Prosecco marries with richly spiced mulled cider and a splash of vodka in this seasonal take on the classic Bellini served at the now-closed Caffè Storico in New York City. While the original recipe called for a fig-flavored vodka such as Figenza, regular vodka works just as well in this fall cocktail.

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Tinto de verano, which translates to “red wine of summer,” is a surprising combination of red wine and lemon-lime soda. This cooling spritzer is a perfect refreshment for hot summer days. If a lightly sweetened lemon-lime soda like lemon Fanta or Spain’s La Casera (known locally as “gaseosa” or soda) can’t be found, you can substitute Squirt or 7Up cut with a splash of plain seltzer.

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A luscious take on the bellini, the Rossini swaps in strawberries for the latter drink’s white peaches, and prosecco for champagne. Serve this versatile cocktail in place of mimosas at brunch, as an aperitif, or with dessert.

Featured in the October 2012 issue.

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Punch Romaine, a rum-spiked shaved-ice palate cleanser served to first-class passengers during the fateful last dinner aboard the Titanic on April 14, 1912, was based on a recipe from famed French chef Georges Auguste Escoffier, who championed alcoholic shaved ices during the early 20th century. The original recipe, essentially a granita, is updated here as a drinkable, citrusy cocktail poured over an iceberg of crushed ice.

Follow our easy instructions to make your own simple syrup. Use a channel knife to create thin strips of orange peel for the garnish.

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Viticulture has thrived on Crete for thousands of years, but for most of the 20th century, mass production dominated the wine industry on Greece’s largest island. Phylloxera didn’t hit there until the late 1970s—almost a century after it ravaged continental European vineyards—and the blight served as a much-needed reset. In the 1980s and ’90s, high-yielding grapes like vilana were planted. Then, in the late ’90s, a new generation of Cretan winemakers who had studied abroad started to return home, armed with deeper winemaking and farming know-how and a curiosity about the indigenous varieties in their own backyards. Now, those producers’ efforts are bearing fruit as they see their bottles grow both in age and in international popularity.

The new guard has resuscitated Crete’s native grapes, replanting surviving and abandoned vines on hardy American rootstock, and focusing on 11 of the most successful varieties that are now at the core of Crete’s wine scene. Vidiano, a high-acid grape with notes of white pepper and a refreshing salinity, is rapidly becoming the island’s signature white. Liatiko, a high-tannin, light-bodied wine, is Crete’s answer to nebbiolo. And winemakers in Chania, on the western end of the island, turn red romeiko grapes—a type not common elsewhere—into still, sparkling, and sweet bottlings. 

Where there’s great wine, there tends to be great food. Cretan meals typically start with dakos; barley rusks topped with tomatoes, salty cheese, oregano, and a healthy wallop of olive oil. Mid-20th-century research into Crete’s cuisine is the basis for the life-affirming Mediterranean diet, which means seafood, meat, and snails from the island’s mountainous terrain, and plenty of fresh produce, grains, and legumes. Of course, it all pairs perfectly with the local vinous offerings. 

Wines to Try 

Karavitakis, Vidiano

This family-run estate was one of the earliest to produce high-quality vidiano in the late 1990s; this zesty, high-acid bottle is a textbook example of the late-ripening grape’s potential for nuance, complexity, and grace. 

Manousakis, Nostos Romeiko 

Red romeiko grapes are nontraditionally vinified as a white wine in this reflection of Crete’s innovative winemaking spirit. Fresh citrus and sweet almond aromas pair nicely with briny seafood. 

Alexakis, Kotsifali/Syrah 

Indigenous varieties are the focus at one of Crete’s largest wineries, but a little bit of syrah brings international flair into this spiced and cherry-tinged cuvée. 

Douloufakis, Liatiko

The winery tames liatiko’s robust tannins with French oak for a light red wine with berry, black cherry, and tea notes. Age will only increase this wine’s silky texture and complex flavors. 

The post Get to Know the Wines of Crete with These 4 Bottles appeared first on Saveur.

