Your Ideal Holiday Wine Line-Up
A Chardonnay Fit For All Holiday Fare. Stonestreet 2018 Estate Chardonnay, also from Alexander Valley, provides the versatility to accompany any meal. This mountain expression of Chardonnay is blended with delicate precision, providing a balance of aromatic intrigue, texture, and structure. It displays notes of caramel apple and pineapple-upside-down cake paired with a subtle salinity. The rich and round palate is highlighted by the fresh tropical fruits and salted caramel. The focus and backbone of fresh acidity go great with green bean casserole, gravy-laden mashed potatoes, herb roasted turkey, or honey ham.

Your Ideal Holiday Wine Line-Up
Start the Evening with a Pop. Stonestreet 2014 Blanc de Blancs from Sonoma County’s Alexander Valley is the perfect way to share a welcoming ‘cheers’ with your guests. This bottle is sure to impress and will help get the holiday party started with a bang (or a pop). 100% Chardonnay, and made in the ‘methode traditionalle,’ this lovely sparkler features lots of green apple goodness and razor sharp acid with notes of brioche.

13.5% alcohol. Three day cold soak, 40% whole bunch, 10% new oak, seven different clones. Sweetly aromatic cherry fruit nose with some ginger and cinnamon notes. The palate is sweetly fruited, textured and quite generous with smooth, ripe berry and cherry fruit. Supple and expressive, in a smooth style with some ripeness. Fine grained tannin.

La Crema got its start as a pinot specialist in Sonoma but has recently started producing from Oregon as well. This is fairly deeply coloured and ripe with black cherry fruit/plummy fruit, subtle florality and considerable wood spice. It is medium weight, quite smooth with a hint of sweetness. Good flavour intensity and very good length, but lacking a bit of edge and dimension, especially at $50.

Deep garnet-purple in colour, the Chateau Lassegue, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2015 initially shows expressive black forest cake, preserved plums and blackberry pie notes, but then an undercurrent of mocha, grilled meats, sandalwood and cigar box plus a waft of lavender reveals itself. The wine has medium to full body, is rich and densely packed with opulent layers of spiced black fruit preserves and chocolate box notions. The tannins are wonderfully plush yet firm complemented with lovely fresh acidity. The finish is long and fragrant.

11 Romantic Food and Wine Dinner Menu Pairings for Date Nights at Home
Petite Beef Wellingtons
A steak and wine dinner is good. But you know what's even better? Red wine with steak topped with ooh-la-la mushroom duxelles (a mixture of mushrooms sautéed with onions, shallots, garlic, and parsley) and wrapped in puff pastry. *Chef's kiss.*
Pair it with: A light- to medium-bodied red such as Pinot Noir. Consider 2018 Siduri Pinot Noir Willamette Valley.

21 Bottles Of Wine We're Buying To Survive This Holiday Season
#18 - La Crema Sparkling Brut Rose
This bottle has flavors of lemon meringue, wild strawberries, fresh ginger on the palate and a vibrant lingering finish that will be sure to whet appetites.

From a cooler, slightly damp vintage “resembling the good old days” after a few in a row marked by drought and hot temperatures. One of the later harvests and so as a result we can expect this low, slow, long developed phenolic ripeness, layering of variegated fruit and a really unique set acidity and tannin. Pretty much the case in La Crema’s pinot noir, fruit of oscillating tones, some soprano, others baritone, all together in harmony and balance. Here a wine of great etiquette and respect, expressly varietal from Willamette if in the broadest sense possible. Drink 2022-2025.

Garden herbs and wet stones sing in harmony with rich strawberry-watermelon fruit and orange peel notes. Juicy and soft in the mouth, despite just 2 g/L of residual sugar. Very good length. Not inexpensive for a rosé, by any means, but this is quite polished stuff.

If you or your guests like Chardonnay either a little or a lot, this wine should work perfectly. Seven months of barrel aging has imparted that traditional creamy toasty richness, while the fruit is a complex blend of cool-climate lemony citrus and tropical pineapple and mango. There’s sufficient weight here to handle the ensemble of a festive turkey dinner, but enough acidity and freshness to also enjoy the next sip or two on its own. I tend not to gravitate toward wines that are this commercially popular—it has been the best-selling Chardonnay in the U.S. for 10 years running—but I really love the balance of flavours, texture and freshness in this wine. Great value. And while I advocate for white wines to usually be given time to lose the cold of the fridge before serving, a fairly fresh chill will help offset an ever-so-subtle sweetness in this case.

