Wine Recommendations

“Mama Mia – that’s a spicy meatball!” – the exclamation leads to the belief that the fare hailed from Italy, but the origin of the meatball and the spaghetti and meatballs dish is unclear. We know that generally, households used leftover or unused parts of meat with day-old bread or bread crumbs to stretch their use over several days. The now-popular spaghetti and meatballs meal seems to have originated in the United States, as Italians normally did not make a practice of serving meat with their pasta, rather, they would cook meats and use the sauce from the meat to cover their pasta, a way of stretching their own meals.

At this time of year, many wine sellers create elaborate promotional displays, hold special tastings and suggest gift wines galore. As you head out to buy your holiday wines, you may find yourself thinking along the lines of, "I'm shopping on a budget. How do I know which wines will offer the best value and still pair well with my holiday menu choices?"

There's nothing more festive than a glass of Champagne or sparkling wine. We toast the old and new years with glasses of bubbly, send brides and grooms into their new lives with raised glasses and kick off holiday celebrations with that well-known popping cork sound. While Champagne holds pride of place in the lexicon of sparkling wines, there are several affordable alternatives available, including Prosecco from Italy and Cava from Spain. Let's take a closer look at Champagne, Prosecco and Cava.

With the holidays just around the corner, many of us are planning menus, shopping for groceries and ordering centerpieces. Choosing wines to pair with traditional holiday foods is an important part of the menu planning process. If you're roasting a turkey to serve with all the trimmings or dishing up a flavorful ham, you might wonder which wines work best with your menu selections. IntoWine.com asked some wine experts for their red and white pairing recommendations.

Overcooked, battered and abused? No longer. Americans tended to eat less lamb than any other red meat, but consumption has come up bit since younger chefs traveled to discover its intense, interesting flavor and learned the correct way to cook the meat. Finer restaurants have been released from their fears that guests will reject a lamb dish now that it is properly prepared. This influence, coupled with the flood of immigrants who serve lamb as a staple, has greatly increased the popularity of the meat, particularly lamb shanks, in this country.

Spain has more area under vine cultivation than any other country in the world, according to Wines From Spain. While much of Spain's wine production remains in-country, Spain exports wines to many other nations, including the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States. Russia and Italy are importing more Spanish wines than ever before.

As the holiday season draws near, those of us responsible for creating menus, decorating the home and preparing special meals begin to worry, perhaps even panic. It's hard enough to choose a crowd-pleasing holiday menu, but when wine-shopping time arrives, it's easy to let stress get the best of you.

In a recent article, I discussed some of the best-known Super Tuscan wines . Tuscany is just one of Italy's world-renowned wine regions; in fact, every region of Italy is capable of producing world-class wines. The passion winemakers bring to the art and science of creating a top-quality wine of distinction is alive and well throughout Italy.