Perusing the beverage menus of most pizzerias in Italy, you might assume that the omnipresent Coca-Cola and industrial lagers are the perfect pizza companions. Sure, you’ll find some vino in the mix, but most places are content to pour Peroni, Moretti, or Nastro Azzurro. I love beer with my pizza as much as the next Rome dweller, but to me, wine is often the better bet by a long shot, with its palate-cleansing effervescence and acidity. Plus, with as many wine varieties as there are villages in Italy, vino makes for infinite pairing possibilities that enhance the pizza-eating experience.

But before grabbing any old bottle, first consider your toppings. Are we working with acidic tomato sauce? Sweetly lactic (or hard, savory) cheeses? Whether you opt for cooked vegetables or cured meats or neither of the above, you’ll want to think about how each component will react with the wine. 

The old saying goes, “If it grows together, it goes together,” referring to the natural affinity between local produce and local wine. Considering Campania is the ancestral Italian homeland of pizza as we know it (the Neapolitans were the first to deploy tomato sauce and melted mozzarella), it’s logical that the wines of that region are natural pizza partners. But there are plenty of other Italian vini, as well as beers and sodas, that will elevate your next pizza night. 

Here are some pairing suggestions to amp up your next pizza party.

Marisa Cuomo Ravello Bianco

You can practically taste the sea air with each sip of this bright, acidic, and briny white wine, made from vines that cling to the Amalfi Coast. Cuomo’s Ravello Bianco complements Margherita pizzas, as well as pies made with smoked mozzarella or provolone. Its briny acidity cleanses the palate between bites of creamy, gooey cheese. 

Collestefano Verdicchio di Matelica

Le Marche, the Italian region 250 miles north of Campania, may not have much of a pizza culture of its own, but its Verdicchio-based white wines that deliver balanced acidity are a perfect partner for a range of pizzas. Collestefano’s Verdicchio di Matelica pairs well with a wide variety of toppings, but I especially love sipping it alongside white pizzas with vegetables and pizza capricciosa (mozzarella, tomato, prosciutto, mushrooms, marinated artichoke, olives, and hard-boiled eggs).

Vadiaperti’s Greco di Tufo

Greco di Tufo, a white grape purportedly of Greek origin as its name implies, has been producing sought-after white wines from Campania’s Irpinia subregion since pre-Roman times. Vadiaperti’s entry level greco has bracing acidity and mineral notes that cut through rich, cheese-topped pies, while the wine’s smoky finish (perhaps a reflection of Irpinia’s volcanic terrain) enhances pizzas made with smoked mozzarella or provolone.

Cinque Campi’s Cinquecampi Lambrusco 

This traditionally made Lambrusco (we’re talking bottle fermented, not the usual force carbonation) blends indigenous grapes like Lambrusco Grasparossa, Malbo Gentile, and Marzemino, which lend this particular Lambrusco an inky purple color, as well as red-fruit and floral notes. I like to kick back a few glasses of this bubbly when I’m having a meat-heavy pie, since the bubbles and tannin are a nice foil to fatty sausage, meatballs, or salami.

Pranzegg Rosso Leggero

Schiava and Lagrein, two Northern Italian grapes transformed into light-bodied, fruity reds in their Austria-adjacent zone, team up in this “light red” by Pranzegg. The wine is true to its billing and is best served slightly chilled to accentuate its lightness, while the acidity cuts the fat of pizzas oozing with gooey cheese or topped with spiced or spicy cold cuts. 

Faccoli Franciacorta Extra Brut (NV)

This Champagne-style sparkling wine from Lombardy is as structured and refreshing as your favorite champagne, and its minerality and fine bubbles go wonderfully with subtler pizzas—think ones with aromatic prosciutto and ethereal ricotta.

Baladin Isaac

If you prefer beer to vino, this Belgian-inspired Italian wheat beer from Piedmont has citrus and herb notes, which deliver fresh, food-friendly, and thirst-quenching sips. Pair it with hefty creations like a pistachio e mortadella pie. 

Loverbeer BeerBera

Italian Grape Ale, or “IGA,” a play on IPA, is an intriguing marriage of wine and beer. This Piemontese beer is influenced by Belgium, specifically that country’s sour ales, and uses barbera grapes for their fruity acidity. The resulting tang and fine fizziness will carry you through everything from pungent cheeses to fatty cured meats. 

