A Bottle for Burns Night

At last, a little light at the end of the January tunnel, an opportunity to come together around the table in the dark depths of Winter — Burns Night. Following tradition, here are three red wines to pair perfectly with haggis, Scotland's finest cuisine. The poetry is optional.

2020 Helices - Chateau Les Vieux Moulins (Bordeaux, France)
Merlot, Cabernet Franc
Lovely soft Bordeaux from old vine parcels that slope down to the Gironde estuary. This is deep, dark fruited, and rich, but still with a little lift that will cut through the fat of the haggis perfectly.

2021 Le Clos - Clos Kixhaya (Chinon, France)
Cabernet Franc
Cab Franc might be the ideal wine for Burns Night. There's fruit, earth, richness, and spice. This is vibrant, pure, and aromatic, from a cooler vintage and 90-year-old vines, with a mineral core holding it all together. Wonderfully alive.

2021 Trait Gamay - Remi Sedes (Loire, France)
Gamay
Any excuse for Gamay! The most joyous of grapes, grown on the granite soils of Coteaux d'Ancenis, near Nantes, which gives the wines from this area great minerality and freshness. This has a beautiful balance of concentrated red fruits and earthy notes. The lightest wine of the 3 listed here, this will merrily cut through the richness on the table and lift the moods of all those present (probably).

To the haggis!

Christopher