Your ultimate holiday wine guide: 50+ budget friendly bottles you can find at Dallas stores.

Tropical aromas. Apple and citrus on the palate, just a bit creamy, well-balanced, with lively acidity and a lingering finish. Very good.

The 15 Best Wines to Serve for Thanksgiving This YearThe Anderson Valley is one of few places left in California cool enough to pull off a mesmerizing Pinot Noir. This exemplifies that, a detailed wine chock-full of delicacy. This is the wine you pour to accompany the turkey, but also enjoy on its own, as it beams with layer upon lasting layer.

Slightly darker in colour, fuller in body, and a touch more on the dry side, this Pinot still qualifies as medium-bodied but carries more weight with plenty of black fruit on the nose. The flavour is a complex melange of sweet and sour cherries along with raspberry and that characteristic metallic finish. Its well-structured and lasting acidity would cut the richness of mushroom risotto or grilled pork beautifully.

These 8 sparkling wines will make your holiday season merry and brightFrom Oregon’s Willamette Valley, this blend of 57% chardonnay and 43% pinot noir follows the Champagne blueprint. Expect a lot more freshness on the nose and palate, with a dynamic minerality but also a creamy texture and acidity. Try it with duck with a balsamic reduction, or a pureed squash soup.

In a word? Crushable. However, this nuanced, elegant pinot noir is so much more than just an easy drinker.On the nose, you are immediately hit with notes of bright, fresh, red fruits including cherry, strawberry and cranberry. As it opens up, aromas of sour cherry candy and coffee emerge.The first sips are equally full of beautiful red fruit with an immediate punch of cherry, followed by a distinct taste of baked strawberry and rhubarb. The eight months in a barrel soon become apparent, as gentle flavours of vanilla, cocoa, and coffee come through to create a mocha flavour. The mouth feel is velvety smooth and the tannins are so soft, they are hardly apparent. The long-lasting finish imparts noticeably refreshing acidity and leaves a taste of sour cherry and pomegranate. This crowd-pleasing wine is a prime example of what makes Sonoma one of the most well-respected homes of New World pinot noir. The renown and versatility of this wine make it an excellent choice for any occasion as it can be appreciated by the wine snob and the casual wine crusher alike.

21 inexpensive Christmas gift ideas for coworkersA bottle of wine can never go amiss as a Christmas present and this classic Californian chardonnay will tick the boxes for anyone who loves that oaky, buttery, west-coast taste. With notes of pineapple, mango, and papaya that blend with subtle vanilla and honey ,and a finish of toasted oak and butter, your teammate will be left thinking this is a lot more expensive than it really is—making this a great Christmas gift for neighbours too!

I’ve stocked up on this wine because it’s a favorite with several family members. Aromas of black cherry, blackberry jam, and cedar are followed by flavors of strawberry, boysenberry, and sassafras. The 2019 vintage presents balanced acidity and plush tannins. It can be served with the holidays’ roasted meats, with prosciutto and mushrooms or cured black olives. Perhaps even with beef stew, pasta Bolognese or pan-seared pork belly.Aromas of black cherry, blackberry jam and cedar are followed by flavors of strawberry, boysenberry and sassafras. The 2019 vintage presents balanced acidity and plush tannins.

22 Intoxicating Holiday Gifts for Wine LoversFrom high-profile Pierre Seillan, who makes wine on Bordeaux’s Right Bank as well as in Sonoma (Vérité), comes a Tuscan project showcasing his favorite variety: Cabernet Franc (representing 73 percent of this wine). High-toned aromas of violets and red berries belie the power and density of the palate that follows, and yet there’s great balance and finesse here, with juicy acidity and rounded tannins.

Carmel Road Cabernet Sauvignon - Crowd PleasingThe 2018 Carmel Road Cabernet Sauvignon opens with an attractive aroma loaded with vanilla, dark berry fruit and coffee.Taking a sip reveals a very smooth and tasty medium-bodied Cab with lots of oak influence. Featuring similar flavors to the nose plus a little caramel and other sweet oak notes, this is a crowd pleasing wine that should make a good, highly affordable burger wine.It ends dry, long and grippy with a mouth puckering finish full of lasting vanilla notes.

Balanced and loaded with bright black cherry fruit and a bit of spice. It has an earthy profile too.

We have a friend who prefers this wine over all others and we can see why. For the price — often seen for far less – you get a melangê of red berry flavors. It’s simple but oh so delicious.