Mole Cola

Coca-Cola won’t be disappearing from Italian pizzerias anytime soon (let alone American ones!), but artisanal Italian colas like Mole Cola are an intriguing alternative. This bubbly beverage—flavored with a proprietary blend of ingredients including kola nut extract and natural aromas, and about as much sugar as a standard Coke—has a lingering sweetness and bitter finish that round out everything from pizza Margherita to a pizza noci e zucchine (walnut pesto and zucchini).

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Canon Félix Kir, a French Résistance hero and later mayor of Dijon, lent his name to this simple wine cocktail traditionally made with the rustic Burgundian variety called aligoté. When Champagne is used instead of white wine, the drink becomes a kir royale. Don’t be tempted to stint on the amount of crème de cassis—Burgundy’s famed blackcurrant liqueur—to yield a faint pink drink; both common and royal iterations should properly have a dark rosy hue.

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Cyrus Schultz thinks Champagne is always a good idea. Born and raised in Maui, Schultz cut his teeth serving wine in celebrated fine dining establishments throughout Hawaii and California, including Roy’s in Maui, Benu in San Francisco, and the French Laundry in Napa Valley. When the now-sommelier signed on to run the wine program at Sonoma County’s Cyrus (the shared name is a coincidence), he took great care to ensure that the restaurant’s aperitif service set the tone for the whole meal. That’s why, heading into year-end festivities, I reached out to him for advice on how to serve Champagne at home like a pro—from optimal glassware to perfect food pairings.

If ever there was a time for the Cyrus team to break out the Champagne, it’s now. The Northern California wine region’s most anticipated new restaurant of the year, Cyrus is actually about to embark on a new chapter. After a lease dispute in their intimate and widely loved original location, co-owners, chef Doug Keane and mâitre’d Nick Peyton abruptly closed up shop a decade ago. This September, after years of false starts and pandemic woes, the pair finally opened the doors on this second act. Barely three months later, reservations for the 17-course tasting menu are booked solid, and the team recently took home Cyrus 2.0’s first Michelin Star.

The morning before the Michelin news came through, I happened to be on the premises, scoping out the space and sipping a graciously poured glass of bubbles before dinner service. The room was designed as a reimagining of the famed pre-dinner Champagne and caviar cart guests had come to love at the original location. Diners begin their meal with bubbly and small bites overlooking acres of surrounding vineyards and, beyond that, the rolling hills of the Alexander Valley. Even in the daytime, an understated luxe permeates the room. “It’s hard to not fall for the space,” Schultz tells me. “We offer three seatings each night, and for each of those, we’ve built in a half an hour where you can just sit, get a glass of Champagne, and watch the seasons change over the vineyards.” 

Whether you’re hosting everyone you know this season, or are looking to make the most of a special bottle with your favorite dinner companion, your evening deserves just as much. Here are Schultz’s tips for bringing a little bit of Cyrus’ Champagne chic into your own home.

The Glassware:

At Cyrus, stemware is the first thing diners bring to their lips, so Schultz was acutely aware just how important it would be to choose the proper champagne glass. In the Lounge, he uses Zalto tulips to serve all effervescent pours. “You want something that doesn’t cage all the flavors,” he explains. “A more generous glass shape allows the wine to be more expressive and speak louder” than it might in a standard, straight-sided flute.

For elevating the Champagne experience at home, glassware is the clear place to start. If your space or budget demands that you streamline your options, though, Schultz finds that sparkling wines can shine just as brightly in an elegant, all-purpose white wine glass that “lets the bubbles breathe a little.” (He uses the Sophienwald brand at home.)

Feeling festive, or setting up a Champagne fountain? “I also do love a coupe,” he admits. “For the right time and occasion, with a wine that’s fresh and vibrant and super-cold, a coupe can make you feel like you’re in that Great Gatsby era.” In other words, the glass sets the mood. “Coupes may not be the most functional, but sometimes they make you feel great, and how you feel when you’re drinking something is so important, too.” 

Keep it Cold:

When it comes to Champagne, you’re going for cold—significantly colder than other white wines, but not freezing. “You don’t want your champagne so cold that its flavors start to close down,” Schultz warns; he suggests aiming for somewhere around 46 degrees Fahrenheit (or a touch colder for non-Champagne sparklers, like cremant or Prosecco). 

