6 good party wines for the holiday season

These are all absolute crowd-pleasers of note. I cannot imagine anyone who wouldn’t enjoy each and every one of these wines, with food, without food, all day and all night and for that reason alone, I recommend you buy at least a case of each to see you through the holidays! Enjoy.

Simonsig Chenin Blanc 2012 (R38 cellar door)
A few years ago this was Platter Superquaffer of the Year and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out it’s been nominated each and every year since. It’s tangy, it’s tropical, it’s fresh, it’s fruity – and that is pretty much all you need to know!

Zonnebloem Chardonnay 2011 (R45 from Makro)
This is how I like my Chardonnays – crisp and fresh without any malo-lactic and just the tiniest hint of wood to round out the mid-palate. It’s got lots of lemony, citrussy flavours and even those misguided individuals who think they don’t like Chardonnay will be converted by this wine.

Lutzville Sauvignon Blanc 2012 (R45 cellar door)
Gavin, Lutzville’s marketing manager, is a graduate of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust whose wine courses I’ve been teaching so he’s kindly supporting me with some lovely stock, including this one. A previous winner of the Sauvignon Challenge, it comes from the cool West Coast. Lashings of pineapples and limes.

Kleine Zalze Gamay Rose 2012 (R42)
Great little pink which is absolutely lovely on its own but has more than enough oomph to stand up to food. I like it with sushi but it’s also great with salads – perhaps something with a touch of chilli in it to offset the ripe strawberries and herbs.

Flagstone Longitude 2011 (R48 cellar door)
It should come as no surprise to anyone that I’m recommending blends when it comes to crowd-pleasing reds. All the value in red wines comes from red blends in my opinion, and this is a cracker. 4 star blend of Cab, Shiraz and Malbec which punches waaaaaay over its weight.

Melck’s Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 (R50 from major retailers)
The current Platter Super Quaffer of the Year, and well-deserved too. We used to sell this in the Nose Wine Bar when it was simply called Melck’s Red. It was a cracker then and it’s a cracker still. Spicy black plums and berries with a clean vanilla finish – what’s not to love?