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Holiday Wines

© Alan Boehmer

As we approach the holiday season, many of us focus our attention on the difficult task of matching wines with the special foods of the season. Other than the universal axiom "Drink what you like," there are few useful guidelines. Here are some thoughts, gleaned from many years of wine and food matching attempts.

GENERAL SUGGESTIONS:

1. Forget all the traditional admonishments, such as red wine with red meat and white with fish.
2. Try to match full bodied wines (white or red) with full-flavored foods; lighter wines with lighter foods.
3. Sauced foods will probably require a medium or full bodied wine.
4. Lightly sautéed, boiled, or steamed foods will probably work well with dry, light whites.
5. Pork, chicken and veal are best matched with full-bodied whites.
6. Off-dry white wines work very well with spicey foods.
7. Foods high in fat, such as rich cheeses and foie gras call for sweet wines.
8. Sweet desserts generally require wines with higher apparent sweetness, or may be better with other beverages.

MARRIAGES

These are difficult and rare (didn't you already know that?). There are a few classics: Port with Stilton (of any blue-veined cheese)
Cabernet Sauvignon with Chocolate
Sauternes with Foie Gras
Pinot Noir with Duck

More often than not, marriages are happy accidents. Since food preparations vary greatly, as do wines, a marriage depends upon very specific compatibilities. So where one particular wine matches a particular preparation, similar ones may not.

USEFUL TIPS

Here are a few general suggestions for the most commonly served holiday meats:

Turkey:

Grenache, Gamay, Valdiguie, Pinot Blanc, Dry Gewürztraminer, Dry Rosé

Ham:

Off-dry Rosé, Any Gewürztraminer, Riesling

Goose or Duck:

Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, Tempranillo, Chianti Classico, Rioja

Prime Rib, Rare to Medium:

California Barbera, Rioja, Chianti Classico, Sangiovese, Tempranillo

Prime Rib, Well Done:

Dry Chardonnay, Dry Gewürztraminer, Dry Riesling

Beef, Steaks or Roast:

Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc

Roasted or Grilled Lamb:

Syrah

JUST A REMINDER

Some Light-Bodied Whites:

Tank-fermented Sauvignon Blancs
Dry Gewürztranimer
Dry Riesling
Malvasia Bianca
Muscadet

Some Full-Bodied Whites:

Barrel-fermented Sauvignon Blancs, or aged Sauvignons
Pinot Blanc
Chardonnay or white Burgundy

Some Medium-Bodied Reds (These are the best choice for the widest range of foods):

Gamay (Beaujolais)
Grenache
Pinot Noir or red Burgundy
Barbera
Sangiovese
Tempranillo
Chianti
Rioja

Some Full-Bodied Reds:

Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Franc
Merlot
Syrah
Zinfandel
Petite Sirah

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