Some Christmas traditions can feel slightly out of place in sunny Singapore – listening to carols about “winter wonderlands” and “frosty snowmen” on Orchard Road while melting in 35-degree tropical heat comes to mind as a particularly surreal experience. But fortunately for wine lovers, the good ol’ tradition of imbibing gallons of delicious grape juice and clearing the cellars for next year’s haul (or whatever Grand Crus Santa’s put in your stocking this year) boasts universal appeal! Whether you’re struggling to assemble the perfect Christmas wine list for your holiday party, agonising over which bottle to bring to a friends’ reunion or simply searching for something that will drown out your in-laws’ incessant questioning during the yearly family get-together, we’ve got your back.

Napoleon Bonaparte famously said: “In victory one deserves Champagne; in defeat one needs it!” As English sparkling wine continues to trounce big-name Champagnes in one blind tasting after another, that comment—unlike good bubbly—may not have aged all that well for the Champenois. And one English winemaker leaves the Champenois licking their wounds more often than most. Cult English winemaker and critics’ darling Dermot Sugrue perfectly bridges that gap between the more autolysis-dominated profile of the Grande Marques and the acid drive and mineral verve of the trendiest grower champagnes.

 Importantly for Singapore Wine Club, his wines are extremely friendly with Singaporean food. Sparkling wine definitely has a reputation for being food-friendly, but even so, pairing sparkling wines with Singaporean food poses considerable challenges. Southeast Asian seasonings, with their mélange of spices, umami flavours and ubiquitous and liberal use of sweetness, poses headaches for even the most seasoned () sommeliers.

This challenge is particularly prominent when considering wine pairing with zi char, the beloved family favourite. For the uninitiated, zi char (or tze char) stalls serve a wide range of Southeast Asian dishes, mostly Chinese in origin, meant to be consumed with rice. Sounds vague? That’s because zi char menus are as amorphous as they get. It’s all down to the creativity of the chef. The biggest difficulty when it comes to zi char wine pairing, besides convincing the grumpy coffeeshop auntie to let you BYOB (pro tip: buy something, preferably a beer, from the drinks stall to smooth things over!), is finding a wine that’s versatile enough to go with that wide variety of dishes, and bold enough to stand up to their rich flavours.

We took three of Sugrue’s wines down to local zi char legend Keng Eng Kee, which counts among its fans the late and sorely-missed Anthony Bourdain and the Korean pop star Rain, to put them through their food-pairing paces. We ordered an array of zi char staples and in each case, the Sugrue wines performed brilliantly, cutting through the inevitable grease with their bright acidity while boasting sufficiently vibrant flavours to stand out in their own right. And while you really can’t go wrong pairing any Sugrue wine with pretty much any zi char dish, so long as it’s not extremely spicy, we also identified three top pairing picks for you try out at home.

Mention food and wine pairing and the first thing that comes to mind is probably an artfully-presented dish, with little dabs of sauce. Plates too pretty to eat. Haute cuisine, for haute wines. But at Singapore Wine Club, we’re big believers that fine wine belongs on the table with all forms of food—from the “haut” to the “bas” (that’s French for “high” and “low” for the non-bougie). That’s why we champion Singaporean hawker food and wine pairings.

Take pairing Singaporean Hokkien mee with wine as an example. Hokkien mee is living proof that food doesn’t need to look pretty to taste amazing. Let’s face it—to the untrained eye, the dish looks and reads like a real mess. A mound of slippery noodles drenched in pork and prawn broth, with a mélange of seemingly random toppings that include pork slices, lime and squid rings, isn’t going to win any beauty contests anytime soon. But boy does it taste amazing!

Hokkien mee wine pairing definitely isn’t the easiest to pull off. The curious mix of flavours that makes the dish so unique is also precisely what makes it difficult to pair with wine. You’ve got a blend of seafood-y and meaty flavours. You’ve got a dose of heat (from the all-important chili) and acid (from the obligatory squeeze of lime), both famous “wine enemies”. And that quintessential smoky, charred flavour or “wok-hey” that characterises the best Hokkien mees in Singapore? Pick the wrong wine and you’ll end up with something acrid and bitter.