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Enough with the Damned Turkey: Looking Ahead to Holiday Meals
By Michael Franz
Nov 24, 2018
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Everyone has their own reasons for being thankful after Thanksgiving.  For some, it might be Black Friday, or Cyber Monday, or…let’s say this under our breath…the departure of relatives.  Speaking only for myself, I’m especially thankful that I’ll neither cook nor eat a turkey for another 364 days.  That’s enough to put me into a celebratory mood, so let’s look ahead to the holidays coming up next month, and some great wine selections to go along with great meals for the occasions.  Whereas wine writers have wallpapered the world with recommendations for Thanksgiving turkey, they’ve offered comparatively few suggestions for feasts devoted to other end-of-year occasions such as Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa or New Year’s Eve and Day.  So, here are wine recommendations for December’s celebratory meals:

Standing Rib Roast:

Savvy carnivores know that meat is almost always better when cooked on the bone, and though filet mignon has somehow gained a reputation as the ultimate cut of beef, I’d always rather have a rib roast.  Some people prefer this marvelously tender and juicy roast without the bones (in which guise it is sometimes called a Delmonico roast), but I think this is borderline sacrilege.  Any convenience gained by de-boning is vastly outweighed by the enhanced flavor and juiciness resulting from roasting and serving this cut with the bones in the style known as “prime rib.”

Wine wise, the consideration in this case is the soft, almost delicate texture of the meat when prepared in this manner.  Whereas a charcoal grilled rib steak would be delicious with a big, intense wine, an oven-roasted slice of prime rib would be over-matched by that same bottle.  The end cuts of the meat won’t be as soft and delicate as the inner slices, but you’ll still find that throttling back on your red wine will make for a better match.

Lots of particular wines can do well, so the general principle to follow is to lean toward a more delicate choice than you would if picking a wine for a steak.  For example, go with a really good Merlot rather than a Cabernet Sauvignon.  (A Merlot-based wine from Pomerol in the Bordeaux region would perhaps be the ultimate selection.)  Or, if you want Cabernet, pick an older one as opposed to a more assertive young one.  Similarly, Cabernet Franc could be a great choice, though you’d need a New World rendition rather than one from the Loire (which would likely be too light).  Fantastic Cab Francs are now being made in California as well as Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, and they could provide a real revelation for guests who’ve never tried one.

Roast Lamb:

I know a fair number of people who shy from lamb, thinking it too “gamey.”  Although the aromas and flavors of lamb are certainly more assertive than beef, I’ve loved them since I was a child.  Slow-cooked lamb shanks served with white beans is one of my all-time favorite meals, but for a holiday occasion a roasted leg or a “crown roast” is probably a more appropriate choice.  (A crown roast is basically two racks of ribs cracked and “Frenched” and tied into a circle so that the chops are roasted with the meat at the bottom of a pan.)

Lamb is an extremely flattering meat for all big red wines, but particularly for Cabernet Sauvignon.  Whenever I travel to Cabernet country such as Napa or Bordeaux’s Medoc, I prepare myself for a daily dose of lamb, as vintners love what it does for their Cabernets.  Syrah can also be terrific with lamb, but bigger, bolder ones do better than more delicate renditions of the grape.  In the French context, this means that most bottlings from Cornas or Hermitage provide better matches than most wines from Côte Rôtie, which are best reserved for another meat that we’ll address in a moment.  Big Aussie Shiraz wines can be wonderful with lamb, and two sources of world class Syrah that work wonders with this meat are Hawke’s Bay in New Zealand and the Walla Walla Valley in Washington state.

Another amazing wine with roast lamb is made from the Tempranillo grape in Ribera del Duero.  This region actually has a protected appellation (or D.O.) for baby lamb, and the far-and-away best lamb I’ve ever eaten is from this spot in north-central Spain.  The particular wines to look for would be designated Crianza or Reserva (rather than young, minimally-oaked “Roble” or old, maximally-oaked “Gran Reserva” bottlings). 

Roast Goose:

I’ve led a very fortunate life except in one respect:  I was deprived of goose until adulthood.  I’ve been dealing with this in therapy for years, and can now excuse my parents by acknowledging that goose can be expensive for the little meat that it yields, which is notoriously difficult to cook and carve.

You won’t get a lot of meat off a goose, but as Spencer Tracy is reputed to have said of Katherine Hepburn, his conspicuously skinny lover, “there’s not much there, but what’s there is choice.”  The meat is tender and rich and very complex in aroma and flavor.  In my opinion, it deserves to be paired with an excellent wine that is likewise very aromatic and flavorful, but without too much weight or power, as the goose meat can easily be overwhelmed.

