With Christmas and Hanukkah falling on the same day this year, you’re probably struggling with deciding what wine to gift to those special wino’s in your life. Well, today I’m going to suggest a few options for your consideration that would excite my palate were I to be the recipient of such vinous largesse.

The holiday season, which now begins right around Thanksgiving and will continue through New Year’s Eve, is a time when you will spend about seventy percent of your yearly wine budget purchasing bottles for gifts, parties, and holiday dinners. Here are some bottles that should please the palate of just about every serious sipper. Let’s begin with pinot noir – a very versatile wine that pairs  well with a variety of foods like beef, chicken and even salmon.

2021 Domaine Serene Evenstad Reserve Pinot Noir ($90) – I have collected wines from this Oregon producer since their first vintage in 1990, and this Evenstadt is among the best they’ve ever produced. Full of earthy, dark cherry flavors with a hint spice and oak, this pinot noir is both silky and deep.

The quality of Italian wine is sometimes surprising to wine lovers who are mainly accustomed to drinking full-bodied red wines from California. While many Italian reds can match the intensity of the best Napa Valley cabernets, wines from Italy’s “boot full of wine” can offer more balanced and nuanced bottles. One of the best wines in the world is Brunello di Montalcino made from sangiovese and produced in Tuscany. Here is one of my all-time favorites.

2018 Castello Banfi Poggio alle Mura Brunello di Montalcino Riserva ($95) – With aromas of spice and sage, this wine is pure silk exhibiting medium-bodied intensity along with round, rich flavors of ripe cherries. The wine would be a lovely accompaniment to a New Year’s day celebratory meal of roasted rack of pork.

I’m always on the lookout for California reds that exhibit both power and finesse. That generally leads me to wines that are blends, and one of my favorites is a wine called Cyrus. This eminently approachable wine would make a great holiday gift for someone special in your life.

2021 Alexander Valley Vineyards Cyrus ($75) – This Sonoma County wine is named for the founder of Alexander Valley Vineyards, Cyrus Alexander. It’s a full-bodied, yet supple, blend of cabernet sauvignon 54%, cabernet franc 27%, merlot 17%, and 1% each of malbec and petit verdot. The wine has great structure and balance with flavors of blackberries, mocha and spice. Decant the wine for at least one hour and then pair it with any roasted meat like prime rib or pork tenderloin.

If you thought I was only a fan of red wine, you would be mistaken. I love white wine and especially chardonnay in all of its various iterations – from simple and unoaked to full bodied and buttery. The wine I’m recommending for your holiday gift giving today is on the full-bodied end of the spectrum, but it also has complimentary and balancing acidity.

2022 Keller Estate La Cruz Vineyard Chardonnay (Petaluma Gap) ($55) – With a nose of tropical fruit and spice, this delicious mouthful of wine is highlighted by flavors of ripe peaches and vanilla crème brulle. The richness of the wine is balanced by ample acidity. This chardonnay begs to be paired with broiled lobster on the half shell drizzled with drawn butter.

Since no holiday celebration is complete without sparkling wine, I suggest you go out and buy yourself a nice bottle of Champagne. You deserve it for all your thoughtful and heartfelt gifts to friends and loved ones. In fact, I’m going to treat myself to  a bottle of Perrier-Jouet Blason Rose’ ($70),
and my first toast will be to you

Happy Holidays!

John Brown is also a novelist. His latest book in the Augie Trilogy – Augie’s Wine – has just been released and is now available. His first two books– Augie’s War and Augie’s World – are also available online and in bookstores around the state. You can find out more about his novels, and review all of his archived Vines & Vittles columns at wordsbyjohnbrown.com

In just a few weeks, we’ll all be sitting down to stuff ourselves at Thanksgiving dinner. That’s my favorite holiday of the year because it’s a wine lover’s dream come true. At the center of the meal is turkey which lends itself to any number of cooking methods from the traditional oven baked bird, to ones grilled over charcoal, and to others that are deep fried or smoked. And that’s just the turkey! When you surround the “national bird” with the various delectable courses and side dishes that traditionally accompany the meal, Thanksgiving is a culinary extravaganza where there are almost limitless wine pairing possibilities.

If you’re a white wine lover, pair your oven basted bird with sauvignon blanc, a buttery chardonnay or a riesling from Alsace. If you’re grilling or smoking the critter, then go ahead and open a big red zinfandel, syrah or even cabernet sauvignon with the meal. Or if you want a red wine that pairs nicely with any of the above-mentioned cooking methods, try a pinot noir from Oregon or even a Beaujolais – that sometimes overlooked wine made from the gamay grape grown and produced in France.

