With the Easter weekend approaching quicker than the seasons keep changing, we’ve got the ultimate wine guide for you to celebrate in style. If you don’t celebrate Easter, then this is also a great guide to enjoying seasonal favourites over the bank holiday weekend.
Friday - Getting fishy on ‘Good Friday’
Simply cooked fish in butter – We have a few options when it comes to this. The trick is not to overpower the fish but give it some freshness at the same time. Picpoul (which translates as ‘the lip smacker’) does exactly what it says on the tin. It gives you that refreshing lip-smacking feeling which works so great with fish. Christopher Muret makes one of our favourites.
Fish & Chips – There’s not a lot of things better than fish & chips on a Friday. Now you just need a bottle of wine to take your experience to the next level. We all know fish & chips are nothing without a sprinkling of vinegar or a pickled onion on the side. They’re united by acidity which counteracts the richness of fish and perks up the chips. Try sipping on some Cava here – tastes like champagne if you close your eyes and is a similar price to prosecco but so much better! Our house Cava is The Casteller it’s one of the best value wines we have in shop, it always impresses with plenty of grip and complexity.
Saturday - Coffee & cake with a mate
Colomba di Pasqua – The traditional Italian Easter cake, very similar to the Christmas Panettone. The best way to enjoy is sliced and toasted with some butter. Or, if you’re feeling very bouji, you can even make a Colombo bread and butter pudding. The perfect wine would be Jurançon, with all its wonderful flavours of dried apricots and orange peel.
Sunday - Time to indulge
Fizz to celebrate – We’re drinking many English wines right now, and we couldn’t think of anyone better than Exton Park to enjoy Easter Sunday. Try their sparkling rose - full of rhubarb, strawberries and wild roses with refreshing acidity. Great served with canapes, smoked salmon or even eggs benedict.
Roast Lamb – The main event and time for an epic wine pairing. Easter also brings with it the start of lamb season, the best time of the year to enjoy this delicious and flavoursome meat. If you’re doing it right then you’re smothering your lamb with loads of garlic, olive oil and rosemary then roasting. This rich and fatty meat benefits from being paired with deep red wines with natural acidity and spice. We currently have magnums of Rioja for just £32, the unbelievable value from the 2016 vintage by top producer Dominio des Carabo, perfect if you’re having the family around for lunch.
Chocolate – We’ll make stuffing your face with chocolate even more enjoyable with a drop of wine. We’ve got a huge selection of chocolates in-store and a wine to pair with every one of them. With dairy milk chocolate chilled ruby port works great, ripe plums and juicy cherries lift and enhance. For darker chocolate the Patrick Bottex Sparkling Rose from Bugey in the French Alps, it’s slightly off-dry with wonderful flavours of fresh raspberries and rose petals. But the best allrounder for Chocolate and sweet things at easter is Chinato – an typical Italian after dinner drink, it’s a fortified red wine traditionally from Piedmont. It has bittersweet flavours to compliment sweet things or just as a digestif.
Monday - The fun continues on a bank holiday
… but it’s back to work the next day, so just the right amount of fun is required. With leftovers or a light seasonal lunch spring lunch, a fresh and zesty Riesling always does the job.
Bacon sandwich hot cross bun - Riesling from Maximin Grünhaus
Pork absolutely loves Riesling, the high acidity and ripe citrus peel lift pork and take it to another place. We’ve gone for a slightly off dry Riesling her to balance out the sweetness of the bun. Another lower abv wine perfect for easy drinking with mates at lunch time.