Two wines really stand out as partners for roast goose in my experience.  Neither comes cheap, but if you are going to pony up for a goose, you’d be well advised not to skimp on your wine.  Mature Côte Rôtie is unbelievably delicious with this meat--so good that you should make your guests sign a liability waiver before the meal in case anyone expires from the ecstasy.  The other clear choice is aged (we’re talking 8 years minimum) Nebbiolo from the appellations of Barolo or Barbaresco in Italy’s Piedmont region.  A sauce using a bit of the bird’s fat will tame Nebbiolo’s famously assertive tannins, and the gorgeous perfume of these wines can produce a sensational combination with goose.

Roast Pork:

If money is too tight this year for a goose, a pork roast may fit the bill.  I ate pork loin roasts frequently and with great pleasure as a child, but today it is very difficult to find loin roasts that are fatty enough to be as good as the roasts that my mother used to slow cook for hours on Sundays (as I was being smacked for fidgeting in church). 

However, if budget concerns loom large for you this year, there’s good news:  Pork shoulder (a.k.a. pork butt) really makes a better roast than the loin of today’s leaner pork, and it can be very affordable (I’ve seen it offered for less than two dollars per pound several times in 2015, and it rarely costs more than three dollars).

Properly roasted pork is very tender and full of subtle flavor.  It can be delicious in preparations that incorporate fruit, in which case white wines are usually more successful.  Riesling is particularly good with pork served this way, although other fruity, unoaked wines like Viognier can also be excellent.  If you’d rather forego the fruit, a simple roast rubbed with garlic, thyme and sage and served with de-glazed pan sauce can be terrific, and you’ll likely prefer a light red in this instance.

Pork is so good with Pinot that only duck rivals it as a Pinot partner.  Older wines from Burgundy that have softened and become more aromatic over time are the best of the best, but since I’ve got economy in mind in this section, I should point out that New World renditions can be extremely tasty as well.  Their fruity sweetness works very well with simple preparations finished off at the table with a grind of pepper and a sprinkling of a crunchy, coarse sea salt (like Maldon from the U.K.), and there are many suitable examples made in California, Oregon or New Zealand.

Another light red that really sings with roast pork is Chianti.  Pinot is a safer choice because its sweet softness won’t scare off any novice at your table, but more experienced tasters often love the more earthy aromas and the more structured feel of a good Chianti.  Other Italian reds such as Aglianico from Campania can also be wonderful with this meal, but if you want to keep things simple, grab a Chianti Classico from 2010, 2011 or 2012 and you’re ready to rip.

A third winner with pork roast is Rioja from Spain, though oakier renditions aren’t as successful as wines made in a more modern, fruity style.  Your best chance to get an affordable wine in this style is to bypass any wine designated in reference to a wood-ageing regimen, namely, Crianza, Reserva or Gran Reserva.  Just look for a straight Rioja from the 2009 vintage or any more recent year.  If it is priced in the mid- or low-teens, it will likely be minimally oaked and very pretty with your pork.

Baked Ham:

My friend and WRO colleague Paul Lukacs is very humorously doctrinaire on some issues, and though I’m opposed to him on some of them, I subscribe wholeheartedly to at least one of his doctrines:  Ham belongs on a sandwich.  Period.

Nevertheless, if ham is mandated by family tradition, or if you like ham as much on a plate as on a sandwich, you’ll want to get the wine right.  Many ham preparations are overtly sweet (either from fruit or brown sugar) and most harbor a lot of salt.  Add this up and the equation yields but one conclusion:  Riesling, with just a little hint of sweetness.  Most renditions from Austria or Alsace will work well, and those from Germany designated Trocken or “Halbtrocken” (literally, “half dry”) can also be very good with ham.  As for regions within Germany, the Mosel and Rheingau make more stately wines than Rheinhessen, but for some mysterious reason, Rheinhessen’s Rieslings are peerless when it comes to plated ham.

On the red side, you’ll likely find that hams prepared with honey or brown sugar favor a wine with an impression of sweetness, and Pinot Noir fits that bill better than anything else you’ll find without a major search.  Dolcetto from Piedmont in Italy can work well too.  Finally, although Beaujolais is definitely not among my favorite wines, it is among the more successful ones with ham.

I hope that you’ll thoroughly enjoy whatever you eat or drink over the holidays.  If the pairing isn’t quite perfect, we can find some consolation in the fact that we’re all lucky to have food and wine at all.  Happy holidays to you!

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Questions?  Comments?  Favorite Pairings?  Write to me at [email protected]