Coles and Liquorland unwrap their most sustainable Christmas entertaining range - catering for all budgets
6 October 2022
Coles, together with ambassador and Michelin Star chef Curtis Stone, has given a sneak peek of its indulgent and sustainable festive range of Christmas products, at a time when more Australians are looking for increasingly diverse, easy entertaining ideas on a variety of budgets.
A talented team of chefs, product developers and liquor experts at Coles have been working all year to inspire customers with 151 and 106 new own brand/exclusive products in supermarkets and liquor, an increase of 27% and 6% on last year’s new range respectively.
A recent survey of more than 2,100 customers found that two out of three will spend Christmas either at their home or the home of friends or family, indicating that entertaining at home will continue to be an important theme this year.
Australians won’t need to go anywhere else for their Christmas and summer celebration needs with Coles and Liquorland’s new ranges including gourmet starters, show-stopping centrepieces, decadent desserts, festive favourite sweets and treats, beautifully designed decorations, fabulous floral arrangements, delicious drinks and gorgeous gifts.
The food highlights include a Coles Christmas Juniper Berry Seasoned Ham made from 100% Australian sow-stall free pork, the Coles Finest Luxury Black Forest Bombe Pudding, Coles Entertaining Prawns in Blankets and for the first time, a Nature’s Kitchen Plant-based Christmas Ham style Roast with a with Vegan Maple Glaze, among more than 25 festive vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free products aimed at the increasing number of Australians with diverse dietary needs.
When it comes to delicious bakery treats, there are 30 new products in the Own Brand range this year. With cheesecake ranking as one of the top searched items at Christmas on Taste.com.au, Coles has created a first ever novelty Santa cheesecake with a biscuit base, vanilla cheesecake, and raspberry topping, decorated with a chocolate Santa belt and produced in Australia. Adding to the holiday fun, to complement last year’s best-selling gingerbread house is a new gingerbread decorating kit and a hand decorated Christmas Tree shaped fudge brownie, filled with chocolate chunks made by a local family-owned bakery in New South Wales.
The number of locally-sourced Bakery products has increased this year, with customers expected to spoil themselves with the new Coles Finest Jewelled Fruit Cake, produced by a local family-owned business in the Adelaide Hills in South Australia, and the new Coles Finest Luxury Black Forest Crumble Mini Tarts, all hand-made and decorated in Victoria.
With cost-of-living top of mind for an increasing number of customers this Christmas, Coles has worked hard to ensure it has great value on Aussie Christmas favourites like Coles Beechwood Half Leg and Full Leg Ham, which will be the same price as last year. This continues to build on Coles’ commitment to value and helping family’s budgets go further. Yesterday, Coles dropped and locked the price of over 150 products Aussies love, this is on top of locking in the price of over 1,100 household staples until the end of January 2023.
Coles and Liquorland customers will also be able to get their hands on striking Schott Zwiesel “PURE” Tritan® crystalline glassware for FREE by earning ‘Glassware credits’ when they spend $20 in one transaction and scan their Flybuys card during their shop at Coles, Coles Online, Liquorland and Liquorland Online1.
Coles Chief Executive Officer Steven Cain said the focus this year was to produce a delicious Christmas range that would cater to all budgets and festive celebrations.
“After a tough year for many Australians, the new range will help Australians celebrate in style with their family and friends. You can truly do it all at Coles this Christmas with exceptional value, breadth and quality at the heart of this range. Our team is focused on using the very best ingredients and making it easy and fuss-free for our customers with minimal preparation required.
“We know that reducing unnecessary waste is a key concern for our customers, so we have been focused on ensuring more of our packaging is recyclable and carries the Australasian Recycling label to help customers recycle it correctly. We are proud that as at end June 2022, 94.6% of our Coles Own Brand product packaging is now recyclable, compared to only 87% at the same time last year.”
Coles Ambassador and Michelin award winning chef Curtis Stone said this year’s range is focussed on providing the very best value on locally sourced fresh produce.
