Sweet Christmas | Wines of the week

Are you invited to a party and would like to bring a bottle to share? Announce your intention. This will prevent your host from thinking that it is a gift and putting it away in the cellar, where you will never see it again. If it’s a gift, say so when you arrive, specifying that the wine will keep for so many years, or that it is ideal for a future occasion. Here are three delicious bottles, to drink now, to keep or to give as a gift!

Affordable: a less and less well-kept secret!

More than 400 boxes arrived in early November; there are still around 80 branches. It’s no longer a secret: the sparkling wines of the Sumarocca family are very good value for money and remarkably consistent. Although it is a little harder to find, I still wanted to highlight this tasty rosé. Made from Pinot Noir, it displays a pale pink color and a charming nose of russet apple, hay, strawberry and rhubarb. On the palate, ripe, juicy and crunchy fruit is carried by very fine bubbles and lots of freshness. Light and very dry, it holds up and is simply delicious and delightful. Perfect for an aperitif, or with salmon tartare, cod accras, fish tacos, jamón.

Keeping: 4 to 5 years

Sumarroca Reserva Brut Rosé Cava 2021, $21.30 (15108487), 12%, organic

Discovery: Muscadet to keep

Of course, you know Muscadet. But a bottle with more than 6 years of age? The wave of industrial Muscadets at the end of the last century left the impression that the region only produces simple wines. However, it has many exceptional terroirs where the melon grape variety flourishes wonderfully and produces wines marked with minerality, suitable for aging. This one stands out for its very unique nose. Aromas of shellfish, bread crumbs and toasted almonds mingle with more evolved notes of candied fruit and honey. The palate is rich, ample, fruity, but the wine remains light, lively and saline, with a long finish with notes of zest and a mineral impression. Even better, more melted, after a few hours of opening, it will accompany fresh or gratinated oysters, seafood gratin, fish in sauce.

Keeping: 5 to 6 years

Ollivier Père et Fils Clisson Muscadet-Sèvre et Maine 2016, $22.00 (12259992), 12%

Classic: captivating and suave

New vintage, same enchantment: what a beautiful wine! One of the great qualities of Nebbiolo, like Pinot Noir, is its complex and captivating fragrance. And what a nose here! Fragrant, fine, rich, nuanced and complex, it offers notes of dried cherry, strawberry jam, rose, tobacco, black tea, leather. The palate is suave, with hyper-ripe fruit, carried by very great freshness. Then imposing tannins, but of great finesse, assert themselves and tighten the long finish. Produced from organic cultivation, and aged for 12 months in barrels, it is a powerful wine, but with great finesse and great complexity. Already delicious, it can also evolve for a few years in the cellar. Carafe it for an hour or two before serving it with osso buco, fiorentina steak, or wild mushroom risotto.

Keeping: 6 to 8 years

Josetta Saffirio Langhe Nebbiolo 2021, $31.75 (13478281), 14%