Choosing, gifting, and drinking wines for the holidays? Of course, you are! Here is your “wino’s” guide for picking the perfect wine for all of the festivities.
Holiday Office Party
You don’t have to skimp on quality when buying in quantity for the
office party. Caposaldo Prosecco is an inexpensive, Italian sparkling wine that will pair wonderfully with a variety of party finger foods.
Alcohol Level: 11.5%
Suggested Retail Price: $15
Gifting the Boss
It’s never a bad idea to suck up to the boss. Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia is the wine that put Italian wine on the wine collector’s map. It’s a trophy wine that can be cellared for decades. Yes, this one is pricey, so if your boss is not one to appreciate a great wine buy him/her a case of Boone’s Farm, otherwise consider it an investment in job security.
Alcohol Level: 12.5%
Suggested Retail Price: $220
Christmas Eve Family Dinner
Christmas trees, gingerbread houses, and ugly sweaters – American traditions call for America’s most popular native varietal: Zinfandel. St. Francis “Old Vines” Zinfandel has concentrated flavors of black cherry and pepper that pairs perfectly with traditional holiday dishes. This dark red will also match that festive sweater should Uncle Billy get a little carried away during the pour.
Alcohol Level: 15.5%
Suggested Retail Price: $23
Grown-Up New Year’s Dinner Party
You’ve graduated from quantity to quality. It’s now time to break out the white Burgundy, aka the other Chardonnay. Louis Jadot Meursault is a lovely Old World Chardonnay from the Côte de
Beaune – where Burgundy’s most exquisite dry white wines are produced. Louis Jadot Meursault has stone fruit, floral, hazelnut and spice flavors and pairs wonderfully with seafood or poultry dishes.
Alcohol Level: 13%
Suggested Retail Price: $44
Christmas Wine Fantasy
If anybody is in good with Santa, tell him I want a bottle of Taylor Fladgate Scion. Made in 1855, before sap-sucking insects (Phylloxera) destroyed most vineyards in Europe, this very old and rare port wine is a passport to time travel. It’s old, it’s rare (only two casks of it were found in 2010) and it will only get better with age. Yes, it is a fantasy, but I haven’t been on Santa’s naughty list for a long time so that should count for something right?
Alcohol Level: 21%
Suggested Retail Price: $3,200
Which wines would you add to this list?
Disclosure: I’m not a sommelier or even a wine snob. I’m just a regular guy who loves wine. I frequently participate in food and wine chats on Twitter where I share what I like and I learn from others what they like. From time to time winemakers and marketers will send me a bottle of wine to review. If I like it, I’ll tweet about it and possibly even write a blog post about it. If I don’t, you’ll never see it mentioned. I am not paid to review wines. The wine I am sent is my only compensation.