The holiday season is always busy, which no doubt caused the jumble of thoughts running through my mind while I tried to think of a nice subject for this month’s article. As usual, I can't believe that the end of the year is here, and glancing through my calendar, I see it is full of dinners and parties, reminding me of the many activities that need to be planned and attended. So this month, to help you with your year-end activities, I present a grab bag of wine related tips – a sort of wine focused survival guide to the holiday season if you will.

Wine Pairing

This is truly a wonderful time of year for those who enjoy gastronomic pleasures.  With so much care taken in selecting the ingredients, preparing and presenting your meals, don't overlook the thoughtful selection of the beverages served with these feasts. You can use the same thought processes for your wine selection now as you do all year. Think of the textures, colors and flavors in your meal along with clues about where the recipe came from to select an appropriate pairing. Remember that there are no hard and fast rules, just guidelines to get you started. In previous articles we've mentioned many great wine types from various parts of the world that you can choose to pair with your cuisine. You can use red, white, rose, sparkling or slightly sweet wine to complement or contrast the flavors in your meals. Whether your budget calls for a 5$, $10, $30 or $100+ bottle, there are wonderful wines available to you that would be perfect to take your meal or occasion to the next level. Like your butcher, fishmonger and greengrocer, the professionals at your wine shop stake their reputation on helping you select the right wine for your occasion and budget, so don't neglect to use them as a resource to your advantage. 

Parties

For parties, everyone has different favorites so variety is important. Some like to keep a favorite wine in the house by the case but for the most flexibility this time of year you may want to make it a point to keep a few different types around. You can't please everyone with one wine but you'll please most if you have two or three available to choose from.  Five 4.5 oz pours of wine per bottle is about right and I usually figure that 6 bottles will be enough for 8 people at a 3 hour dinner party, less if you have other cocktails. In general it’s best to serve the lighter or more delicate wines before the bigger fuller styles. If you are serving a few special bottles use those earlier when everyone's palate is freshest. Same goes for aged wines, do those before younger, fuller wines.

Be prepared!

Try to keep a few bottles of reasonably priced brut or extra dry sparkling wine such as Champagne, Prosecco, or Cava around the house. This time of year, you'll be surprised how often you open one of these up when you have them handy - it's a nice treat for those surprise visits from friends or family. This is also the time of year when more sweet wines are consumed.  A small glass of Port, Sherry, Tokay, or Ice wine to close a meal is a welcome treat and a small glass is great way to take the edge off of a cool winter night.  Try half bottles if you can get them since a little goes a long way, but even in full bottles any leftover can be consumed over a week or two. Just recork it and keep it in the fridge.

Wine Glasses

Having a few different types of glasses around is great and also looks great on the table, but at the very least have a set of Cabernet or Bordeaux glasses which can serve as all around wine glasses. Champagne should be served in flutes, not those little bowl shaped glasses if you can help it, and if you will be serving sweet wines a small aperatif glass would be appropriate. Also, I think a decanter is a great thing to have around to let young wines air out for half an hour or so, they just taste better once they have a little airtime.

Wine Temperature

Serving temperature is also critical to get the best of your wines so take care to serve at the right temperature. Room temperature in most homes is well into the 70's but that can be a little warm for dry reds and heavier dessert wines, they lose some of their balance and fruit.  Put the wines outside (as long as it is not freezing out) or in the fridge for 20 or 30 minutes to take the heat off and serve them at 65 degrees. White wines can be served about 45-50 and Champagne 43-46.

Well, there you are. As you can see, enjoying wine is not rocket science and following these guidelines will help ensure that you are presenting your best to your guests this holiday season.

Hope all of you will enjoy your holidays; be festive, safe and responsible and we'll see you in 2008.

About the Vintner 

The Wine Club has been offering fine wines and accessories at discounted prices since 1985. Today there are 3 stores in California: Santa Ana, San Francisco, and Santa Clara, and www.thewineclub.com, a web store that has a constantly changing inventory of over 1200 different wines and accessory items for you to choose from, you can pick them up or we can ship to most of the USA. Stores are open 7 days a week and each has wine tasting events scheduled on most weekends, so come on by and visit.