Pairing Wines for Holiday Dinners Like Easter, or Just Happy Hour

Learning about wine encompasses many things, and one of them that intimidates many people is wine pairing. Choosing wines for holiday dinners, like Easter — which is our next big family dinner event — is more than just picking one wine to go with the entree. Let’s talk very briefly about wine pairing, and then we’ll talk about a few good wine options for you to consider.

There is definitely an art to wine pairing — but it’s an art you can learn. There are wine professionals who can guide you (like sommeliers), and wine store staff can also help, but most of us want to, or need to, be able to make these choices on our own. We want a wine that fits the meal, and the event, and we don’t want to make a costly mistake.

In short, the wine and the meal should complement each other.

There’s no real right or wrong to wine pairing, because even the most skilled palate may love a pairing someone else may find unappealing, but there are best practices. One of them is pairing the wine with the food by considering the strongest flavor and/or attribute of the entree. If you’re serving multiple courses, you may want to pair different wines for each course. Someone won’t touch red wine? You’ll need to find a white wine that goes with the meal.

Side note: a lot of people say that they can’t tolerate sulfites in wine, so they need wines without it. Thing is, pretty much all wines contain sulfites. When you see a label that says “Contains sulfites,” that means the winemaker added additional sulfites in during the winemaking process to improve upon preservation of the wine. Sulfites naturally occur during the fermentation process, which is a good thing, as they help prevent the wine from spoiling. True allergies to sulfites would mean you can’t drink any wine.

There are charts and lists available to help you select wine, but once you get the hang of a few things, you’ll find it easier — and fun — to put together your wine list for any gathering! You can match similar flavors, like sweet wine with a sweet dish (often referred to as a congruent pairing), or you can look for a more opposite approach, such as a light white wine with a spicy entree (called a complementary pairing). Both choices work and can yield fun foodie adventure memories, so you just need to decide which direction to take, and if you’re doing multiple courses, keep the pairing style all the way through.

I’ve totally oversimplified it, because pairing has many facets. Anyone can grab a bottle of Riesling to eat with a cheesecake, but what kind of Riesling? Yes, it can get tricky, but this is why you want to go wine tasting and become familiar with different grapes and winemakers, so you can expand your experiences and have a larger selection without hoping and guessing!

This is where the Wine Concierge Club comes in. You can go to a wine store and read a lot of labels, but I call it getting sucked into the void. I go for one bottle of white and two reds and 90 minutes later, I’ve got eight bottles of wine, a new bourbon, and three different kinds of sake in my cart. OR, you can go to the Wine Concierge Club website, search by category, read the very apt description by actual tasters of the wine, and make a more educated choice. Then you have it delivered to your home and you’re done in less time than it takes for you to unload all the boxes you’d have if you did a wine store field trip. (It’s okay, most of us have done it. There was that time in South Carolina, when we had to make a three-hour field trip to go to Total Wine, and we didn’t want to go back again soon so we overbought. Or we bought just enough until the next trip six months later. Worth it!)

The Wine Concierge Club sent me another complimentary wine shipment so I could tell you all about it. All three bottles are perfect wines for Easter dinner!

But first, a little more about The Wine Concierge Club. The Wine Concierge website features underrepresented wines, so you may not see these in any brick and mortar store. They are wineries owned by members of the BIPOC community and/or women. They don’t always have the reach or ability yet to be in your local Bevmo or Total Wine. The Wine Concierge though is a company after my own heart for not just that awesome reason, but because they don’t believe in throwing 37 flowery terms your way in an effort to make a wine sound fancier. They don’t lose you with descriptives that may turn you off because they’re misleading or you don’t understand what they mean. And that’s okay AND expected when you’re learning about wine. There are a lot of terms and processes to understand but they’ll come to you quite easily once you start trying new wines. You just don’t have to know them to enjoy good wine, and The Wine Concierge gets that!

