Thanksgiving is a time for coming together, celebrating abundance, and sharing a meal full of comforting flavors. The variety on the table—from roasted turkey to tart cranberry sauce, rich casseroles, and buttery sides—can make wine pairing feel overwhelming. But choosing the right bottles doesn’t have to be complicated. With a little thought, you can select wines that enhance the food and the mood, making your holiday gathering even more special.
This is the big week football lovers, commercial fans and foodies have been waiting for! Whether or not football is the real reason for watching the Super Bowl, it usually instigates a celebration of good party food and drink. Due to the ever-popular Clydesdales, singing frogs, and lovable dogs, the featured drink always seems to center around beer, even though the NFL is now promoting Barefoot Wine as the “Wine of the NFL.” Let us be honest, there could have been a better choice … and while that might be your choice to have at parties where the audience is unknown, now is the chance to sway your audience toward “other” wine, and show them that yes, it is possible to have wine AND football food!
The holidays are over. No more parties, social gatherings, office socials or happy hours involving alcohol. In comes “Dry January,” with the intention of a cleanse and reboot for your body. During the holidays and all the events that go along with them, we tend to focus more on the event and social part, than what is in our glasses. We end up mindless drinking, which, in turn, leads to a little bit of careless drinking. One goal of “Dry January” is not just about a cleanse for the body, but also your relationship with alcohol, more specifically in this case, wine.
With Thanksgiving upon us, the rest of the holidays will be here in the blink of an eye. With impending gatherings, holiday meals, celebrations, and gift-giving opportunities, you are going to want a good inventory of “something special” to grab and go. Whether it’s for enjoying with food, or a gift for the host, secret Santa, or a loved one to enjoy later, a major element in your decision making will be the food being served, the theme, or the reason. You might want to select something to complement the holiday dinner, a special bottle for a celebratory toast, or a bottle for a special someone to enjoy later (hopefully with you, right?!).
We all love a holiday—a chance to take time off, gather with friends and family, and even better, have an excuse to open something special to toast with. Having just celebrated a very monumental holiday, in memoriam of those who gave up their lives so that we all might enjoy our freedoms and life as we know it, it was also the start to summer celebrations.