Now that we’ve tasted the 2017, that seems even more apt because this was such an awesome food wine. When we opened it, it looked young and fresh, like blackberry or black cherry juice. It had those fruits on the nose, too, along with some minerals. “It smells like it’s going to be more giving than the first two,” Dottie said, and she was right. It was filled with fruit, good tannins, integrated oak and a bit of bittersweet chocolate, but – even with all of that – had a medium weight that created elegance. “There’s layers and layers of stuff in here,” Dottie said. We picked up basil and rosemary, which made John say: “Stuffing!” It’s hard to imagine a wine that would be better with Thanksgiving dinner. “This cries out for food,” Dottie said, and, indeed, with her pork with capers and green olives, it was a weep-worthy pairing. As we continued to drink, the finish became dryer and dryer “like it’s vacuuming my mouth,” Dottie said. It picked up some anise and crushed lavender. Two hours after opening, the wine had more black olives and lean tannins. It was beautiful and ready to drink now, although it should age beautifully. There’s nothing obvious about this wine, which is 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Petit Verdot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 3% Merlot.

Notes of espresso, dark chocolate, and toast follow ripe blackberry, minerality and weight on the palate.

These Are The Best Wines to Sip On for the 2021 Holiday SeasonChardonnay is notoriously rich in texture for a white wine, and this particular vintage plays up its characteristic fullness to delightful effect. With notes of pear and cream, this delicious vino hails from the Yarra Valley of Australia, and its vineyard has been named in Wine & Spirits' Top 100 Wineries of the Year six times since 2013.

Appearance: Deep opaque ruby.Nose: Blackberry fruit, mint, pencil lead and coffee bean. Palate: A tightly woven, almost ungiving, wine that reflects its youth and Howell Mountain origins. The most pronounced flavors are blackberry, oak, herbs and coffee bean. Look for more forward as this wine acquires some age. Best to keep this wine for several years before serving with steak or prime rib.

Vérité Le Désir is one of three Bordeaux-style blends crafted by Vérité in 2018, a hallmark vintage for many California wines. Structured around cabernet franc—with the restrained addition of merlot and malbec—Le Désir shines for showcasing the characteristic flavors and aromas of its primary grape: ripe raspberry, cranberry, and red currant represent the fruitiness of cabernet franc, while savory notes of sage, mint, and cinnamon provide complexity. A bold finish and bright acidity render it a playful wine to drink in its youth; however, those characteristics also suggest that the wine has excellent cellaring potential.

Matanzas Creek Merlot Alexander Valley 2018 has the soft mellowness you anticipate from quality merlot. Very good acidity, a real asset for food pairing. Inky color. Good on pop-and-pour; it becomes more mellow and approachable after extended exposure to air in the glass. Pair with lamb; grilled meats; roast beef; filet mignon; gourmet burgers; grilled or roast chicken; roast pork and pork loin; mushrooms; Swiss cheese, gruyere, parmesan, havarti, gouda, brie, camembert cheese.

Opened to murmurs of pleasure around the table this Pinot Noir has it all. Silky smooth notes of dried rose hips, balanced fruit and cedar spice. Created using a blend of Burgundian and Californian techniques this comes from Jackson FamilyWines, a founder of IWCA.

As usual, the Mt. Brave Merlot 2018 displays all the hallmarks of vines grown at 1,400 to 1,800-foot elevation — a dense, dark ruby-purple hue; notes of cedar, tobacco, sage and chaparral; threads of intense and concentrated blueberries, black currants and plums, permeated by graphite and flint-like minerality; a few moments in the glass tease out hints of violets and lavender, bitter chocolate and loam; the structure is monumental, mountain-like, and tannins embody the old Napa Valley adage about the iron fist in a velvet glove; the finish deep, granitic, supple. Try from 2023 through 2032 to ’35. Exceptional.

South African Chardonnay Will Blow You AwayIn 2014, Jackson Family Wines entered into a partnership with Antony Beck of Beck Family Estates. Today, they jointly manage the Fijnbosch farm in Stellenbosch, with the goal of making Chardonnay wines that can rival the top Grand Crus of Burgundy. Released at $80, their inaugural 2013 vintage of Capensis thrilled the critics with its crystalline fruit, subtle oak, and delicate textural richness. It is a brilliant wine, although Capensis is something of an outlier; the vast majority of Cape Chardonnay is never that expensive.

The Wine You Should Always Drink When Watching This Classic Fall MovieSoul FoodSoul Food may not be a film about the holidays but its plot is rooted in the tradition of gathering around the dining table with family — and what's more seasonally appropriate than that? This 1997 comedy-drama is best viewed with a hearty meal and soulful wine close by, like a Chianti. The grape that’s used to make Chianti is called Sangiovese and it produces dry wines with red-fruit and dried-herb notes. In other words, Chianti is oh so delicious with a plate full of food.Pair It With: Chianti

For those times when only a fantastic balance between sturdy structure and plummy hedonism will do.

A silvery minerality dominates, with fresh apple and citrus flavors moderated by light, toasty notes.

Distinctively delicious with intense flavors of grape skins, tart orange, and white-pepper spiciness in the finish.