Christmas in Australia doesn't follow the rules. Just like an Aussie Christmas, our wines sit between old traditions that carry importance, and new traditions informed by terroir and crafted to sing of where they're from.
Christmas in Australia doesn’t follow the rules. While the Northern Hemisphere hunkers down with heavy reds and roasted chestnuts, we’re out here eating prawns in the shade, trying to keep the pavlova from melting, and wondering if it’s too early to jump in the pool.
Your wine shouldn’t follow someone else’s playbook either.
At Topper’s Mountain, 3.5 kilometres off the bitumen, surrounded by state forest, perched on volcanic soils at 900 metres, we make wines from varieties most Australian vineyards don’t touch. Manseng from southwest France. Tempranillo Blanco from Spain. Portuguese grapes that belong in the Douro Valley but somehow found their home in our cool-climate terroir.
They’re wines with backbone, character, and the kind of personality that makes them perfect for your Australian Christmas table.
Seafood: Start with Bubbles
The Pairing: Our Sparkling, Nebbiolo Extra Brut Rose with prawns and oysters.
The effervescence cuts through the richness of prawn flesh and lifts that sweet ocean flavour without drowning it. With oysters, those persistent bubbles cleanse your palate between each briny mouthful, resetting everything so the sixth tastes as good as the first.
Acidity and carbonation slice through fat, amplify sweetness, and keep your palate alive. It’s a textbook pairing, and it works.
Summer Tip: Keep your sparkling properly cold in an ice bucket. At 6-8°C, not wishful thinking. And squeeze lemon over those prawns first – the citrus bridges beautifully with the wine’s racy acidity.
The Pairing: Manseng with Aussie fish (barramundi, snapper, coral trout)
Our Manseng brings taut lemony acidity, grapefruit, and that long, salty finish that remembers the volcanic soils it came from. Those citrus notes mirror the lemon you’d naturally squeeze over fish, while the high acidity cuts through butter or olive oil without overwhelming delicate flavours.
Traditional Meats: Where Versatility Matters
The Pairing: Tempranillo Blanco with turkey, pork, or duck
We’re Australia’s only producers of this rare Spanish white mutation, and it’s your Swiss Army knife for Christmas. Turkey needs structure to match its texture? Tempranillo Blanco. Duck with its richness and fat? Tempranillo Blanco. It’s got aromatic complexity, textural weight, and enough backbone to handle what would steamroll lighter whites.
Summer Tip: Serve this warmer than typical whites at around 10-12°C rather than fridge-cold. You’ll taste more complexity, more of what makes this variety special.
The Pairing: Our Touriga & Tintas with glazed ham
These fruit-forward Portuguese varieties love the sweet-salty complexity of glazed ham. The plummy fruit complements the glaze’s sweetness, the acidity cuts through fat, and those layers of dark spice echo whatever went into your honey-maple-marmalade concoction.
Summer Tip: Chill this red slightly 15-16°C. In the Aussie Christmas 30oC heat, it’ll taste more refreshing while the fruit still shines through.
BBQ & Poolside: Keep It Easy
The Pairing: Seeker range wines for approachable BBQ moments
When you’re pulling sausages off the grill and someone’s just emerged from the pool dripping wet, you need wines that don’t demand contemplation. Our Seeker Pink and Red, bring freshness and drinkability to casual moments. The Seeker Pink offers lighter refreshment for white meats or grilled seafood. The Seeker Red provides enough structure for lambs, sausages and your other bbq favourites without being heavy.
The Versatile Choice: Tempranillo Blanco works too, handling everything from grilled chicken to spicy sausages with equal confidence.
Desserts: The Grand Finale
Old traditions, new ways of doing things
We’ve all carved our own Christmas traditions out here in the heat. The informality, the seafood pulled from ice, the ham that feeds you for weeks. It’s about beach bbqs and pavlova cream that splits in the heat, swearing at the flies and making sure the kids have sunscreen on.
Our wines belong here. Between old traditions that carry importance, and new traditions informed by terroir and crafted to sing of where they’re from.
Pull the cork. Pour generously. Have a Merry Christmas!
