Ange: Hi everybody. Welcome to Le Gourmet TV. We’re here with Kevin at the newly renovated Alice Fazoli’s at Square One and this place looks amazing.

Kevin: It absolutely does, yeah.

Ange: Well today, we’re chatting about some affordable holiday entertaining and hostess ideas. Well, welcome Kevin.

Kevin: Thank you.

Ange: Cheers.

Kevin: Cheers.

Ange: Glad to be here. We’re here chatting and we have a nice glass of Chardonnay and we’re chatting really about affordable wines to share with friends and family this season. And I know that we’ve got some great wines here. We have some wonderful wines under $10 which is so hard to find really. There are also wines out there but how do you know which ones are really great and we’ve got some really good ones and we are going to try them later aren’t we?

Kevin: Absolutely.

Ange: And we also have some premium wines that are within the $14-$15 range that you can really share in an intimate scale. So maybe you can bring us some a little bit of the wines, what they go with this time of the year and how we sort of be moving forward with?

Kevin: Absolutely. Well to start off, if you know one thing when you’re entertaining for the holidays, you certainly do not have to break your holiday budget looking for a great bottle of wine. And when you take a look over there with a couple of brands like Barefoot Cellars and JJ McWilliams; these are for $10 wines and an award winning wines. And in fact, Mc Williams is actually Australia’s most awarded winning winery. And so those for 10 bucks, they’re very approachable; they’re fruit friendly; easy drinking wines; always a crowd pleaser if you’re serving a large holiday gathering with family and friends.

Ange: So you can buy a case of them and you can seat there and you can share them and it’s not like you’re breaking the bank for a—

Kevin: Absolutely. They are crowd pleasers and that what they are. A wine that you really do not have to think too much about.

Ange: And it’s very affordable like; under 10 bucks.

Kevin: You can’t go wrong if you spend 10 bucks for a bottle.

Ange: That’s true. And I know that we’re trying Chardonnay over here.

Kevin: We have a couple of brands here which we have our Mc Williams Hanwood which is more of the higher care compared to the JJ’s over here so this wine here is a little more complex as it has a little more livelier fruit, a little bit richer and also beside it we have our Dancing Bull Zinfandel. This is a wine with a lot of personality. It’s a very zesty fruit. So, if you’re looking for something for example a turkey dinner which, obviously the most of us are going to have a turkey dinner during the holiday seasons. So if you like white wine, this Mc William’s Chardonnay that we are drinking now, it’s perfect. Turkey being a darker meat, a little bit richer than chicken; you want a wine for a little more I’d say “off” to it so this wine here has a medium styled body, has a great fruit to it and a little bit of oak aging which really will work well with the turkey.

If you’re looking for a red wine, then you’re looking something for with a lot of fruit but something that’s round and soft in the mouth the Dancing Bull Zinfandel would be perfect. Even a soft Merlot from Mc Williams Hanwood would be great as well.

Ange: Well when you get the Merlot, it’s not going to have too much tannins; it’s going to be nice, easy drinking for that person who likes red wine but not necessarily too much tannin. I have tried the Dancing Bull Zinfandel. I actually introduced it to a few of my friends and they really, really enjoyed it so I was like about to say; “bring on your dancing feet when you bring out the Dancing Bull.” you know? It’s nice and it’s a really great wine.

Kevin: Exactly and for 12 bucks, again; a little bit premium than this and for 12 bucks you can’t go wrong. Then you have your Hanwood more at the $14-$15 range.

Ange: Well I’m actually really surprised even with the Chardonnay because I’m not a huge fan of Australian Chardonnay just because they're too much in your face sometimes but this seems to be just a little bit more rounded and well balanced. So what’s your favorite? Have you tried all these wines?

Kevin: I have tried all these wines.

Ange: And what’s our favorite?

Kevin: My two favorite, if you are going to go a little bit for value, I’d love the JJ McWilliams for an everyday wine. If you’re going to go to whites I’d love the Bare Foot Chardonnay. However, even if for a holiday gift or you want to impress someone like your boss or something like that, well I would certainly go to McWilliams Chardonnay which is always one of my favorites and that’s what we are going to have for my holiday turkey this year and the Dancing Bull always a winner in 12 bucks.

Ange: Yeah.