Tag Archives: dessert wine

What fun and delicious wines will grace your Thanksgiving table?

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I am certainly looking forward to enjoying Thanksgiving Dinner with family and friends. However, I am going to change up the wine offerings this year. As the dishes served are standard Thanksgiving fare offered and anticipated as well as those family favorites, I do not want to mess with the menu or the family ‘food traditions.’

To keep it simple, I will be serving the following:

For the happy hour (before the serious eating commences):

Veuve Cliquot Demi Sec NV – this Champagne is lush on the palate and has enough sweetness to soften the acidity with just a touch of yeasty character. The mousse is lively and gives the champagne a delightful crispness not expected in a demi sec. The aromas and flavors evoke peach, caramel, pear, and Meyer lemon, which linger beautifully, and the finale is a long, pleasant finish. It is a delightful Champagne and will please both connoisseurs as well as those new to this style.

I recently purchased this at Total Wine & More for $65 for a 750ml bottle (with the ‘buy six’ discount). If you do not need a whole bottle, it is also available in a half bottle size (www.wine.com). Serving in a beautiful champagne flute or Grandma’s cut crystal will add elegance and scream festive! This beautiful wine is a combination of Pinot Noir, with Chardonnay, Meunier, and reserve wines from the cellar. It hails from the Champagne region of France.

At the table, I will be serving a white and a red wine:

Famille Hugel Classic Gewurztraminer 2019 (or slightly older) – this white wine beauty from the Alsace region of France is an aromatic variety that delivers tropical fruit, peach, pear, melon, honey, ginger and exhibits notable minerality. The wine is clean and fresh with a spicy element to complement all those savoy flavors present in Thanksgiving fare. It has great weight on the palate and offer low acidity, so it will not overpower the savory elements of your meal. If making a simple salad, you can also use this Gewurztraminer as the ‘acid’ part of your salad dressing, adding it to extra virgin olive oil and spices of your choice.

I recently tasted this in Alsace in the town of Riquewihr at the Hugel Family winery tasting room. You can purchase it easily through www.vinvino.com or at Raley’s markets. The price ranges from $23 to $26 per bottle.

Domaine Pardon Cuvee Hugo Fleurie 2020 – this is not the Noveau Beaujolais wine released on the 3rd Thursday in November each year. This is a serious Gamay wine crafted from the vineyards in the North of Beaujolais in the Cru of Fleurie (there are 10 Crus in Beaujolais making delicious wines). I recently paired this wine for an event where the driving element of the main dish was the spice, Saffron. It absolutely sang with the food, and I know it will do the same with your Thanksgiving meal. It has just enough tart raspberry and cranberry elements coupled with a spicy and earthy finish for all those delicious, crazy flavors in our American Thanksgiving extravaganza. While aromatic and flavorful, the wine offers a light to medium body and the acidity keeps the palate fresh and lively.

Often, Gamay from Beaujolais will rival Pinot Noir at about one-third the price. The wine does not have an overabundance of tannin, so it is a very versatile food wine. I purchased this at Total Wine & More for $23 (with the ‘buy six’ discount).

For dessert:

Dow’s 10 Year Tawny Port – while there are many amazing dessert type wines, after such a big meal with a menagerie of textures and flavors, and a glance at the dessert table which may include pumpkin, pecan, and apple pies, something with enough flavor and just rich enough will set the tone and finish your dinner. Dow’s port will not disappoint and will give just enough bang for the finale. The wine exhibits aromas and flavors of dried apricot, baked cherries, plum cake with a definite nutty characteristic. It is aged in oak barrels and is a blend of older wines that are an average of 10 years.

I have used this port wine for many events, and it is a bargain at around $30 a bottle. I found it at Save Mart, www.wine.com and Total Wine.

While there are many wines available that will give you a great pairing experience, I hope you will try one or more of these recommendations. Remember, there are no absolutes when pairing wine and food but many variables. Those include the food and the elements in the dish but most importantly, the people you love and are hoping to please.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What sweet, fortified wine are you serving with Christmas dessert?

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As I am a first generation American with Hungarian heritage, I generally serve the highly sought after Tokaji wine, famous for its sweet, fruity, and acidic character.  It is such an interesting grape!  It is thick skinned but, as it ripens, the skins stretch and thin allowing the sunlight to penetrate, increasing the concentration of sugar.  The sweetness level can vary depending upon how much residual sugar the winemaker decides to leave in the wine, how botrytized the grapes become and how the wine is ultimately blended.  The sweetness is measured in ‘Puttonyos’ on a scale from 1 to 6 which is noted on the label.  The most common is 5 Puttonyos.

Now, when I say ‘sweet’, I do not want you to think of sweet as in cloying, grocery store, birthday cake icing.  It is a sweet wine, for sure, but with a backbone of acidity that makes the wine bright and lively on the palate with a hint of minerality.  The elevated acidity is the key to a wine with great balance.

Stylistically, Tokaji shows apricot, orange zest and honey on a core of earth and minerality. I love to serve this with an Almond Tart topped with Mascarpone.  It is a true gift from the vineyard.  The Royal Tokaji Wine Company makes a splendid product, generally found in 500 ml bottles (vs. the standard 750 ml size), and the price ranges from $45 to $70 depending upon vintage.

