Festive Food & Wine Pairings for a Small Wonder Christmas

Cool-climate wines. Regional Tasmanian produce. Shared moments that spark wonder.

As the festive season approaches and the weather finally settles into something resembling summer, Tasmanians head coastal - to the deck, the beach, the barbecue or their holiday shack. It’s the season of seafood and stonefruit, of big roasts shared with family and long lunches stretching into the evening. And it’s the perfect time to open something special from Small Wonder.

We caught up with winemaker Ockie Myburgh and assistant winemaker Sara Dooley to talk about what they are looking forward to most this festive season, as well as what’s in their glasses this Christmas, and what’s on the table alongside. This is your ultimate Tasmania Christmas wine guide.

A Winemaker’s Christmas in Tasmania

We started off by talking all things Tasmanian Christmas. Ockie, a South African by birth but a Tasmanian at heart after 17 years on the island, laid it out for us:

‘In Tasmania, most people head to their beach shacks on the coast over Christmas – up north around Bridport or along the east coast. It’s that classic Australian summer vibe: barbecues, ocean swims, a bit of diving or fishing, and plenty of time with family. The weather’s finally good, so everyone’s making the most of it.’

When the topic turned to Ockie’s plans for the holidays, he said it was his turn to host the whole family, so it would be filled with ‘Christmas dinners, a lot of barbecuing, and roasts.’ Mostly the table will be filled with seafood, Ockie adds, ‘The big thing in Tassie over Christmas is seafood – especially lobster, oysters, scallops, and abalone if you can get it.’

For Sara, this will be her first Christmas in Tasmania, so of course, we asked what she is most looking forward to.

She replied, “The seafood! The diving in Tassie is second to none, so hopefully we can bag a few crayfish for the table. Other than that, good weather, good company and good wine.” Clearly, she is embracing the Tasmanian lifestyle already. 

Sparkling Starters

The festive season in Tasmania starts with sparkling and the sea. For Ockie, that means oysters and a glass of Blanc de Blancs. ‘Like most Australians during the festive season, Tasmanians love their sparkling and oysters,’ he says, and with good reason. Tasmanian sparkling wine and oysters are a classic pairing.

Tasmania is world-renowned for producing some of the country’s finest traditional method sparkling wines, and its pristine, cold waters yield oysters prized for their purity, minerality and texture.

The 2021 Blanc de Blancs, made from 100% Chardonnay and aged on lees, brings gentle notes of nuts and orchard fruit with a citrus drive and a hint of brioche that pairs beautifully with freshly shucked oysters. Try it with a classic mignonette or lemon, or straight from the shell, beachside. A true highlight in any Christmas wine pairings lineup.

If you're serving abalone, grilled with butter and herbs, or a cold prawn platter with cocktail sauce, reach for the 2021 Blanc de Noirs. With its softer texture and bright red berry fruit, it complements both the sweetness of the shellfish and the richness of the sauces. In terms of preparation of the prawns, Ockie prefers to keep it simple: ‘We just peel them and serve them cold. It’s easy, fresh and festive.’

Bright Whites for Summer Seafood

When it comes to crayfish (or rock lobster, depending on who you ask), nothing beats Riesling. The 2024 Landscape Riesling offers floral lift, lime-laced acidity and a linear tension that cuts through richness while highlighting the sweetness of the meat. As Ockie puts it, ‘White wines and seafood just make sense. Riesling works beautifully with lobster, especially in a buttery sauce.’ Another easy win when it comes to seafood and wine matching.

For scallops, seared until just caramelised, the 2025 Landscape Blanco White is a standout. Its green-framed fruit, subtle texture and fresh acid thread echo the shellfish’s natural sweetness and elevate it with brightness and drive.

If you’re working with cold-smoked salmon or trout, especially with a dollop of wasabi crème fraiche, the 2025 Landscape Pinot Gris is your go-to. Its purity and precision offset the heat and fat, keeping the palate clean and the flavours layered.

And for herb-laced salads, especially if you are thinking of something along the lines of goat’s cheese and heirloom tomatoes, look to the 2025 Landscape Sauvignon Blanc. Vivid and breezy, it combines green herbal notes with punchy energy, balancing generous fruit with its citrus core, a standout choice from our range of organically grown Tasmanian wine.

Chardonnay Meets Tassie Fish

Chardonnay and Tasmanian white fish are a match made in coastal heaven. The 2024 Landscape Chardonnay offers vibrant notes of grapefruit and lemon, complemented by stonefruit depth, savoury tang, and a sleek mineral finish, perfect alongside Striped Trumpeter or Blue-eye Trevalla pan-roasted. Try it with curry butter, accompanied by sautéed leeks. There is only a small allocation of this Chardonnay left, so join the wine club to secure some for your festive table. 

A fisherman himself, Ockie shared some insight on Tassies best catches and why they work so well with Chardonnay. He shared, ‘Striped Trumpeter’s a favourite here – beautiful white flesh that works really well with a fuller-bodied Chardonnay. Blue-eye Trevalla is another good option. Because of our cooler waters in Tasmania, we get more of these elegant, flaky fish, not so much the big predators like Spanish mackerel, and they pair perfectly with a Chardonnay that’s got some weight.”

