Easter does not stand out in most people's minds as a "wine holiday" in quite the same way as Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Many dinners feature ham, not the most obvious food to pair with wine.
Yet the traditional Easter dinner, with its array of fresh, seasonal vegetables and light, citric flavors, offers as many opportunities for complementary wines as the other holidays.
The Easter meal is often served early in the day and, in Tucson, is sometimes an outdoor meal. These circumstances suggest lighter-bodied wines, which also anticipate the coming of warmer weather. If you are serving ham, or my Easter favorite, lamb, you can serve a variety of wines, allowing your guests to try different combinations with the food.
I am a strong advocate of starting most celebrations with a sparkling wine, and Easter is no exception.
People are also reading…
Sparklers set a mood of festiveness and joy. They also clear the palate and prepare it for the sensory experience to come.
For Easter, why not start, and continue with the meal if you choose, adding a color note suggestive of the season of youth and renewal? My choice would be Roederer Estate Brut Rosé ($21.99. at Plaza Liquors).
This is our finest domestic sparkling wine. It is creamy with a hint of strawberries in the aroma, but with the structure and acidity to stand up to most foods, especially ham.
If you choose lamb as your entree, you can't do better than the classic pinot noir. Lamb has complex flavors, often made more so by the use of herbs like rosemary and marjoram in its preparation. Pinot noir offers sufficient depth of body to stand up to this dish without the loss of finesse and grace. If you use plenty of garlic in your lamb dish, pinot noir will follow you there as well.
Of course, some of the best pinots in the world are those from the Burgundy region of France. Cote-de-Beaune-Villages is an example, and it is reasonable ($12.99 at The Rumrunner). O'Reilly's Pinot Noir from Oregon ($19.99 at Magee Road Liquors) offers rich flavors with a hint of dried cherries.
Another great choice is Cote-du-Rhone wines. The base grape is grenache with a backbone of syrah. They provide a variety of earthy flavors that enhance the variety of flavors in the lamb, plus they are a great bargain at about $10.
Ham is another story. Modern hams have an inherent sweetness, while traditional hams, like those from Kentucky and Tennessee, are drier and smokier. Either way, the time-honored choice is dry rosé.
For my white wine selection, try a bottle of Ferrari-Carono Fumé Blanc. It offers richness with bright citrus notes (about $13.)
Most folks shy away from pink or blush wine because they have tasted only the sweet stuff, primarily white zinfandel. A sweet wine will not complement ham, but will make it cloying. Choose a rosé with at least 12 percent alcohol. (I like 13 percent.) This will guarantee the dryness level. Ninety percent of rosés are dry.
Also, avoid serving the wine too cold; 55 degrees is best, so remove the bottles from the refrigerator 10 minutes before serving. Trust me on this folks and you, too, will become a fan of dry rosé.
There are many great choices among dry rosés. Consider Quivira Grenache Rosé (about $17), Robert Oatley Rosé of Sangiovese (about $15) or La Vielle Ferme Cote de Ventoux ($11) for your table.
Happy Easter.
Reach wine educator Jon Rogers at jonlrogers@aol.com or 325-0566.