Wine of the Week: Annual Thanksgiving Day wine pairings Cranberries are a staple at our house, and they usually have a touch of cinnamon and orange rind in the recipe, so I like to mimic those flavors in the wine as well. The 2015 Penner Ash Estate Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley of Oregon is a fantastic choice. This wine is a bold-styled pinot noir, with a vibrant nose teeming with scents of dried cherry and black tea. The fruit-forward flavors of cherry, red berry and red plum are on the brighter side and lead to a soft, round finish in which notes of orange cloves and cinnamon linger on the back of the tongue.

What to Drink Now: Syrah and Rhone Varieties From Willamette Valley’s Penner-Ash Cellars showcasing the warm-weather vineyards of Southern Oregon, delivering ripe red berry, baking spice, and toasted vanilla, enhanced by 17 months of partially new and partially neutral French oak aging.

7 Winter Warmer Red Wines To Help Beat the Cold Bright red cherry, milk chocolate, white pepper and a smoky glaze.

With a ripe Californian style, this easy-drinking wine is for Chardonnay lovers who enjoy a full palate of tropical fruit balanced with lemon acidity, rounded out with light oak and a touch of vanilla.

Dark garnet in color, this wine smells of sweet cherry and plum and a hint of oak. In the mouth, sweet cherry and plum flavors are wrapped in a tight fist of fine grained tannins. Excellent acidity and length. After a year or three, this wine will likely open up beautifully. 9.0

Celebrate National Merlot Day With These Wines Napa’s mountain AVAs are ideal for growing structured, concentrated Merlot with character. Winemaker Chris Carpenter embraces this character, crafting powerful, yet graceful Merlot with layers of sweet clove, nutmeg, and cedar melding with woody herbs and red fruit from Mount Veeder in Mount Brave Merlot and from Howell Mountain, La Jota Merlot with pencil lead, black cherry and dark chocolate.

None of these examples is a wimpy wine, as some people think of merlot, but the Mt. Brave Merlot 2014, Mt. Veeder, Napa Valley, pretty much takes the prize for structure. Made from grapes grown between 1,400 and 1,800 feet in elevation — it’s the old Chateau Potelle property — this 100 percent varietal wine aged 19 months in French oak, 93 percent new barrels. The wine displays another inky-black-purple hue with a violet rim; every aspect is intense and concentrated, from the tightly-wound notes of black currants, blueberries and (just a hint) boysenberry to the piercing granitic-and-graphite minerality to its rigorous tannins permeated by iodine, iron and loam. Give it a few minutes in the glass, and it calls up the dusty herbaceous quality of dried thyme and rosemary (with a touch of rosemary’s slightly astringent woodsy nature) that I associate with high-elevation red wines, all of these elements energized and bound by keen acidity; the finish feels chiseled from stone. 14.5 percent alcohol. Production was 532 cases. Winemaker was Chris Carpenter. This is a wine built to age; try from 2019 or ’20 through 2030 to ’34, properly stored. Excellent.

None of these examples is a wimpy wine, as some people think of merlot, but the Mt. Brave Merlot 2014, Mt. Veeder, Napa Valley, pretty much takes the prize for structure. Made from grapes grown between 1,400 and 1,800 feet in elevation — it’s the old Chateau Potelle property — this 100 percent varietal wine aged 19 months in French oak, 93 percent new barrels. The wine displays another inky-black-purple hue with a violet rim; every aspect is intense and concentrated, from the tightly-wound notes of black currants, blueberries and (just a hint) boysenberry to the piercing granitic-and-graphite minerality to its rigorous tannins permeated by iodine, iron and loam. Give it a few minutes in the glass, and it calls up the dusty herbaceous quality of dried thyme and rosemary (with a touch of rosemary’s slightly astringent woodsy nature) that I associate with high-elevation red wines, all of these elements energized and bound by keen acidity; the finish feels chiseled from stone. 14.5 percent alcohol. Production was 532 cases. Winemaker was Chris Carpenter. This is a wine built to age; try from 2019 or ’20 through 2030 to ’34, properly stored. Excellent.

7 Winter Warmer Red Wines To Help Beat the Cold Beautifully rich with elegant raspberries, dark chocolate, brown sugar, spice and vanilla.

Florence’s white, a 2016 sauvignon blanc from Matanzas Creek in Sonoma County, was an archetypal Thanksgiving white: neutral rather than flamboyant, a subtle character actor that would enhance rather than dominate. It had the sort of texture that continually invited another sip. Not particularly expressive aromatically yet richly textured, lively, clean and refreshing. Three stars.

