Burns Night wines to enjoy with your supper – Alistair Gibson

If you are doing a traditional Burns Night menu, you may well be starting with a bowl of cullen skink, that classic Scottish soup made with smoked haddock, potatoes and onions, and I recently tasted a perfect, if slightly unusual, wine to pair with it.

Hancock and Hancock Fiano 2018, McLaren Vale (Fareham Wine Cellar £12.75) is an Aussie take on this southern Italian grape variety.

Australia is increasingly planting all manner of unusual and fashionable grape varieties from Spain, Italy and even Greece and this is an example of one that works really well.

It shows aromas of citrus, stone fruits and ripe pear followed by a nicely textured palate with apricot and pear, zesty citrus acidity and a lovely bright finish.

Onto the main event. Haggis certainly isn’t for everyone but, perhaps because of my Scottish ancestry, I absolutely love it. 

Whisky is perhaps the obvious and traditional pairing but I would rather finish the evening with a wee dram and serve wine.

You need to think about all those hearty, robust offal flavors as well as the seasoning and spices involved and red wine is the order of the day and it has to be something bold enough to take on all those flavours. 

I would be heading to Australian shiraz, the Rhone Valley or even a Californian zinfandel.

Waitrose St Hallet Shiraz 2017, Barossa (Waitrose, Ocado £8.99 on offer from £11.99 until February 19) is made for Waitrose by St Hallet, one of the Barossa Valley’s most respected producers. Great value while on offer.

Deep in colour, this has dark fruits, some chocolatey notes, spice and oak on the nose followed by more dark fruits and spice on the juicy medium bodied palate. It’s not subtle but would be a perfect match with haggis.

Côtes du Rhône Villages Sainte Cécile 2016, Domaine de la Berthete (Hermitage Cellars £12.25) is made by husband and wife team Pascal and Marie-Pierre Maillet, who bought the domaine in 1993.

This is a blend of 50 per cent grenache and 50 per cent syrah and made in a very traditional style with no new oak ageing. Instantly appealing and a little more elegant than the St Hallet, it offers a perfumed nose of black fruits, dried herbs, some savoury notes, liquorice and some spice, followed by medium to a full bodied palate, with generous fruit and some spice before a long finish.

Definition Zinfandel 2016, California (Majestic £9.99 but £8.99 if part of a mixed six) is a big, warming winter wine if ever there was one.

There are loads of plush dark fruits and spice and a ripe, if not slightly rustic, palate which should be more than a match for the haggis, the ‘Great chieftain o’ the puddin’-race!’