I needed to decant this Northern California Pinot Noir to shake loose all the aromas from the glass. Once it comes to life, it’s more about the fruit than the florals—lush cherry/pomegranate/cranberry and a dusting of herbs. In the glass there’s a fleshy, medium-bodied concentration of dark red berry fruit with finely grained tannins. A solid, crowd-pleasing pinot.

Les Cadrans de Lassegue 2017 Saint Emilion Grand Cru, Bordeaux, France. 90% merlot, 10% cabernet franc. This has blackcurrant, violets and plum with a touch of raspberry, tobacco, earth and licorice. Meaty and spicy. Very good.

La Crema's 2019 Willamette Valley pinot is an expectedly polished and sleek, seamless wine from this professional organization. High quality wood is well-enmeshed into the ensemble, while sweet red cherry fruit and cola, pomegranate syrup and raspberry purée flavours lead in the classic west coast style. Length and depth are excellent. Drink or hold 2-5 years.

This ripe red wine from California is made from a blend of cabernet sauvignon with merlot, syrah, petit verdot and cabernet franc. The result is a complex wine with dark fruit and oak-derived vanilla and spice notes. It’s dry and nicely structured, which makes this stand out from many similarly priced red wines from California. Drink now to 2026.

Light greenish gold in color, this wine smells of yellow herbs and a touch of chartreuse liqueur. In the mouth, lemon and lime plus grapefruit mix with lemon curd and lemongrass. Crisp and bright with a hint of candied citrus in the finish.

Pale greenish gold in the glass, this wine smells of lemon pith, lemon peel, and lemon curd. In the mouth, lemon peel and pith have a bright saline quality with hints of grapefruit and orange rind. Excellent acidity, hints of vanilla lingering in the finish. Made from three different vineyard sites in Stellenbosch.

Pale greenish gold in the glass, this wine smells of lemon curd, a hint of pineapple, and oak. In the mouth, rich lemon curd and wet chalkboard flavors are faintly saline and are bright and juicy with excellent acidity. Silky textured with a long finish.

The Best Affordable White Wine, $15 and Under
Here are more than 60 still and sparkling whites, all steals, that are on store shelves now. These terrific bottles come from some of the world's best wineries.
2019 Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve California Chardonnay - Straightforward citrus flavors are rich yet focused in this tasty KJ white.

Intense and penetrating yet still floral and fresh aromas of lavender and boysenberry are fascinating on the inviting nose of this clonal selection. The palate is ripe with boysenberry jam, candied lilac and açaí flavors, which are show-stopping in nature and deeply delicious.

Aromas of yuzu pith, orange peel, light mint and a focused dairy element invite the nose deep into this complex bottling. The palate grips with stunning intensity, taking the wine through a citrus maze of lime, lemon and grapefruit as that underlying earth and dairy quality adds depth.

This appellation blend is even more compelling than some of this vintage’s single-block expressions. Aromas of lemon peel, apricot, chamomile, mint, yogurt and seashore make for a dynamic nose. The palate is lined with a minty shiso leaf flavor that carries through the lemon-confit core, with tart freshness that enlivens the mouth.

This brand’s familiarly juicy red-fruit aromas of candied pomegranate, red cherry and strawberry lure the nose deep into this bottling, which also offers red spice and light herb. The palate is fresh, fun and delightful, with snappy red-fruit
flavors as well as more complex notes of lemon rind and rooibos tea.

Ripe cherry aromas with underlying hints of herb and mace are fresh and fun on the nose of this appellation expression. The delicious palate offers baked strawberry compote, dark mint cream and concentrated hibiscus flavors.

The aromas intoxicate, with notes of black tea, herb, peppery spice, cedar and plum. The palate is full feeling, delivering flavor and textural richness while never losing its poise and balance. Coffee notes linger on the finish. More
please!

Greg Brewer flexes his usual Pinot Noir muscles to tackle cool-climate Syrah in this brand, and his delicate yet fruit-driven touch shows. Lighter in the glass than many Syrahs, this offers red flower, bright berry and a hint of asphalt on the nose. The palate is spicy with white-pepper and black-pepper flavors that enliven the dark pomegranate core.