Wines for Your Spring Holiday Meals

By Kathleen Todaro

After enduring such a long, harsh winter, I’m sure we are all looking forward to some time together with friends and family to enjoy some wonderful holiday meals. Whether you are serving classics such as lamb, fish, ham, or veggies, you are probably serving wine with your meals.

If you are serving ham as your main course, you should be looking for wines that are light- to medium-bodied, with bright freshness, good fruit, low tannins, and with subtle acidity. When choosing a red wine, it should be light and fruity with low tannins.

Recommended:

Günther Steinmetz Riesling Kabinett: A fabulous nose of white flower, ripe pear, and white peach, this wine is succulent and precise. It has perfect and a long super-silky finish.

Les Sarrins Rosé: Grown in the renowned Provence Region of France. This delicious rosé is fresh and bright with beautiful citrus and floral notes.

Terres Doreés Beaujolais l’Ancien: This is a medium-bodied red with bursts of plum, cherries, sweet spice, and licorice. It has fleshy tannins and mouthwatering acidity.

Lamb is a rich, fatty, and flavorful meat that requires big-boned tannic wines that act as a palate cleanser, and stands up to the meat’s intensity.

Recommended:

Ampeleia Toscana Rosso (Tuscany, Italy): Made from Cabernet Franc grapes. This is a fresh and fragrant wine with black currant, blackberry, blueberry, and violet with a flash of wild herbs. It offers excellent balance and a long finish.

Penner-Ash Pinot Noir (Willamette Valley, Wash.): Graceful and polished with elegantly structured flavors of raspberry, and cherry, laced with cinnamon, rose petal and toasty spices. It has a beautiful savory finish. Drinkable now through 2034.

Domain du Pegau Cuvée Maclura Côtes du Rhône: The Cuvée Maclura displays the full range of Southern Rhône aromas of graphite, black cherry, gamey nuances, and cherry fruit. It is a concentrated and well-structured wine, but also accessible. There is a long supple finish with spicy notes.

If fish is on your menu, you pick a wine that matches fatty fish such as salmon or lighter fish such as cod.

For fatty fish, choose a medium to full-bodied wine such as chardonnay, or pinot noir.

Recommended:

Ramey Chardonnay (Russian River Valley, Calif.): This white wine’s impressive flavors of fresh white peach and apricot are fleshy and juicy with vibrant accents of fig, apple, pear, and grilled lemon, while acidity adds clarity and brightness.

Big Table Farm Pinot Noir (Willamette Valley): Fragrant and elegantly complex, this red wine has depth and delicacy, with raspberry, orange peel and forest floor accents that lead into polished tannins.

Lighter fish selections require bright, light wines that enhance their natural flavors.

Leonildo Pieropan Soave (Veneto, Italy): This soave is a mouthwatering white loaded with zesty tangerine and pink grapefruit flavors. It is very light and well-balanced.

Auntsfield Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough, New Zealand): This is a highly acclaimed premium Marlborough wine. It offers a complex, textural, and serious style, featuring vibrant citrus, passion fruit, and mineral notes.

Vegetables. If you feature Brussels sprouts or green beans prevalently in your meal, consider a lean herbaceous Sauvignon Blanc. Sancerre pairs brilliantly with green bean casserole, Brussels sprouts, and roasted asparagus.

Recommended:

Gerard Boulay Sancerre (Chavignol, France): Chavignol is the area of France where some of the most exciting and profound expressions of Sauvignon Blanc are to be found. Racy and complex with bright citrus and herbaceous notes. The palate has wonderful acidity, yet is still lush and mouth-coating. Very good balance on this superb Sancerre.

Bubbles for brunch. Whether it’s Cava, Crémant, rosé, or prosecco, sparkling wine goes with everything from aperitif to dinner and dessert.

Recommended:

Vigna Isa Cuvée Isabella Prosecco: Made from 100% Glera grape, Cuvée Isabella is a light straw yellow color with fine persistent bubbles. Fruity intense flavor and typical fruity bouquet of Golden Delicious apples with a hint of citrus and peach. Prosecco is a delicious choice for egg dishes such as quiche, and deviled eggs.

Usually there are so many flavors on the holiday table that sometimes the simplest wines are best. As always, these are recommendations … you should always drink what you enjoy.

Here’s to an early warm spring!

Please drink responsibly!