Holiday Hits This wine has intense aromas of grapefruit, white nectarine, dry lemon thyme, Honey Crisp apples and a hint of lemon zest. It has a crisp, textural mouthfeel with bright and balanced acidity, which was created naturally by grapes exposed to Sonoma County's coastal morning fog. The addition of Sémillon gives a smooth texture, with a nice lingering finish. there is a slight flint element that comingles nicely with stone fruit and dry herb.

Wine Style Awards - 3rd place (3/10) - Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon category

Celebrate National Merlot Day With These Wines Napa’s mountain AVAs are ideal for growing structured, concentrated Merlot with character. Winemaker Chris Carpenter embraces this character, crafting powerful, yet graceful Merlot with layers of sweet clove, nutmeg, and cedar melding with woody herbs and red fruit from Mount Veeder in Mount Brave Merlot and from Howell Mountain, La Jota Merlot with pencil lead, black cherry and dark chocolate.

Perfect Pairings Aromas of red cherry, raspberry, pomegranate and sweet tobacco give way to tastes of red-, bule- and black berries, plum and cherry with an underpin of spice and toast.

Sonoma County, Calif.-based La Crema expanded its production to Oregon where it produces this Willamette pinot noir and a range of more expensive reserve wines. Made in richly concentrated and silky La Crema style this offers an attractive mix of fruity and earthy aromas and flavours. It’s a fragrant, elegant and exceptionally smooth pinot that’s ready to drink. Four stars.

Full of sweet red fruit, candied cherry, licorice root, baking spice and cola. The intensity of the sweetness on the palate renders the wine a little too flabby for my tastes. There is some pleasant red fruit, tannins are light, but more acidity would be welcome.

The grapes were primarily fermented in open-top tanks and then punched down several times a day to give the wine intense, complex aromas and flavors. We like the earthy character of the wine and its effusive strawberry, cola flavors. Hints of chocolate and spice.

If you’ve ever wondered what effect climate has on wine look no further than the exquisite 2013 Pinot Noir from La Crema. Born from the glorious pastoral that is the Sonoma Coast, this wine truly earns the name La Crema (the best in Italian.) Now the other vintages of La Crema’s pinot noir are nothing to sneeze at however, the 2013 it quite exceptional. The cooler weather of the 2013 harvest season allowed for the grapes to stay on the vine much longer than they would normally which leads to a richer more layered wine. As if that were not enough to make an incredible wine, the people at La Crema use their hands-on, artisan techniques to craft all of their wines including hand pressing the grapes and aging in classic, French, oak barrels. The result of this is a pinot noir that distills the Sonoma Coast into one remarkable wine. As for the taste, it has a rich aroma of cherry, cocoa, and black tea with a seductively smooth pomegranate, plum and orange zest flavor creating a fantastic wine that lingers with you just like the region it hails from.

Holiday Wine Pick Let's move on to a Chardonnay. La Crema in Sonoma is perhaps the most reliable producer of California Chardonnay from many regions, but I am partial to the 2015 Sonoma Coast Bottling. For around $20 a bottle, winemaker Elizabeth Grant-Douglas produces a wine worth twice as much. Soft and round in the mouth, this is a rich, food friendly wine that will be versatile enough for the majority of your holiday offerings.

You can always count on Kendall-Jackson to deliver a balanced wine. This pinot noir from the Anderson Valley comes from vineyards that struggle through large volcanic rock. The result is intense strawberry and raspberry fruit flavors that linger on the palate.

Wines of the Week: 6 Fireside Bottles So what are our fireside wines? Think big earthy powerful reds that need robust and equally warming foods to match them. The New World take on bordeaux is a great source of such wines, so here are two best kept for special occasions and your finest foods: the Californian Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 is a bordeaux-style blend. Small amounts of petit verdot, cabernet franc, merlot and malbec from vineyards scattered around Sonoma and Napa give added complexity: flavours of tar, liquorice, cassis and lashings of forceful black fruit. As well as casseroles this is a good bet for Christmas roasts of beef or venison...

Perfect Pairings Delightfully tropical with mango, papaya and pineapple with citrus notes, intertwined with aromas of vanilla and honey for depth and balance. A hint of oak and butter makes for a lovely, lingering finish.

The perfect party gifts for any occasion this holiday season - To meet your girlfriend's parents A foolproof way to get her family on your good side: Bring a bottle of vino to the table. Just make sure your pick isn't too cheap (you are dating their child, after all) or too pricey (you definitely don't want to make them uncomfortable). If you're looking for a white that's sure to please any palate, opt for Kendall-Jackson's 2014 Camelot Highlands Chardonnay... When it comes to red wines, we love ...or Freemark Abbey's 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon. And if you're still coming up blank (or if they're nondrinkers), don't be afraid to simply ask your girlfriend what they like—she's the expert when it comes to your (potential) future in-laws.

Wine+Food pairing recommendation

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