When most Americans think of Beaujolais, we think of Beaujolais Nouveau. In fact, you’ll be able to purchase a bottle of the 2024 Nouveau in about a week. That’s because Beaujolais Nouveau is released with great fanfare each year around the middle of November. It is
a fun wine full of fresh strawberry flavors, and it’s only about two months old when it’s made available. However, Nouveau is more a celebration of the new vintage year than an exercise in fine wine drinking, and it is meant to be drunk within a year of bottling.

But there’s more to Beaujolais than Nouveau!

Today we’ll explore the other wines of Beaujolais, all made from the gamay grape, which are far superior to Nouveau. Beaujolais is a region just south of the Macon appellation in Burgundy. Beaujolais extends south for about 35 miles, and it ends near the famous Rhone wine region of Cote Rotie. The French government categorizes the labelling of the region’s wines as Beaujolais, Beaujolais Superior or Beaujolais Villages and these can be decent to very good wines that can actually improve with bottle age for up to ten years. They’re also bargains, selling in the $15 to $25 a bottle range.

The best wines of the Beaujolais region, though, are known as Cru (which means “growths” in French). Crus are named after the villages around which the grapes are grown. There are ten Cru Beaujolais wines: Brouilly, Chenas, Chiroubles, Cote de Brouilly, Fleurie, Julienas, Morgon, Moulin-a-Vent, Regnie and Saint Amour. Each of these Crus produces distinctly different Beaujolais from very light and delicate (i.e., Chiroubles and Fleurie) to fuller-bodied wines (i.e., Moulin a Vent and Morgon). You may see a wine labeled Morgon (the name of a Cru village) in large type with the year and producer (i.e., “Georges Duboeuf”) in smaller type.

Just like in Burgundy, it is very important to select your Beaujolais from reputable producers and shippers. Among the most prominent of these are: Joseph Drouhin, Georges Duboeuf, Louis Jadot, Louis Latour, Prosper Maufoux and Bouchard Pere et Fils. But unlike Burgundy, Cru Beaujolais is more affordable (usually priced in the $25-$50 a bottle range).

Beaujolais Villages wines are very similar in weight and texture to light and medium-bodied pinot noir and can be paired well with less intense foods like cheese, chicken or veal. Crus Beaujolais are more flavorful and make exceptional accompaniments to dishes such as roasted pork tenderloin, grilled chicken or salmon, and, yes, even Thanksgiving turkey.

John Brown is also a novelist. His two books – Augie’s War and Augie’s World – are available online and in bookstores around the state. The third book in the Augie Trilogy- Augie’s Wine – will be released later this year. You can find out more about his novels, and review all of his archived Vines & Vittles columns at wordsbyjohnbrown.com

As a descendant of Italian immigrants, I’m grateful for and proud of my heritage, and for our government’s recognition of Italian Americans by establishing Columbus Day. On Monday, I plan to cook up something Italian, and pair the dish with vino from the country that has been called: “a boot full of wine.”

Alas, what has been celebrated as Columbus Day since 1792 is now officially known as Indigenous Peoples Day. With all due respect to the folks who existed in North America before Christopher Columbus was credited with discovering our continent, I’m still observing the former holiday.

To be perfectly honest, Columbus was directionally challenged. He left Italy on a trade mission to the orient, but he sailed west instead of east, and ended up discovering North…. AMERICA. But I’m thankful for his navigational mistake. In honor of that fortuitous error, I’m providing you with a recipe for a special cavatappi pasta casserole, and recommending two wines that pair seamlessly with the dish.

And since cavatappi is shaped like a corkscrew, I could think of no more appropriate pasta type than one which is screwy – kind of like Christopher Columbus. 

Columbus Wrong Way Pasta

Ingredients:
One pound of cavatappi
One pound of Italian sausage links
Eight ounces of shredded mozzarella cheese
Four tablespoons of freshly grated parmesan cheese
One half cup each red, green and yellow bell peppers chopped
One small onion chopped, and three garlic cloves minced
Three ounces of olive oil
One-quarter chopped fresh basil, and one ounce hot pepper flakes (optional)
One tablespoon freshly ground black peppercorns, and salt to taste
Two 28-ounce cans of whole tomatoes – preferably San Marzano
One small can of tomato paste
One pint of water

Preparation:
Boil cavatappi in a large pot until al dente, drain and allow to cool
Fry or microwave sausage links, and chop roughly
Saute’ onions, peppers and garlic in olive oil in a large pot
Open cans of whole tomatoes, and crush them by hand into the pot
Stir tomato paste into pot and add the water
Add sausage to the mixture along with salt, pepper, hot pepper and basil
Cook the sauce for one to two hours until it thickens.
Cover bottom of a casserole dish with cavatappi
Mix in sauce and cover with a portion of mozzarella and sprinkle parmesan
Add layers of sauce and cheese until casserole is full
Top casserole with mozzarella, cover with foil and bake @ 350 degrees for one hour
Allow to rest for 20 minutes, cut in squares and serve

My wine selection for the recipe is Chianti which is made in Tuscany. The Italian government requires that Chianti must contain no less than 70 percent sangiovese grapes. Chianti Classico must be comprised of 80 percent sangiovese and be aged for 12 months, while Chianti Classico Riserva must be aged in barrels for at least 24 months before it can be bottled. Here are the two wines I recommend for Columbus Wrong Way Pasta.