The reason for this chilly temp boils down to physics. With still wines, proper temperature is all about flavor and fragrance, but with bubbles, temperature also has an impact on texture. Rising temperatures cause carbonation to expand, resulting in a more open mousse (i.e. fatter bubbles). “Effervescence is a texture rather than a flavor,” Schultz explains, “and there’s a point where the mousse behaves on the palate in a way where the wine just sings. I usually like Champagne to be very finely, tightly wound, and have that really delicate bead, but depending on the wine, sometimes it can warm up a touch, and become much more expressive.”

How can you tell when a bottle is cold enough? After years in the business, Schultz relies on instinct and physical touch, but admits that, for most, this method is not precise. For a 750-milliliter bottle, three hours in the fridge is a safe minimum starting point. An ice bucket can be faster and convenient, but Schultz reminds us that when using one, the bottle should be fully submerged in order to chill evenly. (Also remember that magnums and larger bottles take substantially longer to chill than those standard 750s.)

Food Pairings:

For nibbles to pair with their Champagne, chef Keane sends guests dainty canapés—often featuring uber-luxe ingredients like wagyu and truffles—to tease the lengthy dinner to come. They may also choose to enjoy a serving of caviar. While the ingredients are lavish, the bites are intentionally petite. 

For a more casual—yet still elevated—home experience, Schultz likes to offer more generous portions of simple, fatty foods: think fried chicken or potato chips, or the occasional silky slice of foie gras. With fuller, fruitier rosé Champagnes, though, he prefers to veer in another direction, looking to his home state for inspiration: raw tuna, seasoned with scallion, soy sauce, sesame, and inamona salt. “Rosé has enough power to stand up to the rich, oily nature of ahi,” he tells me.  “Don’t sleep on rosé Champagne and ahi poke!”

The Main Event:

Schultz built Cyrus’s 800+ bottle wine menu from scratch; today, the restaurant’s cellar boasts just over a hundred Champagnes (and a handful of stand-out Sonoma sparklers). Rare vintages from well-known marquee houses are listed alongside niche grower-producers, and while many of the selects are near impossible to find outside of private collections and wine-focused restaurants, some of the somm’s favorites are available in stores. In the $40 to $60 price range, he suggests seeking out Chartogne-Taillet, Pierre Peters, or the consistently delicious Pol Roger. 

For folks looking to splurge, Schultz points to Krug or cult favorite Salon—an early pioneer of the Blanc de Blancs style which only produces wines in the most exceptional of vintages. “[Salon] only makes one wine, so you know it’s going to be delicious. You don’t have to do all this homework about, ‘was that a good vintage or a bad one?’ They’ve done it all for you—but it is a splurge!”

A Note on Gifting Champagne Like a Pro:

Schultz has thoughts on gifting Champagne, too. “The biggest thing I try to let people know is that if I’m giving them a bottle of Champagne, I’m saying, ‘Hey, this is something for you to drink and enjoy now.’” Recipients of wine gifts may instinctively save the bottle for another special occasion, but Schultz reminds us that the holidays are about enjoyment and fun. “Nothing does that like opening a bottle of Champagne.”

How To Open Champagne Like A Swashbuckling Sommelier

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The Chandelier Bar at Las Vegas’s Cosmopolitan Hotel (winner for Best Hotel Bar in the 2014 Saveur Culinary Travel Awards) serves this alluring concoction, the “Planet of the Grapes,” which blends Pavan, an orange blossom–infused liqueur, with vodka, chamomile syrup, and sparkling wine.

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If you’re a champagne drinker, you’ve likely encountered the not-so-sweet end of the sparkling wine spectrum. Over the course of the last century, palate preferences have leaned towards drier bubblies (mainly bruts), and in recent years, even more austere styles like brut nature have been all the rage. But it hasn’t always been this way—in fact, sweet champagnes were the height of fashion throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, somewhat by default as dry styles weren’t even introduced until the mid-1800s. As the holidays approach, and given that we’re all in need of a little extra sweetness in our lives these days, I believe that these more honeyed, classic versions are due for a revival.

