Danish Christmas Food and Wine: What Danes Eat and What to Pour With It
A Danish winegrower explains the Christmas Eve dinner, the julefrokost and risalamande, and which wine to serve with each dish.
- Christmas dinner on 24 December
- 77 % expect duck (2022)
- Organic wines from Smålandshavet
What is traditional Danish Christmas food?
By Jesper Rye Jensen, winegrower and owner of Vesterhave VingaardUpdated 2026
Traditional Danish Christmas food is roast duck and roast pork with crackling, served on 24 December with potatoes, caramelised potatoes, red cabbage and brown gravy, followed by risalamande. Pour a wine with fresh acidity and good fruit with the mains, and a dessert wine sweeter than the pudding. Vesterhave Vingaard in Karrebæksminde makes organic wines for exactly this table.
I grow wine by the sea in South Zealand. If you are spending Christmas in Denmark for the first time, or cooking a Danish dinner abroad, the menu raises an obvious question: what should you drink with it? A Danish Christmas dinner is rich, sweet and salty on the same plate, so it is a fun puzzle for a winegrower.
This guide explains the dishes in plain English, dish by dish, with the wine style that works and a suggestion from our own cellar. If you read Danish, there is also a longer Danish version: vin til julemaden.
What do Danes eat on Christmas Eve?
Danes celebrate Christmas on the evening of 24 December, and the dinner is the high point of the year for many families. Duck and roast pork are the two classics, and many homes serve both.
| Danish Christmas food | Figure or fact | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Danes who expect duck on the Christmas table | 77 % (2022) | Norstat for the Danish Agriculture and Food Council, via Landbrugsavisen |
| Danes who expect roast pork (flæskesteg) | 70 % (2022) | Norstat for the Danish Agriculture and Food Council, via Landbrugsavisen |
| Danes who find Danish ingredients important or very important in the Christmas food | 55 % (2022) | Norstat for the Danish Agriculture and Food Council, via Landbrugsavisen |
| Danes who eat duck on 24 December | About three in four (estimate) | denmark.dk |
| Roast meat replaced dried cod on Christmas Eve | Mid 1800s | lex.dk |
| Risalamande in Danish cookbooks | Last decades of the 1800s | lex.dk |
Roast duck (andesteg)
The most popular Christmas Eve dish. The official site denmark.dk stuffs the duck with apple, onion, plums and prunes and roasts it slowly for about three hours. Goose is served in some homes instead.
Roast pork (flæskesteg)
A pork roast with a thick layer of crisp crackling. According to Landbrugsavisen (2022), 70 % of Danes expected flæskesteg on the table, so many families serve it alongside the duck.
Potatoes, red cabbage and gravy
Boiled potatoes, caramelised potatoes (brunede kartofler), sweet and sour red cabbage and plenty of brown gravy. These sides add a lot of sweetness, which matters when you choose the wine.
Risalamande
A cold rice pudding with whipped cream, chopped almonds and vanilla, served with warm cherry sauce. One whole almond is hidden in the bowl, and whoever finds it wins a small gift, according to lex.dk.
The Danish encyclopaedia lex.dk notes that roast goose, duck or pork with apples and prunes, gravy, potatoes and red cabbage has been the Christmas Eve menu since the mid 1800s, when it replaced dried cod.
Which wine goes with Danish Christmas food?
Danish Christmas food needs wine with fresh acidity and generous fruit. Acidity cuts through the fat of duck and pork, and fruit keeps up with the sweet red cabbage and caramelised potatoes. Use the table as a shopping list.
| Dish | Wine style | Classic choices | From our vineyard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Herring, salmon and starters | Fresh, light, good acidity | Dry white, rosé, sparkling | Rosa Lagune or Grøn Lagune |
| Roast duck or goose | Medium body, fruit, fresh acidity | Pinot Noir, Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Alsace Pinot Gris | Sort Lagune 3 |
| Roast pork with crackling | High acidity, a touch of sweetness | Off-dry Riesling, Pinot Gris, Chenin Blanc, Italian reds | Hvid Lagune |
| Risalamande with cherry sauce | Sweeter than the dessert | Dessert wine, ruby port style | Hed Lagune |
Classic choices are based on Decanter (duck and goose), Decanter (pork) and Falstaff (desserts). The last column is my own recommendation as the winegrower.
What wine goes with Danish roast duck?
Danish roast duck goes best with a red wine that has relatively high acidity, ripe fruit and moderate tannin. Duck is fatty, and Decanter says the wine needs acidity to cut through the fat, while too much oak and tannin can overpower the dish.
Decanter names Pinot Noir as the classic choice for duck and also suggests Merlot, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cabernet Franc. For goose, which is even richer, it points to whites that combine fresh acidity with richness, such as off-dry Riesling and Alsace Pinot Gris.
