Your Holiday Wine Pairing Ideas should start with the menu!
Once you have established the menu it will help to narrow down the list of wines. First consider the progression of courses along with the progression of flavors. The order of serving wines with courses should be light bodied wines before full bodied wines. A dry wine prior to a sweet wine. Low alcohol prior to high alcohol wine. A youthful wine prior to an older wine and the simple prior to a complex wine.
At the average holiday table we plan for four food courses. First Course would be your starter or appetizers. Second Course would be a soup or salad. Third Course would be your main and side dishes. Course Four would be the dessert.
Starters or Appetizers – Course One
A festive way to start any holiday celebration is with Champagne or Sparkling wines. We like to serve our starters with a Blanc de Blanc Champagne or crisp Sparkling wine.
We are also fans of serving a light zesty Sauvignon Blanc or French Chablis. Both choices are light on the palate and allow you to build on the body of the wines served with your next courses.
For the red wine lovers in any family, a crisp French Rose’ is always a winning selection.
Soup and/or Salad – Course Two
When it comes to soups and salads you want to think about the level of spice in each dish. With a spicy soup pair a high acid aromatic Riesling. This is a great choice to cut the spiciness in the soup. With a milder or creamy soup a nice choice for wine would be a French White Burgundy or Chablis. Both of these wines are made from the Chardonnay grape.
If the decision is to serve salad the dressing is a key component to what wines should be served. When serving a vinaigrette you will want to select a light, high-acid white wine. so a Sparking wine or Champagne pairs well. You might select a Champagne Vinaigrette for a lovely match of flavors. We have several vinaigrette’s on this site. Click here for the link to the Champagne Vinaigrette recipe on our site.
Entree and Side Dishes – Course Three
This is where your wine selection can get tricky. We all have family traditions that we love to continue from holiday to holiday. Some families serve poultry, some love a standing rib roast, others prefer a seafood dish. Let’s give you a few ideas to help you navigate these waters.
When serving poultry as the entree, like turkey, goose or other poultry dishes, two wonderful wine selections would be a medium-bodied buttery Chardonnay. This can be served along with a light to medium-bodied Oregon Pinot Noir. Both wines will display an aromatic range of flavors with delicate floral notes that make a beautiful pairing.
If you decide on Prime Rib or Filet Mignon your selection of wine should steer you to the big full-bodied red wines. A Cabernet Sauvignon, a full-bodied Zinfandel or an Italian Sangiovese would all be excellent wines to pair with these dishes.
With the choice of a seafood dish your wine selection can vary. Here are a few great choices for the different fish dishes you might select. If you decide on oysters, a great option is Champagne or Sparkling wines. With crab or shellfish, a nice buttery Chardonnay goes well. You can also look at a crisp Pinot Gris with cold shellfish or a refreshing Riesling with warm shellfish.
With a pasta seafood dish, a crisp white wine makes a great pairing, and a Pinot Gris, Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc are all excellent pairings.
With a more meaty or dense fish, like salmon or halibut, you can introduce light and lovely Rose’ or light to medium bodied Pinot Noir. These dishes also pair well with a light crisp Chardonnay or Pinot Gris.
Dessert and After Dinner drinks – Course Four
So here is where the fun begins and your imagination can take off.
The dessert course can be formal or light and include after dinner wines or liqueurs. Here are a few ideas for you to consider:
- Port Wines are a wonderful dessert companion. Either Ruby or Tawny Port can accompany many dessert selections.
- If you are serving a heavy cake or tort look into the late harvest dessert wines at your local markets. They make a wonderful companion.
- Sherry Wines such as a Fino or an Oloroso make a wonderful dessert course. Fino can also accompany meat and wild game. Oloroso pairs well with shellfish.
- Different liqueurs can accompany many kinds of desserts and make a sweet addition to an after dinner coffee. In the past, we have provided a liqueur bar, so everyone can make their own choice.
Once you have your menu in place, and the Holiday Wine Pairing Ideas complete, it will have you singing along with the best Holiday Carolers.
Enjoy a very festive Holiday Season!
A very special thank you to our dear friend Kathy A. for sharing her wine country Christmas photos for this post.
]]>You can enjoy it as an after-dinner sip, or mix it with Champagne to make a Cranberry Orange Champagne cocktail
This homemade cranberry liqueur is quick to make because it takes just about 30 minutes to prepare and only needs 2 weeks to “marinate” in the refrigerator.
Cranberry Orange Liqueur is gorgeous to look at and even better to drink! It has a hint of cinnamon so it’s perfect for the holidays.
If you have some beautiful old sherry or cordial glasses hiding in the back of your china cabinet now is the time to get those out and serve this liqueur!