Still today, most champagnes—even the dry ones—do contain some degree of added sugar. Known as “dosage,” this is introduced to the wine after disgorgement in order to counterbalance the wine’s signature high acidity levels. Depending on the amount of sugar added, this practice can also be leveraged as a means of imparting some level of actual sweetness to the finished product. A winemaker once put it to me this way: dosage is to champagne what butter is to bread. The bread (or, in this case, the bubbly), whether so-so or exceptional on its own, could be potentially made better with a touch of something rich.

How much dosage is the right amount? What matters most is the winemaker’s handiwork, and just as importantly, your personal preference. But whatever your tendencies, if you enjoy pairing wines with food, it’s worth staying open to champagne’s sugar-kissed styles—particularly demi-sec.

One of the more widespread styles of sweet champagne, demi-sec, by definition, contains a whopping 33 to 50 grams (around 3 tablespoons) of added sugar per liter; in comparison, bruts can contain no more than 12. But that doesn’t mean demi-secs are heavy or cloying, as their bright acidity brings balance and lift, making the style surprisingly versatile. As an apéritif, demi-sec shines brightly alongside funky blue cheeses, grilled octopus, and anything buttery and salty (such as popcorn). Most often, though, it’s a go-to pairing for desserts. Chicago-based wine and spirits educator Regine Rousseau recalls the golden rule taught to her by a mentor: However sweet the dessert, your wine must be sweeter. “Although demi-sec champagnes work well with delicious salty treats [like] mixed nuts, cod fish dips, and Chicago Mix popcorn, I reserve them for a little something sweet,” she explains. And Rousseau isn’t alone—sweet wines in general are known to render foods drier on the palate, which is why desserts benefit from balance in the form of a wine sweeter than the dish itself. If anything, venturing into the world of sweet sparklers is an opportunity to taste an excessive number of dishes with a variety of demi-sec champagnes, all in the name of “research”. Here are a few expert-recommended bottles to get you started.

1. Beau Joie Sugar King Demi-Sec

If you’re a fan of a bottle as lovely as its contents, Beau Joie is always a safe bet—the handmade latticed metal detail is a hallmark of winemaker Bertrand Senecourt’s Special Cuvée collection, which is made up of a brut non-vintage, a brut rosé, and Sugar King Demi-Sec. In its limited edition black bottle, this golden-pink wine is a classic champagne blend of pinot noir, pinot meunier, and chardonnay. Lush and decadent with plenty of balancing acidity, it features prominent peach and dried apricot on both the nose and palate, along with generous pastry notes on the finish. Mercedes Cowper, an accredited sommelier and virtual wine tasting host in the Washington, D.C. area, shares some insight on pairing champagnes like this with savory dishes: “Personally, I love pairing a higher acid, off-dry to sweet wine with curries and spicy foods, especially if the ingredients have dried or preserved fruits in them.” According to Cowper, these ingredients are complemented by the sweet, dried fruit characteristics often found in this style of champagne. Note that pairing a demi-sec with a main course can easily carry you and your dining companion(s) into the dessert course.

2. Billecart-Salmon Champagne Demi-Sec

Billecart-Salmon

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For fans of Billecart-Salmon’s classic brut bottling, the natural segue into sweet champagne will be the house’s distinctive demi-sec. A high-dosage version of the brut blend, this demi-sec shares many of its drier cousin’s same notes, like ripe pears and buttery pastry. Jamie Ritchie, Worldwide Head of Sotheby’s Wine, shares what makes this demi-sec one of his personal favorite non-vintage champagnes: “It is full-flavored (think brioche, with the perfect balance of bubbles, acidity, and sweetness) so it is bright and refreshing, yet satisfying—and perfect with all types of pastries and desserts, from biscuits to chocolate cake.”

3. Laurent Perrier Harmony Demi-Sec Champagne

Courtesy Laurent-Perrier

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Delicate is one of many words one might use to describe Laurent-Perrier’s Harmony Demi-Sec Champagne, a bottle beloved by wine experts for its chardonnay-forward blend full of toasted nuts and dried fruit on both the nose and palate. If you have the willpower to cellar this bottle for a few years, it will reveal layers of honey and juniper, but nobody would blame you if you failed to let it get to that point. Whether you drink it young or not, Harmony is an insane value for the cost, perfectly creamy in texture yet light as a feather on the finish. It’s a true treat, whether on its own, sipped with an unctuous, salty triple-crème cheese, or paired with a rich (but not overly sweet) dessert. “Try Laurent-Perrier Demi-Sec with a sweet potato pie or a Chicago-style cheesecake,” says Rousseau, who assures SAVEUR that Chicago does, in fact, make the best cheesecake (and is not sorry, for the record). The jury’s still out on that regional dessert debate, but if there’s one thing we do know, it’s that this pairing will leave you wanting a second serving (if not more).

