Wine 101: Holiday Wines | The Beachside Resident

By: Ken Mageau

Article Category: Wine Life Leave a Comment

What wine to choose for the holidays? As I’ve stated here before, the best wine for any occasion is the one you enjoy, but there’s something about the holiday season that demands the selection of something extra-special. I’ll attempt to head you in the right direction.

The holidays are a time for celebration and to give thanks, and although there’s been little to cheer about in 2009, let’s start with the ultimate celebration drink — champagne. True champagne is from the Champagne region of France; all others should be called sparkling wines… or so say the French. But being Americans, we don’t care what the French say, and California gives us fantastic champagnes of our own. Most champagnes will read “brut” on the label, which means “dry”; “extra brut” is extra dry. You’ll find quality in all price points, so you don’t need to spend a lot of money to find a great bottle. Serving champagne is also the perfect way to start or finish any holiday celebration.

As far as wines go, the general rule most people follow is “white for fish or fowl and red for beef,” and since turkey is a type of fowl, any white wine would make an excellent accompaniment. A nice chardonnay, viognier or a pinot gris would be a great wine for your holiday dinner. But if you came to me and asked me the perfect wine for turkey, I’d say pinot noir. I know it’s a red wine, but it truly pairs well with a turkey meal.

If you’re Italian and you start your meal with antipasto or move onto some sort of pasta with red sauce, you might try a barbera or a sangiovese. Or if you’re unconventional and serve ham for a holiday meal, a riesling or a gewürztraminer would make a perfect match.

But before you loosen your belt and fall asleep watching football, there some great dessert wines out there to help you finish off your holiday meal in style. Dessert wines usually come in 375 ml. bottles — half bottles — and are late harvest wines and ice wines. A late harvest wine is made from grapes that have been left on the vine until the last moment. The longer the grape is on the vine, the more natural sugars build in the grape. As such, late harvest wines will be smooth and sweet and will go well with most desserts. An ice wine is a wine made from grapes that have stayed on the vine until frozen solid. They are hand-picked, grape by grape, then thawed and crushed. The resulting wine is highly sweet and is very crisp and clean on the palate. Ice wines are best served with any chocolate dessert.

I’d like to thank you all for taking the time to read these articles; I really enjoy doing them. And I’d like you wish you and yours a happy and healthy holiday season.

Drink and enjoy.

Ken Mageau is the owner of The Flying Corkscrew, purveyors of fine wine, beer and cigars, located at 1877 S. Patrick Dr. in Indian Harbour Beach. Call (321) 773-8757, or visit www.brevardwines.com