2021 Frescobaldi Nipozzano Chianti Rufina Riserva ($22) With intense notes of black cherry and blueberries, this wine is medium-bodied with chewy tannins and perfectly balanced acidity. It is a subtle, but delicious accompaniment to this robust pasta dish.

2021 Villa Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva ($30) Aromas of tobacco and toasty oak lead to flavors of ripe red currants with a finishing note of red cherries. A fuller flavored Chianti than the Frescobaldi, this wine stands up to and enhances this bold and spicy cavatappi recipe.

John Brown is also a novelist. His two books – Augie’s War and Augie’s World – are available online and in bookstores around the state. The third book in the Augie Trilogy- Augie’s Wine – will be released later this year. You can find out more about his novels, and review all of his archived Vines & Vittles columns at wordsbyjohnbrown.com

For decades now, I’ve experienced both agony and ecstasy in the pursuit of the perfect wine. Allow me to amend that last sentence because I’m pretty sure that nothing is perfect. But I am always searching for wines that surpass those that are considered to be good -or even excellent. Wines that go above and beyond expectations and become something more than a really pleasant quaff. These are bottles that are refined and the wine in them is exquisite.

They are wines that can also elevate a meal from simply excellent to sublime. And the wonder of these beauties is that they can run the gamut of styles from deep, full-bodied reds, to silky, subtle whites, and even to delicate and complex sparkling wines. Many of these stellar wines are expensive bottles that are more than a decade old. Happily, I can report from personal experience that reasonably priced bottles can benefit from extended aging as well.

First, though, and this may come as a surprise, the vast majority of wines in the marketplace are meant to be consumed now, or within a couple of years. In fact, around 95 percent of all wine is ready to be consumed right off the shelf. So how can you judge when a wine you buy will be a candidate for aging, and then ultimately turn into something special over time?

If you would like to lay a few bottles down for future enjoyment, there are some important issues to consider. First, you’ll need to collect wines that have the best chance of morphing into something special over time. That means buying red wines such as Bordeaux, California cabernet sauvignon or other sturdy reds like Chateauneuf Du Pape, Barolo and Brunello Di Montalcino. Zinfandel, syrah and even pinot noir – particularly ones from Oregon or Burgundy – are also candidates for extended aging. Even white wines such as chardonnay from Burgundy, late harvest sweet wines like Sauternes from France and riesling from Germany can also improve with age.

The next critical element in selecting wines to collect for aging is the particular vintage year from which the grapes were harvested. By doing a little research using search engines like Google, you can determine from critics and wine rating publications which vintages are touted as having the best chance of success for long-term aging. And, because of weather conditions and other viticultural factors, the quality of vintages may vary from one world wine region to another in the same year.

Once you’ve decided on a likely age worthy vintage, read up on the specific wines and what critics are reporting about them. Oftentimes, you’ll see a lot of attention directed to the “superstar” and often very expensive wines for sale from famous places like Bordeaux or the Napa Valley. Unless money is no object, you should look for alternate, less expensive wines from those same highly touted areas. And believe me, there are excellent value wines that turn into very special bottles over time.

Once you’ve decided on a particular wine from an age worthy vintage, be sure you buy at least three bottles of the wine. This will allow you to open a bottle every five or so years to make sure the wine is making “forward” progress. I’ve had the unfortunate experience of finding out that I waited too long to assess the bottle, and the wine had passed its prime. Another critical factor in the process is to make sure you store the wine properly. You don’t have to buy one of those expensive wine storage closets, but you should age the wine in a dark, vibration and odor-free area. And make sure the temperature doesn’t vary more than 10 degrees from summer to winter, and where the humidity is pretty high – around 70 percent. Purchase one of those temperature and humidity gauges and check out your designated area ahead of time to make sure it’s appropriate. If you absolutely want to be sure the storage system is ideal, you can buy temperature-controlled wine cabinets for as little as $300 or considerably more. You might check out these storage units at online sellers such as the Wine Enthusiast or Vinotemp.