The post In Defense of Demi-Sec: The Best Sweet Champagnes to Drink This Holiday Season appeared first on Saveur.

This article originally appeared on JancisRobinson.com. 

There are three reasons why choosing wine for Thanksgiving should be as easy as pie: 
One, we’ve been doing it for hundreds of years—we’re not exactly new to the game.
Two, turkey goes with everything and anything—it’s the ultimate white-canvas food.
Three, it’s about family, friends, sharing, celebrating—the one day in the whole year when pretentiousness should be thrown out the window.

On the other hand, there are three reasons why choosing wine for Thanksgiving is fraught with danger:
One, it’s about family, friends—often a potentially explosive mix of religion, politics, cultures, values, generations, barely concealed ancient feuds (and fundamentally incompatible notions on appropriate beverages). 
Two, it’s not about the turkey—it’s everything else. The sides, oh the sides, oh my aching sides. Mashed potatoes or maple-syrup-glazed carrots? Stewed collard greens or bacon-fried brussels sprouts? Corn bread or corn pudding? Crab cakes or oysters? Pumpkin empanadas or Jell-O salad?
Three, we’ve been doing it for hundreds of years—that’s a dinner influenced by the Indigenous Americans, English, French, Irish, Scottish, Italians, Chinese, Polish, Russians, Ukrainians, West Africans, Moroccans, Thai, Mexicans, Caribbeans, Germans, Spanish, Greeks, Dutch… I could go on. The rich roll call of cultural influences on American Thanksgiving interpretations is as complex as it gets.

With this thankless gridlock on our hands, wine choices could be pared down to two broad approaches:

Option A: If your Thanksgiving table is a smorgasbord of dishes, a chaotic clash of cultures and cuisines, a potluck or a complete unknown (you’re in charge of the wine but who knows what the cook is going to come up with)—basically one in which it’s going to be nigh on impossible to “match” wines to food—then match wines to people.

Option B: If your Thanksgiving is a food-centered devotion, an homage of theme and style, then match wines to food.

As option B is fraught with a bewildering number of permutations and really only possible once one has a specific menu to hand, we’ve gone with the situation you’re most likely to find yourself in—option A.

Ignoring the patently obvious fact that I’m ignoring all shades of grey, the group gathering around your table may be defined, in relation to wine, as snobs, nerds, philistines, or all sorts, each requiring a different approach in the wine aisle. Here’s a quick guide to Thanksgiving dinner-matching success. 

Snobs—the wines should preferably be traditional, classic, prestigious, and, especially, expensive…

• Cocktail: dry martini made with Nolet’s Silver Dry Gin, a bare spritz of Martini Extra Dry vermouth and a lemon zest twist.
• Fizz: Champagne, obviously, preferably regal and magnificent; Krug or Bollinger.
• White: Burgundy, perhaps vintage 2014 or even 2002 (Comtes Lafon, Leflaive, or Roulot).
• Rosé: do snobs drink rosé? Perhaps not, but if there was going to be a rosé on the table, it would have to be Domaine Ott.
• Red: Bordeaux (Châteaux Lafite, Latour, or Mouton (Pichon Baron if you’re slumming it) or a bordeaux blend from Napa (Opus One, Shafer).
• Dessert: Sauternes (Châteaux  Suduiraut or d’Yquem) and vintage port (Taylor’s, Graham’s ).
• Post-prandial: Armagnac (Darroze, Labaude, or Laberdolive).

