9th November 2023 | Pairings & Recipes | 4 minute read
Christmas is all about family, friends, feasting and fine wine. So we’ve put together some fabulous French wine and appetizer pairings for you to enjoy with your loved ones this party season. These are not your average seasonal snacks though, these are delicious treats that put French ingredients at the heart of each plate, paired perfectly with Vin De France wines.
As France is known for its exceptional viticulture and gastronomy, we’re bringing the two together to give you some fabulous, festive, French treats in the form of Vin De France wine and appetizer pairings.
What’s great about Vin De France wines is that they’re crafted by winemakers who don’t play by the usual rules. Vin De France is the national designation for France that gives producers the freedom to truly express themselves in what they create, without any boundaries about what grape varieties and techniques they should use. This means we get some pretty awesome blends produced under this label, and they’re often created with a love of good food in mind.
We’ve chosen four mouth-watering appetizer and Vin De France wine pairings below. Bon appétit!
That’s right, we’ve combined festive flavours of gingerbread and baking spices with an indulgent chunk of creamy blue cheese to make the ultimate Yuletide sandwich. This is super easy to make too, so we think it’s a great little canapé to fill a tray with when you’ve got lots of party guests to wow.
Fourme d’Ambert cheese is an especially good choice if you fancy giving this appetizer a try, and, when it comes to wine pairing, Cabernet Sauvignon de France is the way to go.
We think Le Zeitgeist Cabernet Sauvignon Vin De France is a strong match for pungent blue cheese and sweet ginger. Full-bodied and bursting with red and black fruit flavours, it’s a lip-smacking red to savour alongside this magical sandwich.
Smoked salmon is a bit of a festive favourite in many households over Christmas, whether it’s part of a decadent breakfast, served as a starter or a sushi-style snack. For a French twist on this Christmas cuisine you can roll it up in a crepe with a layer of goat’s cheese and chopped dill and chives, then slice it into bitesize chunks.
A fishy, herby appetizer like this calls for a fresh, zesty Sauvignon Blanc de France, such as Seraph Sauvignon Blanc. With a palate of bright lemon and tropical fruit richness followed by a mouth-tingling finish, it’s an elegant pairing for this sophisticated snack.
What’s not to love about this? And, of course, such a quintessentially French hors d’oeuvre deserves to be enjoyed with a fine French wine.
You can pair this one with Cinsault de France if you’re in the mood for a glass of red, but we like to crack open a nice chilled bottle of Chardonnay de France for these crowd-pleasing savoury croissants. The buttery pastry and luscious, creamy cheese make these a stellar match for buttery Chardonnays.
We’d highly recommend La Sirene Chardonnay Gros Manseng, which is made from a 50/50 split of Chardonnay and Gros Manseng grapes, giving it a wonderful balance of crispness and body. It’s a white delight that’s easy-drinking yet rich enough to complement creamy canapés like this.
No festive snacking would be complete without some cured meats and nibbles decoratively placed on a wooden board. Typically full of prosciutto, terrine, semi-soft and hard cheeses, nuts, fruit, crackers and chutneys, there are lots of flavours to consider here, but it’s nothing a deep, fruity red can’t handle.
Syrah de France is our red wine of choice for a classic charcuterie, and we particularly like L’Artisan Syrah Grenache Vin De France for this style of appetizer. This blackcurrant and redcurrant-laden, juicy, joyous red with mouth-coating tannins goes with all the good stuff. It complements cured meats, aged cheeses, tomato flavours and fruity chutneys beautifully, and its versatility with food makes it a real winner.
If we’ve whet your appetite then you can check out our full Vin De France wine range below, or head to the food and wine pairing section of our Wine Guide to fully immerse yourself in foodie talk.
