Wine Culture

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.

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.

The irony of Portugal is that, though wine has been made here for centuries, most wine drinkers cannot name a single grape from the region, with the exception of port. When one hears Portugal, one tends to think of port wines and the city of Porto. But Portugal has varied wine regions within its coastal influences. Among white wines, it is broadly known as the Vinho Verde region.

IntoWine recently had the good fortune of catching up with John Tarabini, Owner of Damian Rae Winery, to discuss the evolution of his wine brand as well as his thoughts on winemaking. Thanks to John for participating. What inspired the name Damian Rae Winery? Damian and Rae are the middle names, respectively, of winery owners John and Sharol Tarabini.

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.