A Barossa Christmas Feast

In the Barossa, we're spoilt for choice when it comes to food and wine, and Christmas is no exception.

On the Saturday before Christmas, the Barossa Farmers Market is always heaving with locals looking for their Christmas feast favourites – from locally sourced meats and vegetables, to chocolates, cheeses and freshly baked bread.

But you don't have to live in the Barossa to enjoy a Christmas feast fit for a Barossan.

We've sourced our favourite recipes, and a few local ingredients that can be easily found all over Australia, to give you an insight in to how we do it, so you can too.

Every cheese board in the Barossa begins with Barossa Cheese Company, cheese, and their Barossa Triple Cream Brie is a must for any decent spread.

We also love the freshness of their Vache Curd, which is a zesty goat curd with mild lemon and lime undertones, perfect for summer platters.

After you’ve plated up the cheese, add something sweet to the mix with fresh or dried fruit. While fresh cherries are always a winner, we also love pairing dried pears and apricots from the Barossa’s own Trevallie Orchard with rich cheeses.

All you need now to complete your Barossa-inspired platter is something salty and smokey, like a mature German mettwurst sausage or finely sliced lachsschinken from your local butcher or market deli.

Don’t forget to serve it all with a crusty loaf of homemade sourdough – try this recipe from Carême Pastry’s Will Wood for the ideal Barossa loaf.

Start the day with the ultimate Barossa Christmas staple, Sparkling Shiraz, then move on to our own refreshing Block 2 Grenache Rose, or a cool glass of Eden Valley Chardonnay for something a little more textural.

It’s just not Christmas in the Barossa, without a deliciously succulent smoked ham from the local butcher.

We’re fortunate to have a few third and fourth generation butchers in the Barossa, each with their own smokehouse and secret recipe, but Christmas is the time when any butcher or supermarket worth their salt has a great ham.

In an attempt to keep up a few traditions from the “old country” we love a glazed ham here at Yalumba, and the good news is they’re so easy to make.

Method

Firstly, remove the skin from the ham, then score the fat into small diamonds, before poking whole cloves into the intersections.

For the glaze, we use a large jar of our favourite marmalade, warm it slightly and pour it over the scored and clove studded ham. So easy, yet so flavourful.

Place the ham on a wire rack over a baking tray with a small amount of water in the bottom (around 1cm is fine) before baking uncovered at 150oC for 1 ½ hours (for a 5kg ham). Spoon some of the glaze from the bottom of the pan over the ham, and increase the heat to 200oC for another 30 minutes until caramelised.

Remove the ham from the oven and wrap in foil then tea-towels to rest in the fridge or an esky for 1-2 hours before slicing and serving with roasted heirloom carrots, blanched string beans and a bottle of Yalumba The Tri-Centenary Grenache. With its aromas of fig, plum and cassis the Tri-Centenary will perfectly balance the cloves, sweet marmalade and smokiness of the ham.

The key to the perfect Pavlova is fresh free-range eggs, and while we’re lucky to have plenty of them in the Barossa, it’s difficult to know the origins of your eggs when you’re buying them in a supermarket.

To help out, Choice has put together a comprehensive list of every brand that has passed the Model Code of Practice for free range eggs in Australia. Check out the full list on their website, and you’ll never be without a fresh free-range egg!

Maggie Beer makes the ultimate Barossa Pavolva using local apricots and verjuice, but we love to substitute the verjuice for our V de Vie or FSW8B, and top with fresh summer berries.

Serve, of course, with our V de Vie on ice with a dash of tonic water as a refreshing digestif, or open a bottle of Yalumba’s Antique Tawny for something truly special.