The Danish version of the dish adds its own twist. The duck is stuffed with apples and prunes, and the gravy is often made from the roasting juices. That gives a sweet, fruity plate, so a red with plenty of fruit is safer than a lean, dry one.
From our vineyard, I pour Sort Lagune 3 with the duck. It is an organic red with a Médoc-inspired nose of mint, small red berries and a smoky note, and Falstaff gave it 93 points in 2026. Serve it at 16 to 18 °C and give it some time in a decanter, as the product notes recommend.
What wine goes with flæskesteg (roast pork with crackling)?
Flæskesteg goes best with a wine that has high acidity and a hint of sweetness, and a full white wine is often a better match than a heavy red. The crackling is fat and salty, and the red cabbage on the side is sweet.
Wine writer Fiona Beckett says in Decanter that roast pork belly works best with a wine that has a high level of acidity plus a touch of sweetness. For richer pork dishes with prunes she recommends Pinot Gris or an old-vine Chenin Blanc. She also notes that Italian reds have the acidity that suits pork, if the family insists on red.
This is where a Danish white wine makes sense. Our Hvid Lagune is made from Solaris and Pinot Gris, the same grape Beckett suggests. It is full and creamy with notes of pepper and smoke, and Falstaff awarded it gold with 90 to 92 points. The body stands up to the pork, and the peppery notes suit the crackling. Read more about our white grape in the Solaris grape guide.
What do you drink with risalamande?
With risalamande you drink a dessert wine that is sweeter than the pudding. Falstaff gives the general rule that the wine should be sweeter than the dessert, or the wine will taste thin and sour.
Hed Lagune, dessert wine
Hed Lagune 2019 is our organic dessert wine in the style of a ruby port, made from Rondo grapes dried for 10 days. It is medium sweet with 40 g of residual sugar per litre, and Falstaff scored it 93 points. The product notes call it perfect for risalamande on Christmas Eve. Serve it cool at 8 to 10 °C. The 375 ml bottle costs DKK 300.
Or a sparkling rosé
Is your risalamande not very sweet and the cherry sauce tart? Falstaff notes that berry desserts which are not too sweet and still taste of tart berries work well with sparkling rosé, as long as the wine is not too dry.
The almond game
One whole almond is hidden in the bowl. The person who finds it wins the mandelgave, often a marzipan pig. According to lex.dk, the tradition became common after the Second World War.
What is a Danish julefrokost, and what do you drink?
A julefrokost is a Danish Christmas lunch or party with classic small dishes, both cold and warm. The Danish encyclopaedia lex.dk notes that Danes hold one with colleagues and another with family and friends.
According to The Local Denmark, early December is the most popular time for a workplace julefrokost. The classic menu starts with pickled herring and other fish, followed by hot and cold meats such as roast pork and meatballs, then cheese and risalamande. Aquavit (schnapps), Christmas beer and gløgg are the traditional drinks, and wine is served too.
Gløgg is the Danish mulled wine, made from wine with brandy or cognac, sugar, raisins, almonds and spices such as cloves, cardamom and cinnamon. According to lex.dk, it became a standard Danish Christmas drink after the Second World War, following the Swedish model.
If you prefer wine with the fish, choose something fresh. Our Rosa Lagune rosé has notes of cherry, mint and honey, and Grøn Lagune, a light red between rosé and red wine, is recommended with fish and salmon in its product notes. For the cheese, see our Danish guide to wine with cheese.
Companies in Denmark can also hold the julefrokost with us at the vineyard. See julefrokost på Sjælland (in Danish), and feel free to write to us in English.
How do you plan the wine for a Danish Christmas Eve?
Planning the wine for a Danish Christmas Eve is easier if you work through the menu course by course. These six steps are how I would do it at home.
Start with the main dish
Decide whether the evening is about duck, pork or both. Duck points to a fruity red, pork to a full white or a fresh red.
Pick for acidity
Choose wines with fresh acidity rather than the heaviest bottle on the shelf. Acidity keeps a long, rich dinner from feeling heavy.
Mind the sweet sides
Red cabbage and caramelised potatoes are sweet. A very lean, dry wine can taste thin next to them, so look for ripe fruit.
Choose the dessert wine last
Taste the risalamande and cherry sauce, then pick a wine that is sweeter. A small 375 ml bottle is often enough for the dessert.
Count the glasses
With 12 cl per glass, a 75 cl bottle gives about 6 glasses and a 50 cl bottle about 4. Most of our bottles are 50 cl, so plan for that.
Order early
Danish wine is made in small volumes, so order before the December rush. Prices in our webshop include Danish VAT.
Can you serve Danish wine with Danish Christmas food?