Sauternes is another excellent choice.  It too is a sweet wine, rich and honeyed on the palate and shows a bit more fruit than the Tokaji wine. Foggy condition in the region (Sauternes is south of the city of Bordeaux along the Garonne River) can create the perfect conditions for the growth of Botrytis, a mold that pulls water from the grapes, causing them to shrivel on the vine (think raisins) and gives the wine its signature richness.  The grapes have concentrated sugars and flavors which result in sweet, intensely flavored wines.

Stylistically, Sauternes have notes of apricots, honey, and peaches but with a slightly nutty element.  Foie gras is a classic match for these beautiful wines.  While the most famous producer is Chateau Y’quem (price point of $200+ at the least expensive), Chateau Suduiraut is a favorite of mine and more modestly priced (generally in the $50 to $75 range depending upon vintage) and always seem to please.

Port is another all-time favorite and probably better recognized in the mainstream wine drinking community.  It is crafted in varying styles and quality.  The grapes are grown in steep vineyards that wind along the Douro River in Northern Portugal all the way East toward the Spanish border.  Once the grapes are harvested, they are taken to the winery, placed in Lagares (large, shallow tanks made of granite) for fermenting and extraction.   This is accomplished by the traditional process of ‘foot treading’ which extracts color, tannin, and flavors from the grapes.  Using the human foot prevents the breaking of seeds which can impart bitter tannins into the must.  This practice is still used by some premium and super premium port producers, although modern lagares have been created that use silicon feet to replicate the traditional human foot treading.

The wine is fortified which stops fermentation and it spends its first year in the Douro.  The maturing wine is transported (once upon a time in boats on the Douro) to Vila Nova de Gaia across the river from Oporto for further ageing.  Many styles of port are crafted from a simple Ruby or Tawny port (no vintage or age indication on the label) to high quality Vintage/Late Bottled Vintage (LBV) ports to Tawny Ports/Colheita with an indication of age and celebrating their oxidative life in the barrel. 

This year, we will be enjoying a 20 Year Graham’s Tawny Port with our Christmas dessert.  This tawny wine was aged in neutral wooden barrels called ‘pipes’ which allows controlled exposure to oxygen for a period of time so the alcohol integrates. The once fresh fruit aromas and flavors take on dried fruit characteristics and oxidative aromas, bringing enticing aromas and flavors of caramel and nuts to the wine.  

While the bottle is labeled as aged for 20 years, this does not mean the minimum age of the wine in the blend is at least 20 years old.  A 20 Year Tawny Port is made up of wines younger and older than the specified age.  In reality, the wine is tasted by a panel within the IVDP (the governing body that supervises wine producers in the region) and this organization does a taste test to ensure the wine has characteristics indicative of a wine that age to be labeled as such.

Because I could not wait, I decided to taste the wine before serving at Christmas and as anticipated, this is a particularly good wine.  Although port has high alcohol, the generous primary stone fruit aromas/flavors of plum and apricot and the tertiary elements of caramel, raisins, nuts, orange peel with a hint of cinnamon, are expressive and show incredibly good balance and an elevated palate intensity just short of pronounced.  The acidity is juicy and complements the soft tannins ending in a complex ripe/dried fruit and smooth finish.  I know this is going to be a very tasty accompaniment to the homemade Rum Bundt Cake! 

Whatever you choose to serve at your Christmas dinner (and there are Sherry, Madeira, and Vin Doux Natural wines out there that I have not touched upon), have some fun in choosing, be adventuresome, and celebrate good food, family, and friends. 

Here is to a wonderful and COVID-19-free 2021.

Merry Christmas!

What’s on your Easter dinner table?

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Got a text from a friend asking what wine to pair with Ham for Easter Dinner. Let’s face it, most of the time, that Ham is probably from the Honey Baked Store. While I could pontificate about the coating on the outside of the Ham, remember it’s about the people that will be at your table enjoying the holiday with you. What do THEY like?

If they are into wine, it’s going to be a tough call because the Honey Baked Ham you just bought is going to wreak havoc on most juice. So, forget the Cabernet or Merlot (because the sweet coating on the Ham will make a tannic wine taste bitter). But if you know your group will expect red wine, you could go with something from Beaujolais. Perhaps a Georges Dubeouf Beaujolais Villages or a Louis Jadot Beaujolais. (I would not upgrade to a Beaujolais Cru like Morgon or Fleurie as they will simply cost more and have more structure…unless you want to put a Cru on the table for you!) These recommended wines will not break the bank, will be fruity and ‘red,’ and will be a reasonable pairing for the Ham and all the accoutrements.

Another option is a Mumm Brut Rose which has nice body, is made from Pinot Noir, and serving it in a champagne flute makes for a festive presentation. Your family will feel special!

If you have adventurous guests coming, you could always consider a Riesling or a Gewurztraminer but I’m guessing Aunt Mabel probably would like a White Zinfandel just as well.

Why not end the dinner with something fun and different? What is your family heritage? If your ancestors were French, perhaps a Sauternes; if you are German, perhaps a Beerenauslese Riesling; and if Hungarian like me, perhaps a 5 Puttonyos Tokaji. Just a few examples but fun to end with a little ‘family ancestry’ which everyone will enjoy and will embrace experiencing something from the ‘Old World’ that Grandpa may have enjoyed. The wines mentioned could be served alongside an almond tart with Mascarpone! Save those chocolate bunnies for another night!

Happy Easter!