It's time to get the best glassware, the good cutlery and the most elegant tablecloths, to begin the new year. Family gets together and from weeks we are already planning recipes to present them with the best dishes and meals. Wine is an important part in such celebrations and how we serve it also says a lot about us. Let's take a look at the best wine accessories for table service.

Decanter, oxygenator, ice bucket ... those are the basics. For large meetings we can add to this list the identifier of glasses, which will help us to share only what is necessary. However, where we can speak at length is in terms of corkscrews. Here we go!

If you are so lucky that on the early year you can leave home to travel to any domestic or international destination to disconnect, meet friends, relax, go out and forget about the routine you can also take the chance to do a bit of wine and food tourism, which never hurts and helps expand knowledge in these matters.

For example, if you are in the lucky group that will spend these days of January in the Canary Islands enjoying the good weather and the beach, then there is nothing better than to taste a Malvasia, sweet or dry. But if you are looking for bodied red wines with high dose of design (outside on the bottle), you cannot go without bringing in the suitcase a Suertes del Marqués El Esquilón, which is also great and surprises with its  combination of Tintilla and Black Listán grapes.

By long tradition, the Navarra wine is powerful and leaves a strong imprint on the palate. Its wide variety of wines is due to the large extension of its vineyards, with a total of 18,400 ha. This implies elaborations based on different climates, from Atlantic, Mediterranean and even continental.

The production areas of the wines are in five specific areas: Baja Montaña, Valdizarbe, Tierra Estella, Ribera Alta and Ribera Baja. The grape varieties are also very diverse. Among reds, the Cabernet Sauvignon, red Garnacha or Merlot are quite remarkable, occupying 94% of the total wine production. Among whites, we must highlight the chardonnay, white garnacha and malvasía, with 6% of the total.

A wine for every occasion

The DO Navarra gives wines of every kind, always according to the consumer tastes. Although red wines of Navarra are really the majority, the most renowned are the rosé wines of Navarra, but the region also offers white wines and the famous sweet wines of Navarra, with Muscat grapes.

The white wines are fresh and yellow colored, with fruity notes in mouth. They are ideal with fish, appetizers and light entrees like salads or pasta. The reds are characterized by their strong color with berry flavors and vanilla notes, with an excellent quality, very well considered in restaurants around the world. They are recommended with pates, cheeses, meat and poultry dishes.

Meanwhile, the rosés are those with greater leadership, at least in Spain. They are fresh and taste of strawberries, pomegranate... perfect with any type of rice.

The Muscat grape variety is responsible for the sweet wines of this land. They offer an exquisite aroma and are often consumed with cakes, cookies and sweets, and even with goat and blue cheese.

If you want to discover the best of Navarra, we suggest you to start buying wine from the region. We are sure you’ll like our two recommendations:

I know it is very convenient and that it also is clean and fast to use, but for me wine with natural cork or with screw cap just don’t feel like the same. For the record, I do not like either the new silicone corks that some wines which I have bought recently have.

The truth is that it is a matter of image, but when you sit by the table and open the bottle: click, flush, and those sounds, that picture in your head almost make you lose the will to taste it. It does not demoralize as much as tetra brick, but it gets close.

Christmas is one of the times of year that I like most (perhaps for being born on New Year’s Eve). From the day I see the first Christmas lights and decoration until New Year’s day the best dinners and meals of the year take place, the best parties are held... To live the Christmas atmosphere the best is to get an interesting selection of cava as the one I propose in the following lines.

The first thing I would like to make clear is that we must begin to change that habit of drinking cava and sparkling wine just at the end of the menu, by the dessert time. The cava can be drunk throughout the dinner. It may accompany soups, fish dishes, seafood, snacks, pies ... The possibilities are as many as we are willing to try. The result is always good.

I personally love to start with a glass of champagne or cava as an aperitif. It’s just perfect for Christmas. That is why I searched the cava brands I think you might like most.

By price, for large families, good drinkers of champagne or tighter budgets, I would recommend any of the Vallformosa ones. Juvé & Camps Cinta Púrpura Brut will also do very good. If you are looking for something more special, Juve y Camps Reserva de la Familia Brut Nature can be an alternative to consider.

Those who want something different can opt for a Naveran Odisea. Its price goes around twelve Euros per bottle, what makes it ideal for tasting and trying, if you don’t know it yet, and the bottle is far from what we are used to which refers cava. So it is with the Robert J. Mur Reserva Brut Nature, another name to consider.

The most pompous bottle, for tables where the decor is very important, is the Segura Viudas Reserva Heredad. A cava with a striking presence thanks to those silver accents on the bottle (floral motifs and the logo of the winery). Besides its nice combination of Macabeo and Parellada grapes make it sublime for this time of the year.

As my favorite cava wines are the rosé ones, I will propose two: Freixenet Elyssia Rosadowhich interested me about because of its image but convinced me by his taste and María Casanovas Pinot Noir Brut Rosat: elegant, aromatic and dry, the perfect combination.

Finally, for those who want to make a good gift: Gramona Impérial Gran Reserva Brut 2006 and Recaredo Turó d'en Mota 2000. Enjoy your appetizer!

Currently no one disputes the Rioja wine differentiation over other wines still be exported and become better known. It consists of three sub-areas with vast vineyards and historic cellars that have made possible this global identification.

One of these subzones is the Rioja Baja, near the Rioja Alta and Rioja Alavesa, which produces wines of great quality and always gifted with personality and great body. The terroirs of Rioja Baja extend over 17,787 ha and have a mostly Mediterranean climate, featuring some dry areas with most extensive vineyards than other subzones that are part of this DO.

This zone extends over several municipalities located between Logroño and Alfaro, such as Calahorra, Arnedo, Autol and San Adrián, among others. It employs about 6,700 farmers in over 24,000 parcels that are committed to the wealth of their land in order to obtain greater vintages each season.

Wines of ripe grapes

This climate results in ripe grape wines, mostly red and elaborated with the Tempranillo variety –prevailing in all Rioja-, with an interesting presence of garnacha grape, which represent about 90% of total production. They are therefore stronger, meaty, with a powerful taste and less acidic than the wines of the rest of DO. They taste of berries and usually have more alcohol. The variety of flavors in the aged wines is remarkable, since they lie in the barrel for a few years, and the great reserves still need more time to finish their development.

Wine Museum of Rioja Baja

In the town of Aldeanueva de Ebro, particularly in the building of the Shrine of Nuestra Señora del Portal, we find one of the most important spots in the area: the Wine Museum of Rioja Baja. It discovers the history of the wines of this region with explanatory panels, focusing on their variety, vintage and scientific research. It also houses a tasting room where you can taste the local varieties.

No doubt that Rioja wine is one of the best in the world. Its elaboration comes from many years ago and each area guards its process in long tradition cellars. The DO Rioja encompasses various areas such as Rioja Alta, Rioja Baja and Rioja Alavesa.

In the case of wines from Rioja Alta, as well as wines from the Rioja Alavesa, they have fairly similar climates. In this case, the biggest influence is Mediterranean, leading to tasty wines with body and unquestionable quality. Its vineyards extend for 24,457 ha that comprise a large part of the DO Rioja total area.