Yes. Danish wine has become a serious choice, and it suits Danish food. According to Statistics Denmark (2024), 146 businesses grew wine grapes in 2022, up from 71 in 2016, and sales of Danish wine reached DKK 34 million in 2023.
| Our wine | Style | Serve with | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rosa Lagune 2025 | Fresh rosé, cherry, mint, honey. Falstaff 89 to 91 | Herring, starters, julefrokost | DKK 300, 50 cl |
| Hvid Lagune 2025 | Full white, Solaris and Pinot Gris. Falstaff 90 to 92 | Roast pork with crackling | DKK 300, 50 cl |
| Sort Lagune 3 (2021) | Red, mint, red berries, smoke. Falstaff 93 | Roast duck | DKK 500, 50 cl |
| Hed Lagune 2019 | Ruby port-style dessert wine. Falstaff 93 | Risalamande | DKK 300, 37.5 cl |
Prices from our webshop on 23 October 2026, including Danish VAT. Check the shop for current prices and stock.
Our vines grow right by Smålandshavet in South Zealand, where the sea protects them against night frost and gives the grapes a long ripening season. We are Denmark’s largest organic vineyard, we pick by hand, and we dry part of the red grapes before pressing. That method is called appassimento, and we use it for our Amarone-inspired reds.
If you visit Denmark outside the Christmas season, come and taste the wines where they grow. Tastings and tours run from spring until late autumn. Read more on our page about wine tasting near Copenhagen, or see the Danish wine guide and the list of vineyards in Denmark.
Christmas at a Danish vineyard
Frequently asked questions about Danish Christmas food and wine
What do Danes eat for Christmas dinner?
Danes eat their main Christmas meal on the evening of 24 December. The classic menu is roast duck or roast pork with crackling, often both, served with boiled and caramelised potatoes, red cabbage and brown gravy. Dessert is risalamande, a cold rice pudding with whipped cream, almonds and warm cherry sauce.
What is the most popular Christmas food in Denmark?
Roast duck. In a Norstat survey for the Danish Agriculture and Food Council in November 2022, 77 percent of Danes expected duck on the Christmas table and 70 percent expected roast pork. The official site denmark.dk estimates that three in four Danes eat duck on 24 December.
What wine goes with Danish roast duck?
Choose a red with fresh acidity and good fruit, and not too much oak or tannin. Decanter names Pinot Noir as the classic match and also suggests Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Franc. From our vineyard, I would pour Sort Lagune 3, which Falstaff scored 93 points.
What wine goes with flæskesteg (roast pork with crackling)?
Roast pork is fatty and salty, so it needs acidity. Fiona Beckett writes in Decanter that roast pork belly works best with a wine that has high acidity and a touch of sweetness, and she suggests Pinot Gris. Our white Hvid Lagune is made from Solaris and Pinot Gris.
What do you drink with risalamande?
A dessert wine that is sweeter than the dessert, which is the general rule Falstaff recommends. If the risalamande is not very sweet and the cherry sauce is tart, Falstaff notes that a sparkling rosé can also work. Our suggestion is Hed Lagune, a ruby port-style dessert wine.
What is the almond in risalamande?
One whole almond is hidden in the bowl of risalamande. According to the Danish encyclopaedia lex.dk, the person who finds it wins a small gift, often a marzipan pig, and the tradition became common after the Second World War.
Can you buy Danish wine for Christmas?
Yes. Danish vineyards make white, rosé, red, sparkling and dessert wines. At Vesterhave Vingaard in Karrebæksminde you can buy our organic wines in our webshop, including Sort Lagune 3, Hvid Lagune, Rosa Lagune and the dessert wine Hed Lagune.
Jesper Rye Jensen
Jesper is the winegrower and owner of Vesterhave Vingaard, Vesterhavevej 204, 4736 Karrebæksminde. He grows organic wine by Smålandshavet in South Zealand, and his Blå Lagune 2019 received 96 points from Falstaff.
Sources
- Landbrugsavisen: Danskernes jul 2022 er fyldt med traditionel julemad (Norstat for Landbrug & Fødevarer, 2 December 2022, in Danish)
- denmark.dk: Christmas recipes, Andesteg (roast duck)
- lex.dk: Julemad (in Danish)
- lex.dk: Risalamande (in Danish)
- lex.dk: Gløgg (in Danish)
- lex.dk: Julefrokost (in Danish)
- The Local Denmark: What is a julefrokost? (1 December 2023)
- Decanter: Wine with Christmas duck and goose
- Decanter: Wine with pork, pairing guide
- Falstaff: How to pair wine with dessert
- Statistics Denmark: Danish wine production (5 July 2024, in Danish)
- Vesterhave Vingaard: Our wines and Falstaff points
Put Danish wine on the Christmas table
Duck, flæskesteg and risalamande deserve wine from the same country. Order organic wines from Vesterhave Vingaard by Smålandshavet, scored up to 93 points by Falstaff, and pour Danish from the herring to the almond.
Questions? Write or call us in English.
[email protected]+45 40 55 77 04Vesterhavevej 204, 4736 Karrebæksminde, Denmark