayed on your taste buds.

There is less spiciness that in some options – so little gets in the way of the sharp citrus acidity -and there is none of the pithy harshness limoncello can develop.

Bonus Item

Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (currently £33 in Amazon – also available at The Whisky Exchange – and 47%):

This takes one of the foundation range offerings from this producer and matures it again – but in custom toasted and then flash charred oak barrels.

The result adds more flavours but, equally important, transforms the base bourbon’s character, bringing forward dark sugar components.

Dark brown, reflecting the combination of aging and barrel influences, with attractive nose-tingling aromas, this opens on a firm sweet note.

Quickly, that is joined by a complex cocktail of flavours that include chocolate, caramel, toffee, vanilla and the darker spices.

More generally, though, you also begin appreciating the enhanced balance between smokiness and sweetness.

Lidl Wine Tour

Christmas coverage has restricted the space for the usual review of the latest Wine Tour at Lidl, but here are four wines that I think merit your attention.

• 2024 Jean Cornelius Pinot Blanc (£7.99): Ripe pear and greengage flavours from this Alsace white that offers a weighty texture supported by zesty acidity.
• 2024 Confidence de Gascogne (also £7.99): Beautifully clean, lemon sorbet mouth-feel accompanied by peach and melon flavours embellished by grapefruit acidity.
• 2024 Reserve des Centurions (£8.99 in Lidl Wine Tour): Smooth Southern Rhone red with well defined cherry and loganberry flavours and orange-based acidity.
• 2023 Finca Cañadelas Merlot (£7.99 in Lidl Wine Tour): Medium bodied merlot from Valencia with impressive, savoury edged prune and bramble flavours that make it my top choice from this Wine Tour. 

Don’t miss the exploration of a fortified wine other than port on our sister MidWeek Wines Guild’s post (midweekwinesguild.substack.com) that also hits the streets today.

However, this is the last post on this site before the Christmas break – which, as I often say, is the season for drinking wine not reading about it.

So, until we meet again on 19 January for some Top Tips, may I wish you and yours a happy time and, in the words of the (slightly adapted) 16th Century carol …

God rest ye merry, gentlefolk, let nothing you dismay.