When I first ventured outside of my comfort zone, which was…no shade…boxed wine…I didn’t know a Gewurztraminer from a Pinot Grigio, and the first time I tried red wine, I broke out in ridiculous hives so bad, it took another year until I tried it again. (I never did find out why those hives happened! It was truly a one-time thing.) Someone at one of the wineries we first went to told me a wine had earthy and grassy notes. WTH? It sounded so unappealing, and I’m sure she was rolling her eyes at my naivete. However, I did try the wine and I liked it! That was what opened my eyes to the words used to describe the nuances of wines, the aromas, the mouth feel, the bite, all of it. They aren’t always what they sound like. I’m still learning, and hope that continues, because even sommeliers learn more as new varietals and processes become available.

Another good example? “Notes of tobacco.” I mean, taken literally, that will turn a lot of people off. It’s not that literal though, and it is more reminiscent of the smell of a cigar box or cedar or herbs. If you’ve ever chewed tobacco, or been around tobacco at length, you may pick it up more easily but most wines with tobacco notes are quite flavorful and they are not at all related to actual tobacco.

Back to that boxed wine for a brief second. I know, I know, but I have four kids and their needs were our budgetary focus.). Franzia White Zinfandel was cheap, it lasted a long time, it stayed pretty fresh with it’s fun airtight bag, and you could pick it up at the corner gas station, the Walgreens, Target, or your grocery store. Convenience and price = bingo.

Let’s get back to actually good wine, and talk about each of the three that Wine Concierge sent me!

• 2022 Galen Glen, Fossil Vineyard, Lehigh Valley Riesling, Pennsylvania

This is a lightly sweet Riesling that has peach and citrus notes. It’s got a beautiful color and aroma, and can be paired almost anything. A congruent pairing would be something like a key lime pie (sweet and sweet) or a crab with a rich sauce. A complementary pairing would be to enjoy this wine with a salty cheese plate or cheese-based dish or a fatty meat. I like my Riesling to be cold, and I may be boring, but I drink it out of a typical, basic wine glass with a tulip shape; avoid stemless glasses so you don’t pass your body heat onto the wine and warm it up. This wine runs around $20 and would make a great addition to your dessert course for Easter dinner. (One thing to try to remember is that your dessert shouldn’t be sweeter than the wine you pair it with! Easter desserts lend themselves to fruity and citrusy ingredients, which is great with this wine.)

• 2023 Gonzales ALAD Vineyard Gewürztraminer, Columbia Valley, Washington

I immediately go to green apple when describing this wine. The website mentions other aromas and flavors, but I think green apple is very apt — but you may find you the apricot flavor to be more prevalent. (And apricot is heavenly in wine, so this is why there’s no wrong answer.) This wine is also light and I found it less sweet than other Gewürztraminers I’ve tried. If I hadn’t just shared this one with my daughter over a small charcuterie plate of fruit and cheeses, my wine pairing of choice would be shrimp tacos or a fatty mac and cheese made with some stronger cheeses than just cheddar. (We often make ours with gruyere or gouda.) This wine is about $30, making it still an affordable choice for your holiday meals. Also, that label!!

• 2022 Narcisso Cellars Vidal Blanc, Kent County, Maryland

Citrusy and fruity, this is my favorite of these three wines! This would be great for a hosted happy hour with various Tapas or appetizers, and it would carry over perfectly into dinner, particularly that ham with Easter dinner! Pairing wine at holiday parties is tough, because you’re going to usually have appetizers, people dropping in after eating who knows what, and a multitude of sweets. This wine would stand up to all of that and you’d be able to relax not feeling the need to bust out multiple kinds of bottles. Light wine is often appreciated after a heavy meal, too. This is about $26, making it another affordable choice for purchasing several bottles. (You can also get a discount if you buy wines from Wine Concierge in bundles!)

Whatever you end up doing, don’t let it stress you out. Wine should add to your enjoyment of an experience, not detract. If you’re worried about a particular guest having a different approach to wine than you — as in, maybe they’re very knowledgeable OR very picky about their wine selections — ask them to be in charge of bringing at bottle or two for dinner. It takes the heat off of you, and you can still keep your own personal preferences on hand. Everyone wins!