Ingredients for Cranberry Orange Liqueur:
- Vodka
- Cranberries
- Orange Juice and zest
- Sugar
- Cinnamon
How to make Cranberry Orange Liqueur:
Cooking instructions:
Step-by-step instructions are below to make this recipe really easy. You will strain this recipe twice when you make it, so be sure to have a fine woven strainer available, or cheesecloth.
Step 1: Combine cranberries, sugar, orange juice, and orange zest in a deep heavy pan.
Step 2: Bring everything to a boil and continue boiling until cranberries pop or burst open.
Step 3: Blend everything until smooth. We use an immersion blender but you’ll get the same results in a regular blender. Use caution if using a regular blender because the liquid is super hot and will expand in the blender.
Straining the Cranberry Orange Liqueur
There are 2 steps in the straining process:
Step 4: STRAIN #1 – Pour blended mixture through a strainer, into a clean bowl, pushing with a rubber spatula to extract as much liquid and flavor as possible. Discard the leftover cranberry skins in the strainer.
Step 5: STRAIN #2 – Repeat the straining method into a clean bowl, but use a fine-mesh strainer or cheesecloth this time. Discard the remaining skins.
Step 6: Add vodka and cinnamon and whisk to combine
Step 7: Pour into a decanter or jar and seal tightly
Step 8: Refrigerate for about 2 weeks. Shaking occasionally.
Step 9: Decant into smaller gift bottles, if desired. We love this style bottle but there are many choices out there.
Step 10: Store for up to 6 months in the refrigerator, sealed.
Serving Cranberry Orange Liqueur
After two weeks the homemade liqueur will be ready to use. If you want a super smooth liqueur you can strain it a third time.
This is a liqueur and is meant as a small drink after dinner or as an aperitif, so you will want to pour just about 2-3 ounces for sipping. We have a weakness for beautiful cordial or sherry glasses. If you don’t have any, try these beautiful glasses from Amazon.
Variations: Try cherries instead of cranberries
If you need something just a little sweeter try substituting half of the cranberries for cherries (I made it with the frozen variety since cherries aren’t in season). This version is a little sweeter and I omitted the cinnamon, however, everything else is the same as the recipe below.
How to make a Cranberry Orange Champagne Cocktail
This liqueur makes a great base for any cocktail but our favorite is the Cranberry Orange Champagne Cocktail. It’s a beautiful and festive drink!
Just coat the rim of our cocktail glass with a bit of orange juice and then dip it in sugar. Shake the liqueur with ice in a martini shaker, pour into the glass, and top with Champagne. Cut a thin orange slice for a garnish or drop in a few cranberries!
Great for gifting
A special thanks to our guest chef: Deb Hoage
Deb was kind enough to share this amazing recipe with us. And, to top it off the entire recipe is gluten-free!
Cranberry Orange Liqueur
Equipment
- Fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth, immersion blender or regular blender
Ingredients
- 4 cups fresh cranberries
- 2 ¼ cups sugar
- 1 cup orange juice
- 1 tsp orange zest, freshly grated
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 ½ cups vodka
For Champagne Cocktail
- 4 oz champagne
- 2 Tbsp cranberry liqueur
Instructions
- In a large deep pan combine cranberries, sugar, orange juice, and orange zest. Bring to a boil.Continue gently boiling for about 6-8 minutes, or until the cranberries have popped open. Remove from the heat.
- Blend the cranberries with an immersion blender until smooth. Or place in a regular blender, being cautious as hot liquid will rise when blended.
- STRAIN #1 – Pour through a strainer into a bowl, pushing the mixture down with a rubber spatula. There will be cranberry skins left in the strainer. Discard the skins.
- STRAIN #2 – Pour the strained mixture through a fine-mesh strainer, or a strainer lined with cheesecloth, into a clean bowl. Again push the mixture down with a rubber spatula and discard the skins. *NOTE – don't skip this step because it's important to remove all of the skins
- Add the vodka and cinnamon to the strained mixture and whisk until well combined.
- Pour the mixture into a decanter or a jar with a lid and seal tightly.
- Refrigerate for about 2 weeks. Shake occasionally
- If desired, strain one more time before serving.
To make a Cranberry Orange Champagne Cocktail
- Run a sliced orange segment around the rim of a champagne or martini glass and then dip the rim in sugar to coat the rim.
- In a cocktail shaker add 2 tablespoons cranberry liqueur and crushed ice. Shake well.
- Pour shaken liqueur into a martini or champagne glass and top with champagne. Garnish with an orange slice or a few cranberries, if desired.
Variation: Cherry Cranberry Liqueur
- Substitute 2 cups cranberries and use 1 cup cherries and 1 cup cranberries
- Omit cinnamon
Notes
- Do not skip the 2nd strain. It’s an important step and I often strain 3 times