The holiday season brings with it all sorts of reasons to drink wine: to celebrate, to complement enormous meals, and of course, to help endure annoying relatives.
Herewith, a few suggestions for those willing to experiment a little bit non-traditionally:
While the big meal is cooking: Try serving Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc-Viognier blend. It’s light and crisp, came in at #27 on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 wines of 2025 and sells for less than $15 a bottle at Costco and Total Wines.
For the roast beef dinner: You want a red wine, for sure, but instead of a heavy cabernet sauvignon, try a Spanish Tempranillo from Rioja; be sure it’s marked “Reserva.” Or try a cabernet sauvignon blend from Chile or Argentina, where a Malbec, for example, will lighten up the cab.
For the ham dinner: Most wine experts recommend a nice pinot noir with ham (or turkey) and you can’t go wrong with a good pinot. However, try a zinfandel with ham next time, it will stand up to the ham’s sweetness and bring out some really interesting taste sensations. Anything by Ridge Winery is commonly available at a medium price and is uniformly good.
For the Umlaut-inclined: Scandinavians enjoy a mulled wine they call glögg. The wine needs to be red, but that’s about all that matters for the wine itself. It gets heated and mixed with cinnamon sticks, ginger, orange peel, cardamom pods, cloves, and sugar, as well as some alcohol-soaked raisins. Not surprisingly, the Scandinavians are inclined to add rum or brandy to the mixture to be sure there is enough spice to it.
Similarly, Germans and other northern Europeans enjoy what they call Glühwein, a red wine mixed with cinnamon, cloves, star anise, citrus, and sugar.
Both are served warm, and apparently, plentifully.
For New Year’s Eve: Of course, you have to have something bubbly, but it doesn’t have to be Champagne (which, of course, can only come from the Champagne region of France to bear the name). Instead, try a French sparkling wine called Cremant, which comes from regions of France that are not quite as snooty as Champagne. Consider a rose from the Alsace region, which must by law be 100% pinot noir.
Cheers!
-Submitted by Bill Good
(Image credit: Pixabay.com and Vinepair.com)