A Warm Holiday Beverage!

For the Holiday Home Tour, we created a drink recipe for Hot Cranberry Punch with Sage & Peppercorns. This warm drink is perfect for sipping on those cold late fall and winter days when your wool coat just isn’t keeping you toasty enough, and the addition of sage and black peppercorns lend an elegance to the flavor that makes it an ideal candidate for seasonal or holiday festivities. We really enjoyed putting this drink together and we hope you enjoy it, too!

Hot Cranberry Punch with Sage & Peppercorns

Serves 4 to 8

2 teaspoons black peppercorns
3 cups frozen or fresh cranberries
½ cup honey
1 bottle dry Riesling, divided
¼ cup fresh sage leaves
1 cup Benedictine liqueur

Place peppercorns in a medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add cranberries, honey, and 1½ cups Riesling and simmer over medium heat until thick and syrupy and some of the liquid has evaporated, about 7 minutes.

Smash cranberries with a fork. Add the remaining wine and sage, and simmer for about 5 minutes. Strain the mixture, smashing the cranberries once more, and then discard solids. At this point, the strained mixture can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days.

To serve, add the Benedictine liqueur and warm over low heat until steaming. Serve in warm cups.

Wine Suggestions for the Holidays

When the holidays roll around, what kind of wine will you pair with your impromptu parties and holiday dinners? You need a wine that has wonderful flavor and balance to complement your meal. It cannot be too tannic or acidic. It cannot be too light or too alcoholic. It needs the zip to complement cream and the delicacy to enhance subtle seasonings. It has to have a flavor to stand up to the kinds of complex flavors that comprise our holiday meals.

The problem can be vexing, but the answer is easy: any wine you enjoy is a good wine. Yes, it sounds simplistic, even patronizing, but it makes a point that’s all too often missed in the modern obsession with ratings and scores. Wine is about taste in every sense of the term and taste is, by definition, a highly personal and subjective experience. That is precisely why there are so many choices out there.

Don’t panic. There is no need to worry. I have outlined many choices of wines to pair with main entrées from which you can choose. Thankfully they are great results of the above test for holiday wines. They are also great buys.

November, especially the week before Thanksgiving, is an ideal time to buy wines for the holidays. Wine merchants usually run sales on select wines and you have the release of Beaujolais Nouveau on the third Thursday of November—just in time for Thanksgiving.

During the holidays many people will be serving an entrée of turkey, ham, goose, prime rib, or lobster. For each of these entrees, I have suggestions of both white and red wines that are made for your choosing.

Wine Suggestions for Turkey:
Reds:
Beaujolais Nouveau:
B&G
Louis Jadot – $14

Pinot Noir:
Argyle & Willamette – $20
Cambria Julia – $20

Whites:
Pinot Grigio:
Lagaria – $12
Bella Italia – $10

Wine Suggestions for Ham:
Reds:
Beaujolais Nouveau:
     B&G
Louis Jadot – $14

Zinfandel:
     Buehler – $18.50
Project Paso-Old Vine – $14

Wine Suggestions for Goose:
Reds:
Zinfandel:
     Seghesio-Sonoma Zinfandel – $20
Rancho Zabaco – $20

Cabernet Sauvignon:
     Buehler – $20

Whites:
Chardonnay:
     Kendall Jackson Reserve – $14
Fess Parker’s Santa Barbara – $17

Sauvignon Blanc:
     Snoqualmie – $10
Morgan – $17

Wines Suggestions for Prime Rib:
Reds:
Malbec:
     Agua De Piedra Grand Selection – $12
Terrazas Reserva – $17

Shiraz:
     Shooting Star – $12
Morgan – $19

Cabernet Sauvignon:
     Bogle – $12
Shooting Star – $13

Whites:
You are on your own! The strong flavors of red meats and sauces overpower white wines. If you have a favorite white, there is nothing stopping you from enjoying it with your rib roast.

Wine Suggestions for Lobster:
The wine you chose for lobster depends a great deal on how it’s prepared, whether you are grilling, steaming, or stir-frying, or if you are pairing it with a cream sauce or a tomato sauce.

For steamed or boiled lobster, use an Italian Prosecco such as Bortolomiol ($20) to bring out the sweetness of the lobster itself. Another choice would be an Albarino such as Licia ($16) from Northwestern Spain—Albarino wines were made for shellfish!

If you are going to serve your lobster in a cream sauce, a big chardonnay from California (Ferrari-Carano, $29) or a Puligny-Montrachet (Olivier Leflaive, $57) will work.

If you are having a stir-fried lobster with Asian seasoning, a sparkling wine like Prosecco will do well. You can also use an Alsacian wine like Now & Zen ($12), which works well with Asian-spiced foods.

Lobster in a tomato sauce, say with pasta, is a hard combination for wine. You will need a high-acid red and its flavor must counteract the tomato sauce. What we need here is a Chianti Classico, such as Castello Di Bossi ($18), as it complements the lobster and the tomato sauce.

Wine Suggestions for Kosher Dinners:
There are some kosher wines in the market from Israel such as Recanati, but the selection can be limited as far as the varieties offered. One of the best selections of kosher wines comes from the California Vineyard Baron Herzog. Baron Herzog offers a Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and White Zinfandel. These wines range in price from $9–$15 and they are of good value.

Enjoy your holidays and look to try some new wine and food combinations! The food is the tradition—make the wine a rock star!