By Ray Spaziani
Wine Talk
Ray Spaziani
Holiday dinners present a great time to try new wines with our old favorite recipes. Turkey, ham or prime rib all have various alternatives to try, and there are many diverse wines that are versatile and sure to make your holiday dinners something special.
Serving ham? This is a great place to start because ham is so popular. Whether it is honeyed, baked or smoked, ham needs a little dash of sweet. A German Riesling that is low in residual sugar and made in a lighter style will do the trick. I highly recommend an Alsatian Riesling because it contains more body and has a good deal less sugar. It has enough acid to match well with any pork dish. Gewürztraminer is a good choice also. Reds can be served with ham also. The most compatible includes Beaujolais nouveau, pinot noir, and Tempranillo. You can even serve some zinfandels if they are lighter in nature. When serving reds with ham a light texture is most important.
Turkey is challenging because no one eats turkey by itself. There are rich sauces and a large assortment of wonderful sides that need to be accounted for. My favorite is Sauvignon Blanc. Sauvignon Blanc has an herbal quality that seems to blend with turkey and all the fixings. Viognier goes nicely also. The experts like dry Riesling and Gewürztraminer. I can go along with dry Riesling but I don’t agree with Gewürztraminer. If you must serve red, pinot noir is a good paring. Zinfandel works also. Syrah/shiraz is a good alternative, as well as Beaujolais nouveau.
If you are serving duck, you need to keep in mind that it has a very fatty profile and the meat is gamy. There are a large variety of duck preparations. If you are preparing roasted, smoked or braised duck, go with the great French regional red wines. That would include the reds of Burgundy, Bordeaux and Rhone blends. If you are going with a fruit-based type of sauce, then spice it in Gewürztraminer. Sauterne wines will work very well.
If you are serving prime rib, the big bold red wines are the way to go. Cabernet is my favorite, but a big Spanish Tempranillo goes great and a wonderful zin from Lodi works well. The experts tell us that white Burgundy, which is made from the chardonnay grape, will go together. With so many wonderful red wines that will match perfectly, I wouldn’t try to find just the right white. Merlot works great, and so does carménère and malbec.
In my home, every holiday celebration has a pasta course. I love big tomato meat sauces and alfredo sauce. I drink big Italian reds with both of them; Chianti Classico Riserva is my favorite. This wine is made with a high percentage of Sangiovese grape. It is aged in oak for two years and aged in the bottle for six months. Look for a picture of a black rooster on the bottle and look for the letters DOCG on the label. These indicate a government guarantee of quality. The black rooster indicates the producers were members of the Chianti League, indicating the grapes came from the Chianti region.
Desserts are matched by weight. Try some fortified wine, like ports and madras. Some brandies go well – brandy is distilled wine. Experiment and mix and match. Most importantly, enjoy your holiday season with family and friends, food and wine.
Ray Spaziani is the chapter director of the New Haven chapter of the American Wine Society. He is on the tasting panels of Winemaker Magazine and Amate del Vino and is a certified wine educator and award-winning home winemaker. Email Ray with your wine questions or activities at realestatepro1000@gmail.com.