“We know that this Christmas more than ever customers will want to have the very best quality products for their family and friends, while also making their household budgets go further,” Curtis said.
“Our festive smoked juniper ham embodies the flavours of Christmas; it’s made from 100% Australian pork and delicious served warm or thinly sliced cold. All of our fresh meat is 100% Australian and we are proud that our range of fresh turkeys have never been frozen. Our prawns are responsibly sourced2 we can assure customers they will be in abundance and at our very best price when customers are wanting to enjoy them most.”
Coles Liquor General Manager Mia Lloyd said this Christmas Australians are going to want to get together bigger and better than ever before.
“Whether that means celebration or relaxation, we’ve got options for all events and occasions. To ensure you don’t turn up empty handed, we’ve got the Winton Road range available in a gift box, ready to hand-over at the door, or for a bit of fun the Veuve Clicquot Smeg Fridge Gift box, could be this year’s premium collectable,” Mia said.
“We also have extended our range of healthier options for customers to cater for increased demand in the category. We’ve introduced a range of low and no alcohol drinks across all categories including from our award-winning beer label Tinnies. We also expect our new no sugar ready-to-drink Just Vodka Soda Black to be very popular as our customers want to cut back on unnecessary sugar, but still enjoy a celebratory drink during the festive season.
“My top pick for Christmas lunch itself, is the Beyond The Wilderness Pinot Rosé 750mL, crafted from premium pinot noir grapes from Tasmania, complementing the 100% Australian Coles Christmas Juniper Berry Seasoned Ham.”
SUSTAINABILITY
With an ambition to be Australia’s most sustainable supermarket, Coles has worked to reduce waste this Christmas by making its packaging more sustainable and added the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL) to more Own Brand packaging than ever before so that customers know what they can recycle. For example, over 300,000 pieces of select Christmas ham packaging will carry the ‘Return to store’ ARL. Additional packaging components of festive favourites have been transitioned to recyclable, such as the net bags for Coles Christmas Milk Chocolate Coins where the metal clip has been removed, meaning that these can now be recycled through REDcycle bins in store. Coles has also removed glitter and added ARL logos to its Christmas floral packaging.
For the first time, Coles has also introduced a brand new Christmas gift wrap which is made in Australia from 100% FSC Recycled material.
The release of the Eco bottle, exclusive to Liquorland is made in Australia from 100% recycled Australian PET plastic (excluding the cap). It’s available across the Banrock Station and Taylors wine brands, weighs 83% less than a traditional glass wine bottle and a box of 12 bottles takes up half the space of glass bottles, which means lower emissions transporting them from the winery to Liquorland shelves.
These sustainability initiatives follow Coles’ move last year to be the first supermarket to remove plastic from its popular bon-bons, taking 3.6 tons of plastic out of Coles’ Christmas range. The best-selling stylish Coles Festive Crackers are back this year, filled with a classic joke, paper hat and puzzles.
The highlights of the unique and exclusive decoration range include Coles Pine Wood Decorations featuring much loved Australian animal characters which have been designed, manufactured and packed in Australia. Made from Australian PEFC (Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) pine, these decorations are laser cut in the NSW country town of Moruya and packaged with the help of local charity Yumaro which provides access to a range of services including employment, community access and advocacy for people with a disability and their families.
For high-res images from the official Coles and Liquorland Christmas 2022 launch
CLICK HERE
Download the Coles and Liquorland Christmas 2022 booklet here
For further information, please contact Coles Media Line (03) 9829 5250 or
media.relations@coles.com.au
MORE HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE RANGE
Entertaining
Coles Pork Bites with Honey Glazed Granny Smith Apple Sauce is perfect for Christmas entertaining. Crumbed sow-stall free pork, filled with a sweet and tangy Granny Smith apple sauce. Easy to prepare and will impress your guests on arrival.
