Wine and Food Pairing for the Holidays

 Christmas time, Christmas time, I drink.... all my wine...

Back in Grade 9 History class, my geography teacher would sing the above little ditty. And usually it was when he was handing out tests (his version of merry fun I suppose).

Recently I was at a networking event and the master of ceremonies asked everyone to stand up, talk about who they were, what they did and what they looked forward to for the holidays. Most of them said 'drinking wine'. By the end, the MC suggested we all check ourselves into AA.

But what better way to indulge ourselves than with wine, goodies and gifts. I know, I know, the recession is haunting everyone but I figure we only live once. So this Sunday afternoon, I've decided to write about wine and food pairing for the holidays.

CHRISTMAS TREATS AND WINE

Christmas means cookies and pastries for me. I love cookies, it must be the Dutch blood. So basically what I have to do is always get a wine sweeter than my treats. A dry wine tastes sour with anything sugary.

But a great wine with pastries then, with cookies? I highly recommend  Pillitteri's 2008 'Fusion' ($13.00 available from the winery) a blend of Gewurztraminer and Riesling with a dash of Icewine. Just imagine apricots, mangoes and pineapple on your palate then add some Christmas cake or better yet, white chocolate macademia nut cookies. In October I discovered that Gewurztraminer (the sweeter ones) and cookies can be good friends.

For die-hard chocoholics, Port wine, a fortified wine from Portugal is ideally suite for dark chocolate. Port is a fortified wine from Portugal made and imported by British wine makers. When it was discovered that wine could survive the trip from the Iberian Pennisula to England by adding extra alcohol, the Brits jumped all over it. It was sweet, it was great with conversation and lo and behold it matched perfectly with chocolates.

I highly recommend this: pick up a bottle of  Taylor Fladgate Late Vintage Port ($16.99) and invite a group of friends over. Have them bring chocolates, various kinds – nutty, fruity, Belgium, Swiss, German, Dutch, whatever kind they like. Pour your guests about two ounces each – the wine is potent at 20% alcohol – and try the various chocolates with the port. You’ll get some great food and wine matches here. Your palette, your tongue and your senses will die of chocolate/port ecstasy. Expect mind orgasms. Not for the faint of heart. And of course, pace yourself – a port hangover can be nasty if you go too far. (It’s like waking up with a tub of heavy syrup sloshing around in your brain…and the nausea is pretty bad…trust me….)

Port also goes well with cheese - cheddar, brie (personal favourite) and stilton - as well as figs and dried fruits. 

Port and Stilton are best friends

If Port isn’t your thing or you’re too worried about suffering from sheer bliss (or a syrup brain), then grab a handful of nuts, raisins, almonds, pecans and walnuts and a glass of sherry. I know what you are thinking. Sherry is the crap your grandmother served you every Christmas for twenty years. The same bottle, the same sickly sweet taste. Forgive grandma and pick up a bottle of  Williams and Humbert Dry Sack Sherry (only $12.85 and give some to grandma, she’s probably been drinking the same gut rot for too long). This is the kind of wine that you don’t expect to match with anything. If you like cheese, try Manchego, the cheese of Spain.

The wine is lush and beautiful to absorb with notes of syrupy fig and overripe pear. Take a swig and you might think almond cake, mango and pineapple. This is the kind of wine to enjoy with Christmas cake or even a warm apple pie. Pumpkin pie as well.

WINE AND DINNERTIME - CHRISTMAS MEALS

What about Turkey dinner? Oh, well, that’s a tougher one. Most critics, food and wine writers have some idea but really, just go to town. Bring what you love to a Christmas dinner and drink it with friends. Turkey doesn’t really have a taste, so as long as you love the wine, drink it.

The right wine, however, can accompany the accoutrements. How does mom or dad prepare the bird? What kind of sauces? What kind of yams and potatoes. If your potatoes are buttery and gooey, then an Inniskillin  Winemaker's Series Three Vineyards Chardonnay ($18.99 - available from the winery) would be perfect, a wine with a vanilla body with touches of toasty nuts and bright butter. 

