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foodandwine120Many of us wrestle with a conundrum at holiday time: if I’m the host, what wine should I serve with dinner, and if I’m a guest, what wine should I bring the host? Here are some suggestions to help resolve these questions.

Let’s start with the easiest. If it’s a special occasion, like celebrating the arrival of the New Year, a sparkling wine is always appropriate.  Champagne from France is certainly the most authentic and traditional, but not necessarily the cheapest. If you like the idea of giving a sparkling wine, you could choose spumantes from Italy or Freixenet from Spain. Sparkling white wines and roses are also available from Finger Lakes wineries. Incidentally, sparkling wine is an appropriate gift for most dinner occasions because the action of the bubbles brings out the flavor of food.

If your host is serving turkey, there are many possibilities based on personal taste. Among whites that would be welcome are Pinot Grigio, Chenin Blanc, Viognier, and Sauvignon Blanc. In the Finger Lakes, you can’t go wrong with a local dry Riesling or, if you prefer a sweeter wine, a semi-dry Riesling. It’s always nice to support your local vinters. You could also bring a zesty wine like Gewürztraminer that can balance the wide variety of pungent accompaniments often served at holiday dinners like earthy Brussels sprouts, chestnut dressing, turnips and tart cranberries. If you really want to make an impression, bring a bottle of white and a bottle of red.  The white could be served to guests who prefer white meat, the red to the dark meat fans. Among reds, you could choose Pinot Noir, Merlot, Côte du Rhône, and Beaujolais.

It shouldn’t be a problem if the intended recipient has a sweet tooth. There are plenty of wines with high residual sugar levels ranging from 5 to 10%.  Many Finger Lakes’ wineries offer sweet wines because, generally speaking, they are more popular in this area than dry wines. Some experts believe that novice wine drinkers prefer sweeter wines.  The more experienced and sophisticated a wine drinker becomes, the dryer the wine he/she prefers. If you buy into this theory it could be an important consideration when you’re selecting a gift wine.

Between the category of dry and sweet is a group of wines usually labeled semi-dry or semi-sweet.  Semi-dry wines have approximately a 2%-6% residual sugar level. (Dry, semi-dry, and semi-sweet are subjective designations, but most winemakers would agree that the numbers I’ve mentioned in this article are in the ballpark.)  What we’re considering here is how much acid is in the grape to offset the sugar. When I’m not sure what to give or to serve, I often hedge my bets and choose something in the semi-dry category, particularly when I bring a wine that will be served to several guests.  A semi-sweet Finger Lakes Riesling, with a residual sugar of around 2.5% to 3.5% is usually popular.

If you’d like a bit of a novelty, you’ll find cranberry wines at Cayuga Ridge Estates Winery and Montezuma Winery.

Looking for a wine to serve with dessert or strong cheese? Some people prefer port wines and brandy to “regular” wines. Port (Porto) traditionally comes from the Douro region of northern Portugal. Brandy is added to Port during fermentation in effect stopping the fermentation and leaving the wine quite strong and sweet. Brandy has been distilled, meaning the wine is run through a still which separates the water from the alcohol leaving a strongly flavored and high alcohol content product. 

After the meal a quality Cognac is always appreciated.  All Cognac is brandy but not all brandy is Cognac.  I’ll be writing more about this in a future article.

When I lived in England I watched a popular food and wine television program with a hostess, Gilly Goolden, who made a big deal out of tasting a wine and interminably swishing it around her mouth.  Finally she uttered her eagerly awaited decision, which was usually something like:  “It tastes like old, wet shoe.”  I never figured out how she knew what old, wet shoe tasted like but it sure was entertaining.

There’s a lot of pretension and snobbery associated with wine. To me, it’s very simple: A “good wine” is the wine you like. The upcoming holidays are the perfect occasion to share a “good wine” with friends and family.

Happy Holidays!

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