Which wine goes with Christmas dinner?

A sparkling wine opens best, because carbon dioxide and acidity stimulate the appetite without the taste lingering later in the meal.

Champagne is the best-known choice. The Comité Champagne reports that champagne by law matures on the lees for at least 15 months and a vintage champagne for at least three years. That maturation gives the bready note that many people associate with the festive season. If you want something different, crémant, cava or prosecco are also options. Serve the aperitif cold and keep the glasses small.

With a starter of fish, shellfish or raw vegetables, a dry white wine with fresh acidity works, because acidity keeps the taste clean.

Think of chablis from the Yonne, which the INAO describes as dry white wine, or muscadet from the western Loire, made from the melon B grape. If you serve a starter with cream or a fried component, choose a white wine with a little more body. If it stays with carpaccio or pâté, a light red wine can go alongside as well.

Let the main course decide the wine: the more powerful the meat and the fuller the sauce, the sturdier the red wine can be.

Game, beef and slow-braised meat go well with a red wine with clear structure. With turkey, chicken or guinea fowl, a light red wine works better, or rather a full white wine with oak ageing. If there is fish on the table, stay with white. If there is a lot of dried fruit in the sauce, choose a wine with a bit more ripe fruit, so the wine does not come across as thin.

With dessert, choose a wine that is sweeter than the dish, otherwise the wine comes across as dry and sour.

A dessert wine is made for that. With chocolate a sweet red wine or a dessert wine with plenty of residual sugar works; with fruit and pastry a lighter sweet wine with fresh acidity. If you do choose sparkling, take a demi-sec or doux instead of brut, because those have residual sugar themselves. Serve sweet wine cool and in small glasses.

Allow roughly half a bottle per adult over a whole dinner, so 3 glasses of 12.5 centilitres.

For eight people that comes down to four bottles, divided over aperitif, starter, main course and dessert. Buy one extra, because opening a bottle is easier than fetching one. Always put water on the table and provide an alcohol-free alternative with every course. Not everyone drinks, and nobody should have to explain that at the table.