On this particularly long weekend, most of us are well versed in what food to serve and when. From fish on Good Friday to roast lamb on Easter Sunday with lashings of chocolate in between. When it comes to pairing these foods with wine, however, not everyone knows where to start – especially when your Easter wines have some bold flavours to stand up too.

Fear not, as we have been busy compiling a list of our top picks to make choosing your Easter wines a walk in the park.

The Aperitif 

Every celebration should begin with the obligatory glass of fizz; our go-to is the award-winning Champagne Duval-Leroy or Fox & Fox – an outstanding selection of sparkling wines with an English twist.

The Fish Course

Tradition says that fish is the meal of choice on Good Friday. No wonder fish and chip shops across the country do a roaring trade on this particular bank holiday. With fish in mind, whether you’re having cod from the chippy or cooking a delightful fish dish at home, your wine of choice should be the Domaine Gueguen Chablis 1er Cru Vogros or the Abad Dom Bueno Bierzo Mencia if you’re partial to a glass of red.

The Main Meal 

As at Christmas with turkey, Easter has long been associated with lamb (otherwise known as the king of Easter dinner). A succulent leg of lamb deserves the finest of wines to accompany and a long-time favourite of ours is the Fess Parker Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir, closely followed by the Org de Rac Die Waghuis Red Blend from the region of Swartland in South Africa, today the source of many of the country’s most exciting wines.

Ham is another favourite entree for Easter dinner, with so many great wines that pair perfectly with this extra-savoury meat. On top of our list is the Amastuola Primitivo Centosassi IGT, bursting with intense fruitiness, hints of prunes, Marasca cherries and cinnamon… yum!

The Sweet Stuff

Easter weekend is definitely a weekend many of us look forward to, as it means the Lent fast can be broken and I’m sure that fast for many includes chocolate and sweets. With the mountain of sweet treats consumed over the Easter period it would be rude not to have some wines to match.

Starting with the obvious… being chocolate of course. Chocolate and wine are two of life’s greatest pleasures. However, when pairing wine with chocolate you need to be extremely careful as very few wines pair well with it. Opting for something, which is equally as sweet, is key to finding the ideal match. The sugar in chocolate tends to coat the month when it melts, which can mask the fruity flavours of a lot of wines and leave them tasting bitter – so the sweeter the wine the better. Go for the Mas Cristine Rivesaltes Ambré or the Woodstock Muscat.

Hot cross buns are another Easter tradition, paired perfectly with a sweet wine or a Tawny Port. It has to be the Château Haut-Mayne Sauternes for the sweet and the Cálem 10yr Tawny for the Port.

After copious amounts of chocolate no doubt already consumed, something citrusy and refreshing seems fitting for dessert on Easter Sunday and lemon tart is a definite crowd pleaser. Roland Grangier Chante Louve VDF is a textbook Viognier from Northern Rhône, with intense flavours of fresh apricot and honeysuckle, which will pair perfectly with your lemon dessert. Another option if you’re white wined out is cracking open a bottle of Sherry, in particular the Argüeso 1822 Fino.

Wishing you all a very happy Easter from the Amathus team!

 

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