Follow the suggestions mentioned above and you may be able, in a decade or so, to replicate the experience I had last Christmas. That magical night, I opened a bottle of 2004 Ridge Lytton Springs (79% zinfandel) from Sonoma County that paired seamlessly with our Christmas bone-in prime rib roast dinner. The price sticker on the bottle read: $21. It was Magnificent!

John Brown is also a novelist. His two books – Augie’s War and Augie’s World – are available online and in bookstores around the state. The third book in the Augie Trilogy- Augie’s Wine – will be released later this year. You can find out more about his novels, and review all of his archived Vines & Vittles columns at wordsbyjohnbrown.com

Homo sapiens are complex beings. We like to think that we know what we like, and then we change our minds and make choices that surprise us. Take wine for example. For years, I had an aversion to drinking  any type of sweet wine. But I  know that was  the result of too many traumatic youthful experiences with sugary, high-octane liquids pretending to be wine. And then, low and behold, I had the occasion to sip a late harvest riesling with dessert at a fancy restaurant and I realized that sweet wines, in moderation, can be truly enjoyable.

Yin and yang,  ebb and flow, hot and cold:  seemingly incongruous terms that oftentimes can complement each other. How about sweet and sour? “Agrodolce” (Ag-row-dole-chee) is a sweet and sour sauce that is featured in many Italian recipes to enhance meat and fish dishes. Today’s menu showcases a rendition of agrodolce that combines its sweet and sour components to enhance the delectable flavor of roasted pork.

Recently, I purchased  a center cut pork rib roast (also referred to as rack of pork) from the great folks at General Steak and Seafood in Charleston. This roast is the pork equivalent of a standing beef rib roast or a rack of lamb. I used the agrodolce, like an Italian barbecue sauce, to baste each piece of meat that I cut from the roast once it was cooked. And, while I paired the roast with an Italian Chianti Classico Riserva (see below), pinot noir would make an equally good pairing with the dish. Pork roast, unlike beef or lamb, does better with light to medium bodied reds like sangiovese and pinot noir. You could also use white wine such as sauvignon blanc, viognier or a lighter-styled chardonnay to pair with the pork roast, but without the pungent agrodolce sauce.

This  pork roast was cut from Berkshire hogs –  a heritage breed originally imported from England in the early 1800’s. Berkshire meat is considered more juicy, flavorful and tender than meat from American bred pigs. However, I’ve also enjoyed the same type of roast from domestic animals, and the price per pound is about half of what you’ll pay for Berkshire pork. Regardless of what type of meat you choose, it’s important to note that pork roasts are significantly less expensive than beef or lamb. So Enjoy!

Here are my two wine recommendations for “Rack of Pork Agrodolce.”

2019 Castello di Bossi Berado Chianti Classico Riserva($30) This Brunello-like, ruby red, medium-bodied Sangiovese is replete with dark plum, chocolate and spice flavors with a kiss of oak. It also features a nice dollop of bright acidity that makes it a perfect match to the savory richness of the agrodolce-enhanced rack of pork roast. 

2021 Brewer-Clifton Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir. ($50) One of the coolest climates on the west coast, Santa Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County has a very long growing season and a place where pinot noir flourishes.  With aromas of  strawberries and spice and flavors of ripe cherries and nuances of vanilla and earthy mushrooms, the wine stands up and enhances the rich roasted pork agrodolce.

Rack of Pork Agrodolce

Ingredients:

One four or eight rib pork roast

Two tablespoons ground black pepper, kosher salt, minced garlic, rosemary and tomato paste

One quarter cup each balsamic vinegar, plain white vinegar and dry red wine

Three tablespoons: honey and pan drippings from pork roast

One half cup of chopped onions

One teaspoon red pepper flakes and  chopped parsley

One mashed anchovy

Preparation:

Mix one tablespoon each, salt, black pepper, garlic, olive oil and rosemary

Score the fat side of roast with a knife and rub the mixture all over the meat

Allow to rest in the refrigerator for at least eight hours or overnight

Remove meat from refrigerator one hour before roasting

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and roast meat for 15 minutes

Lower oven to 325 degrees and roast until internal meat temperature is 145 degrees

Determine cooking time based on 20 minutes per pound

Remove meat from oven and tent up with foil for 20 minutes

Slice the meat into individual pork chops, and baste agrodolce over each piece

For the Agrodolce:

Saute onions, parsley, anchovy and garlic in a small pan, adding salt and pepper

Add vinegar, tomato paste, pan drippings, wine, honey and red pepper flakes

Simmer agrodolce for about 15 minutes until liquid is reduced and thickened

John Brown is also a novelist. His latest book, Augie’s World, is a sequel to his debut novel, Augie’s War. Both novels are available in print and audio at Amazon. You can find out more about his novels and wine columns at wordsbyjohnbrown.com