If you’re going to smother your bird in apple sauce or gravy, try a fantastic  Konzelmann Riesling ($11.95). This wine is apple and pears and just shy of being full-bodied. It won’t overpower your pallet but it might help you digest the dry portion of the bird.

A great wine with the cranberry sauce… well if the sauce is not sweet (and some tend to be sweet) I recommend the Malivoire's Ladybug Rosé ($15.95) - cherries and raspberries and a definite hit with turkey. If you want a red, I recommend a Ravenswood Vintners Blend Zinfandel ($17.95). Think stewed  and black fruit, mocha and spices.

NEW YEARS

Well, what are you drinking at New Year’s? Forget the Veuve Clicquot or Mumm’s, all that expensive stuff is just meant for the show-offs (I welcome it though because I'm not paying).


Champagne is great, it’s fine but for some it’s way too expensive and really, if you’re not used to the “bready”, “yeasty” taste of a sixty-dollar bottle, I recommend Asti or Cava.


Asti from Martini & Rossi ($13.75) is made from the muscato grape. It is a sweeter sparkling wine and not high in alcohol (only 7%). If you’re the designated driver and want to toast the New Year’s Eve without getting sauced, this is the ideal sipper. (It also pairs extremely well with sweet crepes.)


If you want a wine that is similar to champagne (Asti is not made in the traditional style of the champenoise), then pick up a bottle of Freixenet Cordon Negron ($13.95) from the Cava region in Spain. The bubbles are frothy and tickling, the acidity high and the wine will remind your palette of apples, lemon and a yeasty taste similar to traditional Champagne. But with Cava, you get quality and you can expect to save at least forty-dollars (and who really remembers who brought what to the New Year’s Party – let the show offs lose their money).Cava is great with oysters, salmon spreads and caviar. Spend your money on the expensive nibblies and save on the wine.

I can’t think of anything else accept don’t kill yourself buying gifts. Christmas is over in a day, as usual. But with the right bottle, a wine can help those good drinking memories last for years. (And no syrup hangovers, alright.)

Poor Charlie, he didn't see it coming...

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The Other Italy - Beyond Pinot Grigio: Exploring the Varietal Whites of Italy

The season of Pinot Grigio, alas, is sadly and quickly slipping away from us. For many summer patio sippers, this is the penultimate white for lazy, hot afternoons. The grape, either as Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio is grown throughout the world and has become the go-to varietal wine for a hot, dusky day. You can sample its various manifestations from California, Ontario, British Columbia, Alsace (France), Germany and of course, Italy. The Italian style - based primarily in Italy’s northeast - is the driest with a zest of mineral lemon. (Sicilia offers some good value varietal Grigios with a touch more tropical fruit.)


To be honest, I find most Pinot Grigios pretty boring. You either get the over-the-top fruity tropical fiesta from California (pineapple, banana and starfruit) or the run-of-the-mill mundane steely limp lemon offerings from Veneto. For those looking to celebrate the last few weeks of summer with some unique whites, I highly recommend the following Italian varieties with corresponding food recommendations:


TRAMINO AROMATICO
This white variety, grown in Alto Adige, is better known in the wine world as Gewurztraminer. The region (also known as the Sudtirol) is on the Italo-Austrian border where only a quarter of the population speak Italian (at one point this region belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire). The majority use an Austro-Bavarian dialect while a small, small minority converse in the local mother language of Ladin.


For those who enjoy Alsatian or British Columbian Gewurztraminer you can expect some typical lychee and rose notes from the Italian version of the variety but also a fascinating and surprisingly delicious dose of orange juice with a hint of strawberry.


(You can also find Riesling, Moscato, Piano Bianco – Italian Pinot Blanc - Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio in Alto Adige.)


CORTESE
The Cortese is a white grape grown in southeast Piedmont in northwest Italy. This variety is known for making fun, refreshing wine meant to be drunk young. It is best as an aperitif, something to start the evening off or better yet, with a light sampling of seafood and shellfish. Its taste profile is on the grapey side, with a hint of pear drop and citrus nuances.


The most famous example of this variety in action comes from the limestone-rich southern hillside around the town of Gavi. The wines are dry with good acidity and a steely fruit tone.


