Our 2024 Holiday wine guide (for very specific situations)!
It's time to raise a glass, but let's do it right.
Alright folks, there’s no other way to put it: we are hip deep into the holidays. It’s T-minus 8-ish shopping days left until Christmas, Hanukkah starts the same day, and barring a meteor strike, 2025 is in the mail. Plus — a Steelers playoff drive!
Back-slapping laughs, lotsa hugs, being kind and gathering with friends and family are on the docket along with heaping helpings of good food and drink . Diets and Dry January are next month’s problem.
From all of us at Allora, we wish you the happiest of holidays! Here are some of our suggestions to celebrate (responsibly, of course) …
You’re hosting a Christmas party: You want to be crowd food and crowd friendly, so don't get too esoteric. Go with a medium-bodied red. Primitivo (ours is by Amastuelo in Puglia) is the ancestral grape of California Red Zinfandel. It's a perfect, medium-bodied red wine. For white, use a Sauvignon Blanc-pivot like the Grillo from Canicatti in Sicily. For bubbles, Sparkling Lambrusco, dry or off-dry – both are a glass of happiness.
You’re taking a bottle to a Christmas party: A wine that absolutely sings is the Barbera Riserva by La Gironda. It's a wonderful gift that the host will love, but it’s also not so expensive that if some overly-presumptuous (and likely drunk) guest opens it, it won’t be a catastrophe.
You need a gift to impress: The Liena wines from Giovanni Chiappini are elite, single-varietal Super Tuscans. But go a little outside the box and do their Petit Verdot, which is unique, and has a special, limited edition feel to it as well. It’ll create a unique experience for an important client, future in-law, or boss whose a** you want to kiss – err – with whom you’d like to curry favor :-)
Wine for this Saturday’s Ultimate Football Throwdown: Time to go big or go home. So, ball out with San Ponzio Barolo Fossati. We’ve got Steelers-Ravens (and Chiefs-Texans); Penn State-SMU and 2 other college football playoff games; plus Pitt Basketball and the Penguins, ALL ON THE SAME DAY. Get a ton of meat and cheese from Penn Mac, some pizzas from Iron Born and Pizzeria Davide and crush it all to stack win after win after win.
Wine for wrapping presents: Literally any alcohol at all will do for this, the only truly annoying task of the holidays.
Wine for opening presents: Might be a little early in the day, but no judgement here — they did it in ‘A Christmas Story.’ But go with something light and refreshing like Leonardo Bussoletti’s Ciliegiolo. It’s good with Chistmas or a donut — daytime versatile, and has a screw cap, so you can take a splash and save the rest for later. Fun fact — Mr. Bussoletti’s grandfather was born in Western Pennsylvania.
A sipper for while you’re making Christmas dinner: Tenuta Spinella Passerina — light, delicate and fresh, perfect to take the edge off but keep your wits while you’re managing nothing short of a gustatory rodeo in the kitchen. You don’t wanna end up like Jamie Lee Curtis on “The Bear.”
Wine to serve with Christmas dinner and the main dish is …
Ham: Cannonau. The Piero Mancini Cannonau from Sardinia with some pig? Oh yeah, absolutely. That'll be delicious.
Turkey: Really? Didn’t we just have turkey last month? Fine, see below.
Duck: Easy pick. I'd bring a case of Marotti Campi’s Orgiolo Lacrima Superiore. Lots of fruit, lots of tannins, it’s absolutely made to pair with duck. Also great with turkey.
Goose: Just kidding. This isn’t Dickensian England. But the aforementioned Lacrima works here, too.
Prime Rib: With the fatty-ness of prime rib, I would definitely, definitely go with a Tabarrini Sagrantino. Huge tannins, big antioxidants – you need something big to cut through that delicious fat. This is the wine.
Wine for the Feast of the 7 Fishes: The beauty of Italy is that it’s a peninsula, so you gotta go coastal. My head takes me down to Campania. The Feast of the 7 Fishes tends to have a lot of fried items and Fontanavecchia Falanghina is meant to be paired with a little fritto misto. So it’ll be great with fried smelts, fried oysters, fried shrimp, sardines, anchovies – you name it.
Wine that goes with potato latkes for Hanukkah – Fried potatoes, I definitely think Northern Italy, so I'm going up to Alto Adige here. Let's do a little Platten Pinot Bianco – it’s crisp, with a racy acidity that’ll offset those wonderfully crunchy, salty, and oily potatoes.
Wine to match spicy Indian/Thai/Chinese/Middle Eastern because you don’t celebrate Christmas and are getting takeout instead: Conte Emo’s Sparkling Orange Blossom Moscato – I just love the crisp sweetness and floral flavor of this wine with really warming, zesty foods. It's a beautiful pairing. And it's low ABV, so a glass is optional :-)
New Year’s Eve: We made it through another 365 on this blue marble, so we're gonna blow it out with Ricci Curbastro Franciacorta. Do the Brut Rose, a Pinot Nero-driven Franciacorta. It’s bubbles, and its rose so it covers two bases. Auld Lang Syne!
New Year’s Dinner (good luck Pork & Sauerkraut): Gotta go Alto Adige again. The northernmost province, borders Austria and Switzerland, feels Germanic and there’s nothing more German than pork & kraut. So do the Platten Schiava for red and for white, the crispy Platten Pinot Grigio.
And finally … not holiday specific but if you are looking for an absolutely unforgettable Christmas gift for someone, EYV restaurant on the North Side are blowing it out to celebrate their anniversary with a “2nd Birthday Champagne Dinner” on at 6:30 p.m., Sat., Dec. 28th — it’s a monster 9 course dinner with French bubbly along with Italian wine pairings from Allora Wine Group. $250 per person plus tax and gratuity. Contact them to reserve or for further information. Congratulations to Chef Mike Godlewski and team for their success and pushing Pittsburgh’s culinary envelope with some truly creative and delicious vegetarian fare.