Coles Pepperoni Pizza Spring Rolls are sure to be the talk of the town and Christmas gatherings with crunchy golden brown spring rolls with a rich tomato, pepperoni and cheese pizza filling.
Coles Entertaining Prawns in Blankets Succulent peeled prawn cutlets wrapped in a crisp and golden pastry. Super moreish and perfect as a finger food with dipping sauce.
Coles Entertaining Norwegian Cold Smoked Trout 400g Cold smoked with beechwood chips to give a firm, succulent texture and delicate flavour. Entertainer sized product, best served with cream cheese, dill, lemon and a water cracker for a classic canape.
Coles Finest Australian Free Range Chicken Pate is made from Tasmanian free range RSPCA approved chicken livers, this creamy pate is smooth, rich and full of flavour. Finished with warm, fruity notes of Tawny & Apera fortified wines.
Coles Festive Pretzels/400g A mix of crunchy and salty festive shaped pretzels, perfect for sharing and entertaining. Pretzels come in candy cane, Christmas tree, star, bell and stocking shapes.
Coles Salted Caramel Almonds and Pecans Utterly addictive, a mixed bag of creamy pecans and almonds in a lightly salted crunchy caramel.
This year, 10 Coles Finest Cheeses have been added across both the Dairy and Deli categories. These include the Coles Finest Swiss Appenzeller, Truffle Goats Cheese and Spanish Red Wine Cheese Across the store there are over 30 Coles Finest Cheeses to choose from, providing a smorgasbord of choice for your grazing boards this summer.
CENTRE OF PLATE
Coles Christmas Juniper Seasoned Ham is a cured Australian Sow Stall free pork silverside portion, made in Victoria, with a rich sweet Victorian mountain ash wood smoke rolled in a juniper seasoning with Christmas spices and cracked black pepper. Juniper berry has a history tied into the Christmas holidays where it was used to create wreaths to hang on doors and for decoration. This exceptional ham is perfect straight from the fridge or ready to be warmed through in the oven.
Coles RSPCA Approved Turkey Breast Roast Easy Carve with Sage & Onion Stuffing and Topped with Bacon
Nature's Kitchen Plant Based Christmas Ham Style Roast with Vegan Maple Glaze is made in Australia, and has a Hickory smoky flavour that’s paired with a sweet & sticky Maple glaze, perfect for serving 4 people.
Coles Deli Salmon Side is a whole trimmed Tasmanian Atlantic salmon side, ready to be marinaded or crumbed and baked for the perfect Christmas table centrepiece.
Coles Deli Seafood Condiments Range, available for purchase on top of the deli case and features marinades, crumbs, finishing sauces and butter discs. This range will take all the hard work out of DIY seafood this year. The range includes a Sweet Chilli & Lime Seafood Marinade, providing a deliciously sweet and zesty flavour profile perfect with salmon, barramundi and BBQ prawns.
DESSERTS
Coles Finest Luxury Black Forest Bombe Pudding This dark, smooth black forest pudding is a celebration of decadence. Made with cherry brandy infused chocolate sponge, it’s packed with generous pieces of Belgian dark chocolate, with a hidden centre of indulgent Belgian chocolate sauce. Finish to taste with the sour cherry sauce on top and decorate with freeze-dried cherries for an exquisite experience.
Coles Finest Luxury Black Forest Crumble Mini Tarts Extending the range of crumble tarts this year, this black forest fruit filled tart is a bite of pure indulgence, with a decadent chocolate pastry case, luscious sour cherry filling and infused with cherry brandy for a smooth finish. Topped by hand with bitter chocolate almond crumble, and a dusting of sugar, they’re a festive black forest treat in an enticing crumble mini tart.
Coles Fruit Mince Filled Shortbread An alternative format to the typical fruit mince pie, this buttery shortbread is filled with traditional fruit mince filling, a delicious take on a classic favourite.