VERDICCHIO
If you’re looking for something a-typical at your table, why not spring for a white from the Marche on the Adriatic. You can’t miss them in the liquor store as these wines are often sold in green amphora-shaped bottles. Despite what many might think to be a tacky presentation, Verdicchio is often crisp, clean and delightful.


The most famous is Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi. The styles can range widely from the light and fresh all the way to the fully-rich complex herbal white to compliment a plate of pasta primavera (some critics note a hint of fennel in Verdicchio).


FALANGHINA
Falanghina or Falanghina Greco is a ‘character-full’, ancient white grape believed to be of Greek origin. It may well have provided the basis for the classical Falernian of Roman times (a wine commanding the prices similar to our modern Bordeaux and Burgundy classics).


Today, Falanghina (from the word ‘falanga’ and suffix ‘ina’ together meaning ‘small wooden stake’) is grown on the Italian coast just north of Naples in Campania. The region is famed for its natural beauty but also its grinding poverty. Following WWII, immigration increased in the south and Campania like Basilicata and Puglia suffered from the depopulation of their regions.


The grape ripens late and therefore craves the sunny slopes of Campania. In Sannio, one of the best examples of Falanghina, the climate is continental and the terrain mountainous, providing ideal conditions for top quality wines. They are often seductively attractive, un-oaked, fragrant wines, ready to savour and perfect with seafood and light pasta dishes.


NURAGUS
Grown principally on the island of Sardegna, Nuragus offers something more exotic and scintillating than Pinot Grigio. The wines are lemony-lime with a pleasant, ethereal hint of white flowers. Often criticized for being boring, set it beside a plate of calamari with tzatziki and both wine and food will sing.


ZIBIBBO
If you like Moscato of Piedmont, either still or sparkling, I urge you check out the Sicilian/Calabrian version. Zibibbo is basically an Italian translation of Moscato of Alexandria and belongs to the same Mosato family. Best known for making the passito wines of the island of Pantelleria, (off the west coast of Sicilia), Zibibbo also makes some excellent, dry, fuller whites exuding a honey-melon-cantaloupe. They are juicier, more alcoholic and less aromatic than their Moscato cousins but wonderful to savour. Delicious with Bruschetta bread topped with prosciutto.


GRILLO, ANSONICA and CATARRATO
You can find all three of these varietal whites in Sicilia. Grillo is big, juicy and relatively plump compared to the delicate, and clean whites made with Ansonica (also known as Inzolia).


If you enjoy Viognier from France or California, Catarrato should be next on your list of wines to try. Enjoy the notable nuances of apricot and peach with a sometimes nutty, but spicy beeswax aroma. If you keep a look out, you can find Catarrato/Chardonnay blends that give the wine additional complexity and flavor.


Ansonica pairs especially well with prawns whereas Grillo needs a Greek Salad to bring out its personality. Catarrato, like Viognier can be sipped on its own but a vegetarian Calazone (stuffed with red and green peppers) would taste tantalizing. But, if you are looking to be more casual, a Hawaiian pizza would be a great dining companion.




Italy is a country known for producing an eclectic and fabulous range of red wines contrasted with gallons of unremarkable whites. However, I find this perception (prejudice perhaps?) unfair and untutored. We can find some remarkable pockets of vineyards producing excellent white wine. If we can allow our minds to stretch beyond the romance of the reds and the simple, patio pleasures of Pinot Grigio, we might see that Italy’s whites can compete with those of France, Germany and the New World.


Take a determined look-see at LCBO for these whites. Whether you choose a Nuragus or Zibibbo, say adieu to the end of the summer on a wonderful, new note.


Bibliography

Bastianich, Joseph & David Lynch, Vino Italiano: The Regional Wines of Italy. Clarkson Potter, New York, 2005.
Belfrage, Nicolas, Brunello to Zibibbo: The Wines of Tuscany, Central and Southern Italy. Mitchell Beazley, London, 2001. Cernilli, Daniele & Marco Sabellico, The New Italy. Mitchell Beazley, London, 2008.
Clark, Oz, 2009 Pocket Wine Guide. Harcourt Publishing, Orlando, 2008.
Robinson, Jancis (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Wine. Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 2006.

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