Perfect wines for presents (From York Press)

Perfect wines for presents

12:01pm Saturday 10th December 2011 in Tipping's Tipples By Mike Tipping

In this week’s Tipping’s Tipples, MIKE TIPPING picks perfect bottles for presents – and gives his choice of dessert wines for festive dining

It’s a two for the price of one Tipping’s Tipples this week, in terms of subject matter anyhow. I couldn’t decide between suggesting some pudding wines for Crimbo, or recommending some worthy contenders to give as presents. So I’m doing both.

Dessert, sweet, pudding or sticky wine: you can call it what you like, but I think a bottle is an absolute must at any festive dinner party.

It should have a racy acidity to counter the syrupy sweetness, like these two examples. Pair them with fruit-based puddings or alternatively serve the wine, by itself, as the dessert.

Vistamar Late Harvest Moscatel 2010, from the Limari Valley in Chile, punches well above its weight. With honeysuckle aromas, it is fresh, light, floral, peachy and zesty.

No one makes better sweet wines than the Germans, so don’t let their unpronounceable names put you off. Losen-Bockstanz Riesling Beerenauslese Wittlicher Felsentreppchen 2006 is a delightful wine from the Mosel.

It has long, lingering flavours of white peach, sherbet lemon and honeycomb.

Wine makes a cracking Christmas present. So much more welcome than car washing kits, soap on a rope or DVD box sets of TV programmes you’ve already seen.

I’m sure the following will make red wine drinkers in the family more than happy.

Both wines are from single vineyard sites in the Barossa Valley, Australia.

Grant Burge Hillcot Merlot 2009 is balanced, ripe and smooth, with red cherry fruit, blackcurrant, spice and smoky oak notes on the finish. It will work really well with lamb dishes, but is also very drinkable on its own.

Majestic has St Hallett Scholz Estate Shiraz 2009.

It’s concentrated, intensely flavoured stuff, with toasty oak, dark berry fruit, black pepper, coffee, mint and eucalyptus, held together by some supple tannins.

Enjoy this one with a steak, or save it to have with the first barbecue of 2012!

• Vistamar Late Harvest Moscatel 2010 (37.5cl), £4.79 each when you buy two at Majestic 18/20

• Losen-Bockstanz Riesling Beerenauslese Wittlicher Felsentreppchen 2006 (37.5cl), £14.99 online from Virgin Wines 18/20

• Grant Burge Hillcot Merlot 2009, £14.49 from Nidderdale Fine Wines and Lindley Fine Wines 18/20

• St Hallett Scholz Estate Shiraz 2009, £13.99 each when you buy two at Majestic 19/20