Nerds—you’re looking for insider wines, a little quirky, perhaps made with wild yeasts and skin contact, from little known or forgotten regions, ancient vines, unpronounceable grape varieties, or, maybe even fruits other than grapes…

• Cocktail: negroni (perhaps made with Mommenpop Blood Orange vermouth, Don Ciccio & Figli’s Luna Aperitivo, and Bluecoat American dry gin), though real wine nerds will be reaching for the fino or manzanilla sherry—an Equipo Navazos La Bota, perhaps.
• Fizz: what could be more off-beat but essentially American than a bone-dry sparkling wine made from blueberries, Bluet Champagne Method; or a US-grown apple cider such as Eve’s Cidery Dry Sparkling cider? If you’re sticking to wine, look to New York’s Finger Lakes for bubbly (Damiani, Dr Konstantin Frank, Hermann J. Wiemer).
• White: Jura, sous voile, vin jaune or ouillé (Domaine du Pélican, Tissot).
• Amber/orange: go for amphorae/qvevri-aged wines from Friuli or Georgia (Gravner, Gotsa, Chona’s Marani).
• Rosé: look for earthy, idiosyncratic pinks, such as Clos Cibonne’s Tibouren or the iconic, fully mature R Lopéz de Heredia Rioja Gran Reserva Viña Tondonia.
• Red: embrace the thrilling field blends from California’s heritage vineyards (Bedrock, Carlisle, Forlorn Hope, Turley) or search out rare Italian varieties (try Pelaverga Piccolo).
• Dessert: Madeira might be considered the most traditional of dessert wines and has a long history in the US—Thomas Jefferson and George Washington both had a lifelong love of the wine—but it’s also an insider wine. Blandy’s and Barbeito lead the way (look for the brilliant Ricardo Freitas’s Historic Wine Series).
• Post-prandial: Apple brandy from the historic Laird & Company Distillery in New Jersey, or maybe the walnut or wild quince liqueurs from Distillerie Cazottes in south-west France.

Philistines—going by the Oxford Dictionary definition (“a person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts”) and applying it to wine, which is why we’re here, the hard reality for us wine lovers is that festive gatherings of loved ones can be defined by total disregard for what is in the glass. As a wine lover, this situation requires careful handling. You want a beverage that you want to drink, but also something with universal appeal. Do not break the bank.

• Cocktail: Punch-House Spritz.
• Fizz: Valdobbiadene Prosecco (Adami, Bellenda, Ruggeri).
• White: Oregon chardonnay (Adelsheim, Phelps Creek, and Wetzel).
• Rosé: Provence—just avoid the celebrity brands which tend to be overpriced and overproduced and look instead for wines such as Commanderie de la Bargemone, Bieler Père et Fils, Ch La Gordonne.
• Red: Bojo and its slim-tannin, bright-fruit ilk are the wines to look for here: Beaujolais (Guy Breton, Chapel, Dominique Piron), Oregon gamay (Brick House, Love & Squalor) or California Valdiguié, aka Napa gamay (Broc, Cruse Wine Co, J Lohr).
• Dessert: who can resist an island wine? Try Donnafugata Ben Ryé Passito from Pantelleria, or a Samos muscat.
• Post-prandial: Bourbon. 

Allsorts—the nightmare mix of wine-snobbish, teetotal, beverage-obsessed, glug-anything, brand-name-dependent, as-long-as-its-sweet-and-fizzy, big-spenders, and tight-as-ebenezer friends and relatives. Everyone is a martyr to compromise. You need easy-drinking, good-quality, crowd-pleaser wines that will have enough fruit and freshness to go with anything.

• Cocktail: DIY (a table laden with vodka, gin, random mixers—hide the fancy tonics—a jug of sugar syrup, a pile of lemons, mountains of ice and leave them to get on with it).
• Fizz: Cava (Gramona, Juvé y Camps, Mestres, Sumarroca).
• White: Alentejo whites—delicious, inexpensive (Herdade do Rocim, Quinta do Mouro, Susana Esteban).
• Rosé: Rioja knows how to make food-friendly rosado, packed with fruit at good-value prices (CVNE, Marqués de Cáceres, Muga).
• Red: Argentine malbec (Vistalba, Zorzal, Zuccardi).
• Dessert: a younger Australian stickie (Campbells, Chambers Rosewood Vineyards, De Bortoli).
• Post-prandial: Rye whiskey. 

Thanksgiving is a time to be with people. I don’t often say this, but let the wine take a step back. 

Tamlyn Currin is a sustainability editor, staff writer, and resident food maven at JancisRobinson.com. For more international wine coverage and expert pairing advice, become a member.

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