Wine at Your Holiday Table

wine 101

By Rachel Thralls, CS

Beef? Turkey? Ham? What are you serving at your holiday table this year? And a more important question is, what wine will you be serving at your holiday table? When faced with so many different options, it’s hard to know which wine to pick. It’s time to break it down it for you so you will have the perfect wines to serve with your delicious holiday meal this year!

 Toast the holidays

Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles! It’s the perfect time of year to toast with sparkling wine and always fun to start with. Sparkling wine from California is delicious to sip on all by itself and will also backed up by crisp acidity and a lip-smacking finish making it easy to drink and an all around palate-pleaser. Everyone loves a good rosé wine and a bubbly one is even better! Try the Sofia Brut Rosé  or for an all around delicious Brut sparkling wine, try the Sofia Blanc de Blancs. It’s rich in texture with a lingering finish and is always consistent year after year.  Want to pop something extra special? Splurge for the Sofia Méthode Champenoise, which is made in the traditional Champagne method to produce sparkling wine in the Champagne region of France, where secondary fermentation takes place entirely in the bottle. Fruity and refreshing, Sofia Méthode Champenoise is a blend of Pinot Blanc, Muscat, and Riesling. Hints of white flowers and citrus are balanced by flavors of stone fruit and peaches, all leading to a vibrant, bubbly finish.

Best wine for turkey

Turkey is a mild meat so it’s best to serve a lighter wine that won’t overpower the food. Pinot Noir red wine is light, fruity and low in tannin making it a fabulous match with holiday turkeys. Try the Coppola Director’s Cut Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley in California. Pinot Noir is an easy drinking wine that everyone at the table will enjoy. For the white wine lovers at your holiday table, surprise your friends and family with a Gewürztraminer wine. At its best, Gewürztraminer has rich, voluptuous body that is offset by a good degree of crisp natural acidity.

It’s a good match for the flavors of turkey because of the acidity and good fruit structure. Try the Coppola H Party Gewürztraminer, which is made as a tribute to family at the winery, which is available for you to share with yours!

Best wine for ham

The general profile of ham is sweet, salty, textured and rich, but you’ll find quite a bit of variation in ham depending on what you get. Because of this, you can pick from a range of wines that work great! A delicious rosé wine is perfect for your holiday ham dish.  The Sofia Rosé, with its lush red fruit is seductive, the acidity just right and the complexity works to cut through the fat of the ham. It’s ripe and round with a beautiful finish. For the red wine lovers dining with you, keep it light and refreshing. The Coppola Director’s Pinot Noir from the Sonoma Coast pairs wonderfully with ham.. It’s well balanced with zippy acidity and is super food friendly. Everyone will enjoy sipping on this wine!

Best wine for beef

Rich, holiday beef dishes are screaming for big, bold structured red wines. Think Cabernet Sauvignon. Try The Family Coppola from the Pine Mountain - Cloverdale Peak which rises 3,000 feet above the Alexander Valley in California and made of a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec. It’s a sophisticated wine that has depth and density with a long lingering finish, perfect to go with any rich beef entrée. For braised beef, try the Francis Coppola Reserve Petite Sirah. Given the boldness of this wine, it will pair nicely with the fat and umami characteristics of the braised beef.