The Coles Finest Indulgent Mousse Range is a range of delicious, individually portioned desserts, sold in reusable glass jars. With four flavours in the range, including Alphonso Mango and Berries & Belgian Chocolate, not only are these desserts pretty enough to serve to your Christmas guests, the individual serving size makes these the perfect solo treat throughout the festive season.
FLORALS
Coles Christmas floral range has something for all occasions and price points across flowers and potted. There will be the traditional poinsettias and a range of festive potted ranges ideal gifting for Kris Kringle’s, teachers’ gifts, home decorating and gift giving. Building on the success of last year we will be re-ranging the mini-Christmas tree, the woolly bush tree and Colin the reindeer.
Coles has expanded the offer to include Colin’s cousin and a Christmas gnome with plant which is perfect for gifting or decorating your own home, both representing great value
The week leading into Christmas Coles will launch a seasonal flower range which has a great selection of bouquets and price points for all. Highlights include the desert rose and sweeping plains bouquet.
GROCERY
Peppermint Candy Canes Nothing says Christmas like candy canes! These sweet and minty candy canes are made with no artificial colours or flavours. Be sure to add them to your cards, presents and Christmas trees.
Christmas Chocolate Pops Available in a variety of festive designs from Santa to Reindeer, these Chocolate pops will be a hit amongst your family and friends. They are made with premium Belgian chocolate with Rainforest Alliance certification using no artificial colours or flavours.
Coles Christmas Milk Chocolate Coins are perfect as stocking fillers or sprinkled around the Christmas table as delicious décor! Made with Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa.
Christmas Gift Wrapped Ballotin Box Looking for a last minute gift? This beautiful Christmas Gift Wrapped Ballotin Box is filled with 16 creamy chocolate varieties, making gift-giving easy this Christmas.
Christmas Assorted Biscuit Tin A delicious assortment of your favourite biscuits inside a beautifully designed Christmas tin. A decorative piece to display in your home to inspire festivities in the lead up to Christmas.
Sodasmith is a new mixers brand available exclusively with Coles Group and is taking the Australian mixers industry by storm. The four core tonics and sodas are locally made using the purest Tasmanian spring water and feature native Australian ingredients like lemon myrtle and finger lime. In addition to the focus on locally sourced ingredients, sustainability has been a key pillar for the creation of the Sodasmith brand and for this reason aluminium cans were chosen over glass bottles for their improved recyclability. Sodasmith is available in Coles supermarkets, all First Choice Liquor stores and selected Liquorland and Vintage Cellars stores.
DRINKS
Banrock Station Eco-Bottle Pinot Grigio 750mL Riverland, Australia Figs, nashi pear and mandarin flavours abound. All complimented by a refined acid backbone that balances out the palate nicely.
Taylors One Small Step Eco-Bottle Chardonnay 750mL South Australia Refreshing and full of luscious tropical fruits, crafted to be enjoyed immediately
Banrock Station Eco-Bottle Pinot Noir 750mL Riverland, Australia Soft and velvety, with notes of cherries, red berries and a hint of sweet spice
Taylors One Small Step Eco-Bottle Shiraz 750mL South Australia Spicy fruit characters and a long satisfying finish, crafted to be enjoyed immediately
Canard-Duchêne Brut NV Champagne 750mL France Intense aromas of fresh fruit, typical of Pinot varietals. A golden hue and delicate bubbles. Notes of fruit coupled with hints of buttery brioche
Canard-Duchêne Brut Rosé NV 750mL France Beautifully made Champagne, with an intense nose of red forest berries & a generous, magically textured palate of complex red fruits & spice aromas
Beyond the Wilderness NV Brut Cuveé Rosé 750mL Tasmania Fresh redcurrant and cherry aromas on initial approach. Perfumed red florals float seamlessly in the background. Vivid flavours of watermelon and fresh raspberry sit upon a lively thread of cool climate bubbles. Lees ageing delivers textbook richness, complexity, and charm. (Vegan friendly).