Light to Structured Reds for Long Lunches and Shared Roasts

If pork is on the menu, as it often is in Tassie over Christmas, the 2024 Landscape Pinot Noir is a smart and elegant match. Whether roast, glazed with native pepperberry, or served cold with chutney, this Pinot offers the structure and soft tannins to pair well across the board. As Ockie says, ‘the Landscape Pinot has the structure and softness to work with it all.’ A tried and true Pinot Noir Christmas dinner pairing.

For larger cuts of beef, such as Scotch fillet, especially when cooked on the barbecue and served with rosemary and Kipfler potatoes, opt for the 2023 Auburn Pinot Noir. As Ockie says, ‘I think this wine lends itself to a Scotch Steak roast, really rich and meaty…’ With more structure, earthy depth and tension, it complements robust meat dishes with ease. ‘At Christmas, when you're feeding a crowd, it’s all about cooking a big cut of meat and carving it up to share,’ Ockie says. ‘Auburn’s got the depth to stand up to that.’

Sweet Desserts with a Tassie Twist

For dessert, the winemakers keep it simple and seasonal. A glass of 2024 Landscape Rosé, alongside a bowl of fresh berries, fruit salad, or pavlova, is the ultimate refresher. ‘Just something cold for a hot day,’ says Ockie, and he’s right. The rosé’s soft perfume and acidity cut through cream and lift ripe fruit effortlessly.

And if you’re going for something richer, like Sara’s family favourite tiramisu, she has just the thing: ‘In our house, tiramisu is non-negotiable at Christmas. I’d pair it with the 2024 Landscape Pinot Noir, it’s got enough structure to stand up to those big flavours and bright red fruit to cut through the richness.’

Stocking Up for the Holidays?

Introducing the Small Wonder's 12 Wines of Christmas

Twelve wines. Twelve stories. Told by our winemakers.

Celebrate the season with a festive dozen drawn from our Tamar and Coal River Valley vineyards. Each bottle is organically grown, hand-picked and crafted with care, and each wine is part of a guided video tasting series led by Ockie and Sara.

It’s the perfect way to explore cool-climate Tasmania from the comfort of your table, deck, beach, or barbecue.

Discover the 12 Wines of Christmas pack →

Producer shout-outs:

Freycinet Marine Farm - Located on Tasmania’s east coast, Freycinet Marine Farm is renowned for its premium Pacific Oysters and Tasmanian Blue mussels, grown in the pristine waters of Coles Bay. 

Three Friends Abalone - Founded by three mates with decades of experience, Three Friends Abalone raises coveted west coast, black lip and tiger abalone in Stanley, nourished by the pristine waters of west Tasmania.

The Seafood Gateway - Family-owned since 1991, The Seafood Gateway has grown from one man’s dream into a trusted source for premium Tasmanian Southern Rock Lobster, delivering 100% sustainably sourced lobster to tables near and far.

Woodbridge Smokehouse - Set on a 25-acre apple orchard by the sea, Woodbridge Smokehouse uses time-honoured hand-smoking techniques – even burning its own fruit wood – to produce some of the world’s finest ocean trout and salmon.

Shima Wasabi - Shima Wasabi cultivates one of the only authentic wasabi crops outside Japan, relying on the island’s cool climate, clean air and plentiful rainfall to nurture this rare plant and deliver a genuine burst of fresh wasabi flavour.

York Town Organics - For over 30 years, York Town Organics has been a pioneer of sustainable farming in the Tamar Valley, a family-owned farm proudly certified organic since 1990. Perfect for fresh produce of outstanding quality and purity, including salad greens, herbs and berries.

Bruny Island Cheese Co. - Bruny Island Cheese Co. marries traditional cheesemaking craftsmanship with a deep sense of Tasmanian place. Its small-batch cheeses are produced with uncompromising methods – including milk from the company’s own ethical, small-scale dairy farm – to ensure each wheel reflects the island’s unique character, animal welfare values, and exceptional quality

Tongola Goat Cheese - On their idyllic family farm overlooking Marion Bay, the artisans at Tongola Cheese handcraft award-winning goat’s cheeses using milk from their own Swiss Toggenburg herd. This true farmstead approach yields exceptional Tasmanian farmhouse cheeses brimming with purity, tradition, and flavour.

Scottsdale Pork - For over 20 years, the family behind Scottsdale Pork has been committed to ethical pig farming in Tasmania’s fertile northeast. Their pigs are ‘born free’ and barn-raised on natural bedding and locally milled feed, allowed to roam and forage, a higher-welfare approach that results in lean, flavourful pork where you can truly taste the difference.

Three Peaks Organic Blueberries - Three Peaks Organic Blueberries places family and sustainability at the heart of its operation, growing blueberries in a pristine patch of Tasmanian paradise with some of the world’s cleanest air and water. Thanks to careful organic farming and special berry varieties, they produce plump, intensely flavorful blueberries.