{"id":70,"date":"2010-12-10T16:47:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-10T16:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=70"},"modified":"2011-09-08T17:26:46","modified_gmt":"2011-09-08T17:26:46","slug":"a-vinous-christmas-in-the-sandeman-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.leaandsandeman.co.uk\/blog\/2010\/12\/a-vinous-christmas-in-the-sandeman-house\/","title":{"rendered":"A VINOUS CHRISTMAS IN THE SANDEMAN HOUSE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Celebrations\u00a0begin on Christmas Eve, once our shops are closed and all\u00a0deliveries completed. A restorative\u00a0‘copita’ of Valdespino’s\u00a0Inocente Fino<\/a>\u00a0as we lay the fire and prepare dinner is a precursor to a glass or two\u00a0of champagne,\u00a0most likely\u00a0Egly-Ouriet Brut Tradition,<\/a> with a few slices of ‘pata negra’ ham, such a treat! Rare roast fillet of venison (from Richmond Park of all places) is sweet and midly gamey and accompanies, as ever, a bottle or two of Tassinaia<\/a> one of Tuscany’s best value Bordeaux style wines. This year we will be\u00a0in the\u00a0remote family cottage, up the estuary from Salcombe in Devon, and now that the family is all grown up there is a high risk that we will all adjourn to the local pub to sing carols late into the night. A final nightcap of Lea & Sandeman’s very fine Fins Bois Moyet Cognac<\/a> will round off the evening nicely.<\/p>\n

Christmas morning starts with our traditional breakfast of salmon fishcakes, washed down with a glass of Larmandier-Bernier’s stunning ‘Terre de Vertus’<\/a>;\u00a0 totally dry ‘non-dosage’, biodynamic and so very clean it is almost healthy! The turkey is introduced to a long stay in the bottom of the\u00a0aga (along with the best part of a\u00a0bottle of sherry in the pan)\u00a0while we don our boots and coats and set off on foot\u00a0for the small church of St Nicholas and St Cyriac at South Pool. The Christmas service puts\u00a0us in mind of all that is yet to come, and especially the\u00a0Millbrook\u00a0on the walk home where we will briefly\u00a0stop\u00a0to soak up some Christmas cheer and a pint of cider.<\/p>\n

Christmas lunch is a brief affair of smoked salmon, blue Wensleydale and salad, accompanied by a bottle of Bert Salomon’s bracing Gruner Veltliner ‘Von Stein’ Reserve<\/a>, and possibly a glass of the succulent 2009 Fleurie, Clos de la Roilette<\/a>. Our appetites are kept in check for the serious business of Christmas dinner. An afternoon wandering down the estuary in the fading, watery afternoon light is followed by making up the fires in the cottage and final prepartions for dinner; and\u00a0it is\u00a0only when\u00a0the table is ready and the kitchen calm\u00a0do we turn our attention to presents and yet more champagne.<\/p>\n

Presents are despatched from under the decorated\u00a0holly tree as we enjoy a glass of\u00a0 R&L Legras 2002\u00a0Presidence Vieilles Vignes<\/a> an exceptionally fine chardonnay based champagne, without too much fizz,\u00a0not unlike drinking a very good white burgundy.<\/p>\n

The smell from the kitchen\u00a0has our appetites whetted and the golden\u00a0turkey is resplendent. Chipolatas, roasted potatoes, chestnut stuffing, brussel sprouts (yes, we all love them) bread sauce and gravy create a cacophony of flavours and a dilemma for most red wines. Some might drink white, such as\u00a0the rich white burgundy\u00a0that is\u00a0Vire Clesse from Jean Thevenet’s Domain de la Bongran<\/a>\u00a0but if it\u00a0is going to\u00a0be red, then Pinot Noir is our choice of the day and we will compare and contrast both the ‘new’ and the ‘old’ in the form of Thierry Mortet’s full bodied Gevrey-Chambertin<\/a>\u00a0and Nick Mill’s glorious\u00a0Central Otago Pinot Noir<\/a>. Throughout the festivities there will be a decanter of vintage port on hand, Warre’s 1985<\/a> being particularly good right now, but after such a feast the altogether lighter and more refreshing Sandeman Twenty Year old tawny port<\/a> (slightly chilled) will round off the evening with walnuts and\u00a0sugared orange peel.<\/p>\n

Boxing Day morning and together\u00a0with the\u00a0faint liverish feeling of excess\u00a0the mother-in-law<\/a> arrives, calling for rather stronger medicine all round! Bloody Mary<\/a>, the pub, and back for a ‘make-do’ lunch of cold turkey and baked potatoes oozing with melted stilton and an uplifting bottle of Le Piane’s ‘La Maggiorina’<\/a>, a bright and juicy blend of Nebbiolo and Croatina from one of Piedmonte’s tiniest vineyard regions, Boca. The rest of the holiday will see a variety of wines appear on the table from around the globe and the noticeable lack of Bordeaux so far will be redressed over the New Year. But then that is a whole new subject in itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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