Beyond the Wilderness NV Brut Cuveé 750mL Tasmania Complex notes of honeysuckle and candied red apple are elevated by fresh citrus and strawberry aromatics. The palate is juicy and vibrant with complex nougat, brioche and almond flavours tightly famed by pristine Tasmanian acidity. (Vegan friendly)
Veuve Clicquot NV Brut 750mL France Smeg Gift Case Perfect for gifting, your favourite Veuve Clicquot Champagne is consistently rated in the top handful of NV Champagnes from France and delivers a powerful bubbly with a rich mouthfeel. Housed in a fashion forward Smeg 'fridge' akin to the iconic colours of the Veuve Clicquot label, this Champagne has a generous freshness and layers of floral and fruity complexity that flows into a remarkably long and powerful finish.
Beyond the Wilderness Pinot Rosé 750mL Tasmania Crafted from premium hand-picked Pinot Noir grapes. It displays perfumed aromas of fresh picked strawberries and rose petal with generous red berry fruit flavours delivered seamlessly across the palate
Winton Road Barossa Valley Shiraz 750mL Barossa Valley, SA Rich and intense, with upfront flavours of dark plums, blackcurrant, strawberries, raspberries and blackberry with lingering hint of spice. It combines perfectly with subtle oak flavours and smooth tannins. The ideal accompaniment to roasted or grilled meats such as beef or venison, as well as hard cheeses such as cheddar and parmesan, this deep ruby-red shiraz is ideal for dinner parties
Winton Road Eden Valley Chardonnay 750mL Barossa Valley, SA Pale and bright lemon colour with aromas of white peach, nashi pear, nougat and citrus. The palate is nicely weighted and shows the delicate vanilla-sweet spice of new French oak with a hint of crème fraîche to accompany the orchard, stone fruit and citrus characters. The complex finish is accompanied by a gentle and refreshing acidity and a flint-like minerality.
Tinnies Pale Ale Can 375mL Australia This World Beer Award winner pale ale boasts a light, hazy amber colour that’s pleasing to the eye. When taking a sip, taste buds are met with beautiful, smooth flavours that exhibit a good balance of biscuit malt and satisfying citrus undertones.
Tinnies Ultra Low Alcohol Can 375mL Australia Bursting with hoppy aromas of bright citrus and fresh pine, with a malty backbone and extra hops offering a generous but balanced bitterness, this excellent low alcohol beer is perfect those looking to moderate alcohol over the festive celebrations.
Smithy’s Dry Lager Bottle 330mL Australia Refreshing full strength lager with a smooth and dry finish. Smithy’s Dry has 50% less carbs than a standard lager due to its unique brewing process that actively reduces the amount of available sugar. Full on flavour, low on carbs!
Just Drinks Vodka Soda Black 330mL A classic combination of Australian vodka and soda water. Just Vodka + Soda Black has a stronger serve of vodka and only 105 calories, for a cleaner sugar-free option. Made for easy entertaining.
1 Spend $20 in one transaction at Coles, Coles Online, Liquorland or Liquorland Online (after savings and discounts have been applied) to receive a Glassware credit. $20 spend excludes some purchases including Coles Insurance products, Coles Best Buys Online Exclusive, iTunes cards, gift cards, smoking/tobacco products, mobile phones and mobile phone plans, recharge, Opal top up, calling cards, charity products, eBay and UberEats purchases. Excludes Coles Express and liquor purchases in WA North and NT. Offer available while stocks last only. Earn credits until 03/1/2023 and redeem until 17/1/2023 or while stocks last.
2 At Coles, responsibly sourced seafood means that farms and fisheries have been independently certified or assessed to help mitigate potential environmental risks − including impacts on surrounding ecosystems, illegal and unregulated fishing, and overfishing of stocks related to seafood sourcing and production of Coles Own Brand products.
https://www.coles.com.au/about-coles/supporting-aussie-producers/farm-to-store/seafood
