By Carlo and Dominique De Vito   November/December   2008

Here we are, poised on the precipice of the 2008 holiday season, and that means lots of special occasions to look forward to, and lots of great food to put on our tables.

The foods that most often find themselves front and center for end-of-year celebrations are classics like turkey, roast beef, duck, and goose, and most of us favor traditional accompaniments to these centerpiece meats. For example, the classic Thanksgiving turkey is generally served with mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, and gravy. While for some the consistency of the meal from year to year is part of the tradition, others like to play with the dishes, discovering new ways to rev up both the meats and the sides.

It’s fun to contemplate how to bring something new to a traditional meal, and the cooking magazines at this time of year are full of yummy ideas. As the meal begins to come together in your mind and on paper, you can start planning which wines to serve with it. But trying to find one to complement a variety of flavors can be more challenging than convincing your grandmother that chili peppers will make a nice addition to the family recipe for stuffing.

To take the angst out of selecting your holiday wines, remember these simple rules about pairing them with food:

• Serve dry or off-dry (somewhere between dry and sweet) whites with foods you could put lemon on, which range from salads to green vegetables to seafood to spicy foods. Meats that are classically paired with dry whites, like chicken and turkey, won’t overwhelm the wine.

• Serve medium-bodied reds with medium-bodied foods. What are medium-bodied foods? Those that aren’t too rich, too spicy, or too sweet. Examples include hard cheeses, egg dishes, casseroles, the “sides” that typically accompany a Thanksgiving dinner, and—yes—the turkey itself.

• Serve full-bodied reds with foods that have a lot of flavor and will stand up to the wines, rather than being overwhelmed by them. These include most beef dishes—especially a juicy roast—as well as game meats like goose, duck, venison, buffalo, or moose.

• Serve sweeter wines with spicy or especially savory appetizers, or with dessert. For example, chili-grilled shrimp or bacon-wrapped scallops go great with a semi-dry blush or semi-dry sparkling wine like an Italian Proseco.

Because there’s such a variety of foods on the holiday table, it’s fun to have a variety of wines, too. When you’ve decided on your menu, consider the qualities and characteristics of the dishes. A vegetarian-based meal calls for sparkling wines, dry or off-dry whites, and medium-bodied reds. A meal that starts with seafood, includes a tomato-sauced pasta dish, then progresses to turkey with traditional fixings might have a wine menu that starts with a dry white or sparkling wine, moves on to a deeper red, then progresses to a medium-bodied red or full-bodied, dry white.

Wine shops can be of tremendous help in choosing and making the most of wine to complement your menu. If you don’t know the staff there very well, ask for the manager to help you; he or she will know the wines best.

A knowledgeable and friendly store associate can also advise on how to keep within your budget for wine. Don’t feel that you have to buy something really special just because it’s a special occasion. If you’re going to fret because you’ve blown your budget on a wine that you bought to impress rather than entertain your guests, you won’t have a good time; and as the host or hostess of the evening, your attitude will define the tone of the gathering.

Whether you live in the Hudson Valley or are visiting for the season’s festivities, you can find local foods and wines that will make your holiday meals that much more memorable. These wines are unique, priced right, and fun to serve because they represent a place that is special to you. Here are some great examples:

Sparkling: Brotherhood Winery NV Blanc de Blanc: This wonderful wine is excellent to serve with appetizers or as a more traditional complement to dessert.

Semi-dry white: BashaKill Vineyards is making some lovely Cayugas, bottled under their White Tail label.

Dry white: Millbrook Vineyards & Winery Chardonnay, a gold medal winner at the 2008 Hudson Valley Wine and Grape Association Awards.

Medium-bodied red: There are lots of choices here: Oak Summit Vineyards’ Pinot Noir, a special treat from a winery that specializes in this finicky grape; Whitecliff Winery’s Gamay Noir, another delicious choice that recently took gold at the New York Wine & Food Classic competition; and Benmarl Winery’s Baco Noir, which has attained almost cult status in our valley.

Full-bodied red: Applewood Winery offers a Merlot in this category that’s worthy of your best beef dish.

Sweet/Dessert wine: Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery makes a delicious pear liquor that is a wonderful accompaniment to fruit tarts and pies; BashaKill’s Osprey, made from the Vignole grape, is great with pumpkin pie; and for chocolate, nothing beats our own Hudson-Chatham Winery’s Raspberry Highlands Fine Ruby.

To make learning about Hudson Valley wines for the holidays easier, you can visit the wineries. Some of the events you may want to put on your calendar include the following:

The Pride of New York Harvest Fest at the The Desmond Hotel in Albany, Nov. 8-9, www.prideofnyharvestfest.com.

Wreath Fineries at the Wineries on the Shawangunk Wine Trail, weekends of Dec. 6-7, 13-14, & 20-21, www.shawangunkwinetrail.com.

More important than whether you choose the perfect wine for your family’s holiday feast is that you serve wine in the spirit of the holidays, which is one of sharing, enjoyment, and gratitude.